Since 1991, Lumie have been researching and producing lights to tackle the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (or S.A.D.) The Zest can be used as a wake-up light for a more natural start to the day, and it can also be used as a light therapy device to give you a boost in the winter months or if you are stuck indoors. Your body is hardwired to wake up to the gradual rise of the sun, but due to our busy modern lives this very rarely goes hand in hand with when you need to get up. The wake-up light gradually brightens your room to simulate the sunrise and eases the production of sleep hormones like melatonin, increasing wake-up hormones like cortisol to make the transition from sleep to awake easier.

Another benefit of using a wake-up light is its ability to help regulate your sleep cycle and boost your mood, energy levels and productivity for the rest of the day. You can choose between a 15 or 30-minute sunrise to wake you up gradually, adjust the final brightness level to find your perfect sunrise and even add an optional alarm beep for belt and braces. To use the Zest as a light therapy device, there is a timer for your sessions, a selection of light levels from 20% to 100% (the brighter the light the shorter amount of time your session will be, with the recommended treatment time being 30 minutes at full brightness) and it will deliver 10,000 lux at 25 cm. Its other features include a snooze function, a fully dimmable display and a power failure back-up to ensure your alarm will always go off when you need it.

The Zest is compact at 13 x 15 x 5cm, so it can fit on your bedside table or travel with you to help treat jet lag. However, it is just shy of 400g, so it isn’t the lightest of things to carry. We also found that it’s a little top heavy - even with the magnetic stand we manged to topple it over when reaching for it in the dark.

We liked the overall design of the Zest, but would like to see a few more functions to make it perfect. For example, it would be nice to be able to set seven days’ worth of alarms and a sunset feature to help you get to sleep - then it might be closer to offering value for money. A cleaner, more stylish design would also be welcomed. RRP £125

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4 out of 5

Pros

Light-alarm and light therapy

Timer for sessions

Beep alarm

Compact

Adjustable light levels

Cons

Heavy

No sunset function

No weekly alarm options