Your Lumie wake up light has a ‘hidden’ feature that minimises blue light – here’s how to use it

If you own a Lumie wake up light, this ‘hidden’ feature removes blue light to help you fall asleep faster – here’s how it works and why you should try it.

Instead of a loud, terrifying alarm clock scaring you awake every morning, you should consider switching to a wake up light. As T3’s Home Editor, I’ve tried wake up lights from Lumie, Philips and more, and they’ve replaced my phone alarm as my wake up call in the morning.

How wake up lights work is by gradually brightening their light to mimic the sunrise, waking you up more naturally and calmly so you start your day off positively. They can also be used as night lights as most models – including Lumie’s line-up – have sunset cycles that gradually dim over time to help you relax before bed.

But what some people don’t realise is regardless of how dim your wake up light or bedside lamp is, they still emit blue light which can impact your sleep. Blue light is a high-energy visible light with a short wavelength which produces high amounts of energy. Unlike other light forms, our eyes can’t effectively filter blue light so it easily passes through the eye and can ‘trick’ your brain into thinking it’s time to be awake.

While blue light is beneficial during the day, it can be disruptive to your sleep, especially if you use your phone, laptop or TV before bed, as these devices emit artificial blue light. Some LEDs and other light bulbs emit blue light too, so your bedside light could also be to blame for your interrupted sleep.

But this clever ‘hidden’ feature from Lumie means you can still use your wake up light into the evening without it affecting your sleep quality. Your Lumie wake up light has a low blue light setting that uses LED technology to limit blue light exposure at night.

To use the low blue light setting on your Lumie wake up light, you’ll need to activate the ‘low blue sunrise’ option by going into sunrise settings on your device’s main menu. Once you’ve selected this, your Lumie wake up light will limit the light intensity and will switch it from a bright white colour to a darker, warmer red light.

This feature is available on Lumie Bodyclock and Bedbug wake up lights, including the Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 750DAB and the Lumie Bodyclock Shine 300 which we’ve tested previously. If your Lumie wake up light doesn’t have ‘low blue sunrise’ in its menu settings, you can select the 30-minute fading sunset cycle which also reduces blue light exposure.

Limiting blue light is a great way to help you fall asleep faster and relax more comfortably. Instead of a stimulating white light, a warmer, darker light can help aid the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, which should help you drift off easier and sleep more deeply.

For more sleep tips and tricks, check out T3 Sleep Month.