An insomnia expert said this gadget would stop me waking up at 3 am — she was right, and I now sleep through the night and wake up with so much energy

As someone who writes about sleep for a living, I was becoming increasingly frustrated with my groggy mornings, sleepy afternoons and disrupted nights. And I refused to blame it only on the cold, dark weather of winter.

I sleep on the best mattress for my body, maintain excellent sleep hygiene and regularly test out the latest sleep products to supercharge my rest. So what was wrong? Why weren’t my go-to sleep hacks working?

I reached out to Dr. Lindsay Browning, a renowned sleep expert and neuroscientist, to find out what was behind my lack of energy and what I could do about it. After asking a few questions about my routine, she offered me a solution…

The gadget a neuroscientist recommended for me

On a call with Dr. Browning, who also holds a doctorate in experimental psychology researching insomnia, I complained of my grogginess in the morning. I described feeling foggy after waking, and that this feeling sometimes lasted until midday.

The neuroscientist explained that this sleep inertia might be because I was waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle, instead of at the end of one. This essentially drags our brains out of deep sleep, which is torturous.

But how could I make sure I was waking at the end of a sleep cycle when my alarm is set to go off at a certain time? Her answer was a sunrise alarm clock. “I’d recommend one to everyone,” she says.

Dr Browning explains that even with your eyes closed, you can sense light, so as sunrise alarm clocks brighten up, "they help to pull you into a lighter part of sleep,” making the wake-up process more gradual.

“And when you do wake up, there’s a really bright light there… which helps you to wake up, get rid of sleep inertia and suppress melatonin.”

I'd previously reviewed and loved the Lumie Shine 300 Body Clock, so I was all set to give this recommendation a whirl.

How a sunrise alarm clock transformed my sleep

After a couple of weeks of using it again, I couldn’t believe how effective the sunrise alarm clock was. Not just for getting rid of my sleep inertia, but also for helping me keep a consistent sleep schedule, fixing my circadian rhythm (our internal body clock).

Brighter mornings mean better energy

I’m a summer person. While I love a cozy winter evening, I personally think there’s nothing worse than waking up in the cold and dark and forcing yourself to go to work. So, with a 6am wake-up planned on Monday morning, and a rainy commute to the office to follow, I set my alarm clock.

I programmed the clock to slowly brighten over 30 minutes from 5.30am. That meant that by the time my alarm sounded at 6am, the lamp would be at full sunrise.

When I woke to my bedroom glowing a warm golden colour, I couldn’t help but feel energized. While I remained asleep right up until my alarm sounded at 6am, I didn’t feel confused or jolted out of sleep; instead, I was fairly alert straight away.

After a few minutes, I felt like I’d been awake for hours.

The sunset feature means I’m actually falling asleep fast

A feature that isn’t often discussed with these clocks is the sunset feature. Working similarly to the sunrise, you can set the clock light to slowly dim over a time period.

I now use this feature every single night, and it actually stops me from scrolling on my phone or watching TV in the evenings.

As soon as the light drops low, I naturally become sleepy. It has become a nighttime routine, which means I now recognize it as a cue to fall asleep, resulting in me falling asleep in just minutes.

A consistent routine means no more 3 a.m. wakeups

Falling asleep and waking up at the same time every day has become a lot easier since I began using a sunrise alarm clock again. I’m not tempted to snooze the clock because I wake up energized, and I don’t stay up late now that I set the sunset every evening.

This has fixed my circadian rhythm — the internal body clock that determines when we feel awake and when we feel sleepy throughout the day. This rhythm is controlled by sleep hormones like melatonin (released in the evening to help you sleep) and cortisol (released in the morning to help you feel awake).

When this clock is dysregulated because of inconsistent sleep schedules, these hormones are released at the wrong times, which can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night.

3 a.m. wakeups are now a thing of the past, which means my sleep quality and efficiency have improved, leading to consistent energy throughout the day.