PsychEducation

I've used the timer-only approach, which allow you to use your current bedside lamp. I don't have a seasonal mood problem, I just like waking up in the light, and thereby avoiding that moment of turning the room from dark to full light when you're still half-asleep. I bought it as a demo' and have just kept using it this way, now about 8 years later (I moved to the Pacific Northwest 10 years ago...).

The light/timer combinations save space on your bedside table though. I've put my favorite option for 2006 in bold below, but as you can see, there are many other options. Some come with radios, security timers so that the light goes on and off when you're out of town, beepers to back up the light in case it doesn't wake you, automatic dimming at night, snooze switches, and nightlight settings to which it switches after a set interval at night. Pretty cool. But my basic rig is still working 8 years later...

Timer Only
Model	Manufacturer	2005 Cost	Advantages and Disadvantages
Lighten Up!	Private party; uses Paypal	$25 plus shipping	Tiny little rectangle plugs into your wall, does not take space on your bedside table. As you can see, it is quite inexpensive compared to the rest. The programming takes some practice as you set it by the time at which you plug it in the night before -- just once, and then it is set to run on that timing until you unplug/plug in again. (Looks like somebody bought a bunch of these units and is selling them at a third of their former price. Nice). Disadvantage:the lamp you use for this function can not be used at night, as a reading lamp for example. The unit will keep it turned off at that time, and you would have to unplug the whole thing and start again to use it in the conventional way. You must have a lamp which you can dedicate to this function alone.
Daybreak Duo	Apollo Health Systems	$150 from Costco	This is just like the next one you see below, the Morning Sunrise Alarm Clock, except better: for one thing, it has a radio! But more important, it is made by the people who understand about the importance of blue light -- and of avoiding blue light at night. So this clock face is red/orange, instead of green, which might seem minor, but I think it's actually quite important.
Morning Sunrise Alarm Clock	TrueSun.com	(2007: $100 plus shipping)	Kind of large, and the clockface puts out a rather bright light at night (I have to turn it to face away from me, then cannot read the clock; and I cannot quite read it easily without my glasses either, too bad). But it has a built in sound alarm for backup wake-you-up, and it's pretty cheap. Takes a fair amount of practice to program it without reading the directions again. Amazon's version is now unavailable (10/2007), because they no longer ship from the UK. I ordered one a month ago and still have not received it(11/1/07). A reader wrote indicating that hers broke within a year and she can't get it fixed.
SunRisr	LightTherapy Products	$120	Only allows a 45 minute dawn. That has worked fine for me. (I don't have Seasonal Affective Disorder; I just like waking up in a light room). Disadvantage: no alarm backup, no clock.
sunUp	Sunbox; LightTherapy Products	$157	Same as SunRisr except you can program the length of the dawn, if I'm reading their site right. Is that worth $37?

Light and Timer Together
Model	Manufacturer	2005 Cost	Advantages and Disadvantages
Sunrise Alarm Clock	Soleil	$70 on Amazon	Read the Amazon review: several people liked it, but several thought is was too small and dim. Apparently too dim to read by.
Inspiration D.S.	Nature Bright	$199 for a light box / simulator combo', $170 on Amazon	Too bad: this seems like the perfect way to go, combining a dawn simulator and a light box. I finally got one to try out and did not like it at all compared to using a bedside lamp: light is bright and harsh and even the lowest setting woke me up before the intensity increased (in other words, it did not function as a dawn simulator. I suppose I could put the thing across the room, but that would pretty much removed the advantages of the combined reading lamp/lightbox/dawn simulator which is the only justification for this price compared to the other ones.)
Digital Sunrise	BioBrite	$120	The website says that it, unlike the Soleil version above, is bright enough to read by, at 60 watts. Ramps up over 30 minutes only. I've asked the company for a demo' so that I can comment on this issue directly.
Bodyclock (3 models)	Outside/In (British) (scroll to page bottom)	60-100 £	Nice design, good range of options. Delivery free in England only.
Build Your Own	Caltech guy	$75	Are you really handy with electronics? If so, here are pretty complete instructions. If you skip the halogen lamp and just use a bedside lamp, you get the cost shown here.

Using a Dawn Simulator
Start using it in the fall when at your regular wake-up time (you do have a regular wake-up time, don't you? You've read about how that's a good thing?) your room is not filled with sunshine anymore. Keep using it until the following spring when the sun is "ahead" of your dawn simulator, giving your room more light sooner than your little light.

Set it so that the light wakes you up at the time your alarm clock usually would. This takes several nights to figure out. Most of these units are set so that they reach peak intensity (all the way "on") at a particular time you can set on the clock. The light starts going on long before that, gradually. On some units, you can specify how long this will take; on some it is fixed, at 30 or 45 minutes. Either way, you want to keep adjusting the "on" time until the light is waking you up just when you would like to wake up -- neither earlier nor later. Got that? It took me about a week to get it right. If you have bipolar disorder, start by having it wake you up "too late", with a back-up alarm clock to actually get you up. In other words, if you have bipolar disorder, you don't want to give yourself automatic sleep deprivation by waking up too early with this thing. Some people are very sensitive to light and will wake up when the light has only just begun to start its cycle, so err on the side of having it wake you up to light when you start figuring this all out.

This gizmo has two effects: it wakes you up, and for some people it will also have an effect on mood. The wake-you-up part should be pretty obvious! As for mood, some people notice an effect within about 3-4 days, but to be sure it's "not going to work", you should have at least two weeks of regular waking to the light at the right time. Since this thing can't hurt you, as far as we know, you might even want to give it 4 weeks before turning it off and selling it to a friend. (I have been telling patients "if you buy one and it doesn't work, bring it in and I'll buy it from you, I need a demonstration unit" for several years. I still don't have one. So either folks don't buy them; or everybody benefits from them; or everyone finds a friend or buyer who'll take it off their hands!)

If it does "work", your mood should be better. Granted, that's not a very solid measure. How are you supposed to know? If you have doubts, you can wait to see if people who know you well comment on how you look or act (if they comment before you ask, you know it's for real). If no such comments come along, and you're still in doubt, you can wait to see your doctor and see what she thinks, listening to you. But you know, we're looking for a pretty blockbuster response here. A dawn simulator may not get you well (that would be great, and it can do that for some people -- "remission") but it ought to do something pretty obvious. There should be little doubt in your mind that it's worth having the thing wake you up, even on weekends!

How Long Do I Use It?
That's right, you have to keep doing this on weekends too, all through the winter. Remember, the idea is to trick your brain into thinking it's still July. You can't just have a few days of December show up every week. Your brain will know. "Trying to trick me, eh? Ah, I'll show you then." You can stop using it when the morning sun is waking you up before the dawn simulator does. Pretty obvious, huh? And start it up again when, in the following fall, you're starting to find it dim or dark in your bedroom when you wake up. Get started early; there is reason to think you can "get behind" trying to keep your brain in July, so don't let that morning darkness establish itself before you dig out your dawn simulator. Good luck!