Verilux HappyLight Luxe

I’ve long suspected that whenever all the leaves are gone and the sky is grey, I might benefit from what’s called a SAD lamp, a light source to combat seasonal affective disorder. In mid-December I decided to get some light. And now I can recommend the Verilux HappyLight Luxe. It’s a small tablet-like device, 11.7 × 7.5 × 0.5. (And nothing like — ugh — a tanning lamp.) I keep the HappyLight on my desk, angled and off to one side, and let it run for twenty minutes every morning. Getting the right intensity, light shade, and time takes a little experimenting. I think the benefits of this device are real: more energy, better sleep, fewer typos, less despair, even when the sky is really, really grey. Highly recommended.

This device is sold out at Verilux, but the smaller HappyLight Touch Plus is available.

[If I were speaking, I’d have to decide between \ˈlu̇ks\ and \ˈlüks\. I’d go with \ˈlüks\, which seems to me the more downhome pronunciation. Grey, as I think most writers would agree, is greyer than gray. Fewer typos: in other words, better concentration, though my iPhone is still a typo forest.]