4 of the Best Sunrise Wake Ups to Improve Your Morning Routine

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Depending on your morning routine, a little trepidation may creep into the waking up process. If you use your smartphone as an alarm clock, for example, the tone can trigger a startle reflex, which can lead to starting the day with an overly alert nervous system. Hitting the snooze button doesn’t necessarily solve the problem either, as it just buys you a little extra sleep time before you’re forced to repeat the same shake a few minutes later.

Physical alarm clocks are back in fashion to some extent for this reason. And while they can eliminate the harsh light and sound of a smartphone alarm going off near the face, the noise can still be a little jarring. Sunrise alarm clocks, on the other hand, use a light that illuminates over a window of 20 or 30 minutes before the set alarm time, mimicking the more natural process of waking up at sunrise. Gradual light exposure is designed to work with the body’s natural arousal cycle rather than invigorating the body all at once through the element of surprise.

There are many stylish gadgets that can replace a morning alarm, but the inherent science and general approach of waking up at sunrise has made them very popular. Here we take a look at some of the best sunrise alarm clocks the tech world has to offer, applying our own technical expertise and input from customers with practical experience to make our selections.

The Hatch Restore 3 is highly praised by Amazon customers for its wide range of customization options. It is designed to support the body’s natural circadian rhythm and even intervene at night, giving you the opportunity to implement different bedtime routines. This is a quality sunrise alarm clock that can easily replace your alarm clock app or even a traditional alarm clock.

Priced at $170 on Amazon, the Hatch Restore 3 isn’t particularly cheap. This is one of the most expensive sunrise alarm clocks we’ve come across, although it has plenty of great features to take advantage of. It comes with five built-in bedtime routines, 20 gentle alarm sounds, and 40 sleep sounds to choose from. You also get a 30-day free trial of Hatch+, which is a monthly subscription that expands the total number of available routines, alarm sounds, sleep sounds, and more.

Amazon customers gave the Hatch Restore 3 an overall rating of 4.3 stars out of 5, with 82% of reviewers rating it favorably. While some users may be hesitant to use technology that places certain features behind a monthly subscription, many reviewers said they love everything that comes with purchasing the Hatch Restore 3.

A cheaper sunrise alarm clock is the Philips SmartSleep Wake-up Light, which is priced at $117 on Amazon. It enjoys a bit of a reputation as a quality brand, as Philips is one of the biggest names in smart home devices. In addition to its sunrise wake-up capabilities, the SmartSleep Wake-up Light can also simulate sunset to prepare your body for sleep.

When it comes to customization, the SmartSleep Wake-up Light offers five different wake-up sounds, each of which is more natural than a jarring wake-up sound. It also has a built-in FM radio that you can wake up to if you prefer the sound of certain types of music or news to start the day. This is also a sunrise alarm clock that you can use more frequently because it can function as a bedside reading light at any time of the day.

Brand recognition can lead to lots of sales, and the Philips SmartSleep Light Alarm Clock has garnered over 14,700 reviews on Amazon. 82% of these reviews fall on the favorable side of the spectrum, and the SmartSleep Wake-up Light averages a rating of 4.3 stars out of 5. It’s still a bit pricey compared to other Sunrise alarm clocks we’ve come across, but the SmartSleep Wake-up Light offers good overall value for money for those who don’t mind investing in such a device.

If your search for a more peaceful way to wake up is even more limited by your budget, the Stillstorm Hatch is a sunrise alarm clock worth looking into. It’s priced at just $40 and has received one of the highest overall ratings from Amazon customers. It’s a smaller sample size, but 94% of reviewers rate it favorably and 70% of them gave it a 5-star rating. Overall, the Stillstorm Hatch has a 4.6 out of 5 star rating on Amazon.

The features of this sunrise alarm clock aren’t much different from the standard features you’ll find on more expensive options. It has 10 different white noise settings and 20 different nature sounds, including rain, bird and campfire sounds. When it’s time to wake up, the Hatch offers eight natural wake-up sounds and a 0-30 volume control that lets you set the volume to just the right level to keep you from being shaken.

Also among the features are a number of different lighting effects. The hatch can display gradient color lights as well as white and yellow lighting. It’s available in two different design styles, and despite a sample size of just 40 customer reviews on Amazon, they’re mostly positive and make the Stillstorm Hatch a low-risk, high-reward sunrise wake-up option.

Another potential value play is the Reacher Smart Sunrise Alarm Clock. Priced at $80, this is another affordable choice on the list. It has features that allow you to customize your own sleep rituals. This includes the ability to set custom reduction routines and the different sounds they can produce, such as fan sounds, white noise, and nature-inspired audio.

While most Sunrise alarm clocks will have some compatibility with the included smartphones, Reacher has made this one of the main features of its Smart Sunrise alarm clock. Once connected to Wi-Fi, you can adjust the Sunrise alarm clock’s lights, sounds, and sleep settings from anywhere in the house. You can even control the device when you’re not at home, making it suitable for children’s rooms when parents have a babysitter at home.

With an overall rating of 4.2 stars out of 5 on Amazon, this Sunrise alarm clock scores well among reviewers, but not as well as some of the others we’ve selected. But Reacher makes other quality sleep products, including an alarm clock that is one of the cool alarm clocks for heavy sleepers.

We did not limit ourselves to price limitations for these Sunrise alarm clocks, but rather tried to find options at different price points. We used our own expertise in smart home and general technology to research a wide variety of devices, and we turned to Amazon customers to help us determine which ones might be worth placing at the bedside. While models from some more recognizable brands get more attention online, for lesser-known sunrise alarm clocks, we wanted to make sure we relied on hands-on experience with the devices when we could.