Therapy Lys

Not just a SAD light, this lamp also has active, relax and therapy settings, which 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. It felt very brilliant and 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 sunset, 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.