6 best SAD lamps to banish the winter blues

Not just a SAD light, this lamp also has active and relax settings. These three settings (with the third being therapy) are easy to toggle between using the sensitive buttons at the bottom of the box. Looking first at the therapy mode, which is what we’re really here for, the brightness is a cool white light that is about 6,500 kelvins (k) – kelvins relate to the temperature of the light, if you’re interested. This mimics midday light, and the lamp is meant to be placed about 20cm from you for best results. We can attest this feels very brilliant and definitely made us feel, well, sunnier after using it.

The active mode is a warmer 5,000k, and is designed to help you concentrate. We were dubious about this, but we did find it made us feel a bit more alert and focused when we used it while working. However, it dominated our laptop screen’s brightness, which probably isn’t ideal. The last setting, relax, is a cosy 3,000k and is meant to mimic the light at sunset. Certainly, it wasn’t quite as blissful basking in this as, say, sitting on holiday with a sundowner watching the sun set, but it did feel calming.

The light isn’t alarmingly pretty, but it’s lightweight and comes with an integrated stand. We found it small enough to nestle on our desk while we worked, but it would work equally well at the breakfast table or on a coffee table.

Amazing value for money, this lamp did what many other higher-priced items did, but for a fraction of the cost. It’s super lightweight and slim, so easy enough to slip into luggage or a laptop bag.

The box has touch controls along the bottom, where you can alter the brightness and set a timer function. We found this particularly useful to monitor how long we were using it for, so we didn’t OD on light and end up awake all night in some weird jetlagged haze. You can also cycle between warm white, cool white and natural light, to give you more-tailored therapy, depending on what time of day you’re using it.

We really rated this light, which also has an adjustable stand, and think it’s excellent value for money with a price starting at £35.99 if you have SAD or £44.99 otherwise.

If you really struggle to get out of bed on dark winter mornings, this wake-up light could be the answer (sadly, it doesn’t do the rainy school run for you, though). The light is circular with a hole in the middle. It stimulates sunrise and sunset, which you can adjust the timings for. In the morning, the light gradually gets brighter and brighter to gently wake you. It starts as red and then eventually becomes a bright yellow light.

You can also ask it to accompany the light with gentle sounds – both on wake-up and sunset functions. If that’s not enough, you can also listen to FM radio through it, if you prefer to be woken by the dulcet tones of Greg James. At night, it can take you through relaxing breathing exercises, which you follow based on the light intensity.

We found it really easy to use this lamp – all the settings are easy to access by touching the lamp – it has a touch screen inside it, to control everything. This also shows the time, but you can switch off the function, if you wish. The sounds it plays are much more pleasant than the rush-hour noise outside our window – waking up to birds chirping was much more preferable. Although the lux rating on this lamp isn’t going to qualify it for proper light therapy, it definitely did help us get out of bed more easily in the morning – we still weren’t springing out, but it did put us in a better mood.

Great if you travel a lot or want to take a SAD lamp to work, it’s super slim and lightweight. It barely takes up any room either, so great for a desk or perhaps even a kitchen worktop, while you make the packed lunches.

It’s super easy to use – just plug in, switch on and go. We really liked the versatility of this lamp – it can be used in portrait or landscape orientations, and fitted in easily with daily life. Plus, it doesn’t look ugly.

We never thought we’d find ourselves saying this, but this here is a gorgeous SAD lamp. The bowl-like lamp has been designed to look great in your home. The outer bowl is lined with a copper colour, which shines warmly when you turn on the backlight by tapping it. However, we found this function was a bit annoying to get working, as it’s not quite sensitive enough to your touch. The inner light, which is where the magic (read: therapy) happens, is also operated by tapping it on the top. There’s also a touch slider at the top where you can adjust the colour temperature and a button to toggle between day and evening modes.

The day mode uses warm-white and cool-white LEDs, to let you vary the colour temperature (3,000-5,000k) and brightness. At its brightest, the halo stimulates the same sort of light you’d get at midday during spring. The evening mode uses only the warm-white LEDs, eliminating any blue light that’ll stop you from nodding off. This light is designed for reading, relaxing and just casting a warm glow in the room.

This light combines form and function brilliantly – it’s nice to look at, and does the job well. It is fairly heavy though, so you might not want to move it around your home too much. However, it’d work really well on a desk or sideboard (it’s worth noting it should be 20cm from you for the full light-therapy effect, though). We know this one is pretty pricey, but if you buy this lamp through Lumie, you can also use it on a trial basis for 45 days.

This was certainly the most compact light we tried. The round light would work on a bedside table, in a nook of the kitchen or on a shelf. It still packs a punch though – it offers 10,000 lux through its LED panel. The brightness is adjustable using simple buttons on the top, with a 10-stage dimmer. There’s a timer too, with a progress light along the side, so you can see how long you’ve set yourself up for. We rated this lamp for being small but mighty. While it’s perhaps not as premium as others we tried, we think it’s great for those with small spaces.