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I first used a sunrise alarm clock when the Amazon Halo Rise debuted late last year. While I experienced mild benefits of waking up gradually to simulated light, there are two reasons it wasn’t the right product for me: I don’t need a contactless sleep tracker and I don’t like having anything that looks too “techy” on my nightstand.
Then the Hatch Restore 2 ($199) launched. I knew the original Hatch Restore as a viral TikTok product you could purchase on Amazon. But like the Halo Rise, the device’s plastic design didn’t match my meticulous bedroom aesthetic. The second-generation version fixed my complaint with a new minimalistic, fabric-swathed exterior that looks like it came out of a high-end home decor catalog.
Beneath the fabric, which is color-matched to a soft-matte shell, the Hatch Restore 2 features a multi-purpose light. More simply, it replaces a desk lamp you might use as a reading light. But if you use the companion Hatch Sleep app to set an alarm, the light will gradually increase in brightness to reproduce a sunrise. A selection of soft music can play when the light is at its brightest, signaling that it’s time to wake up.
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Now, living in New York most of my life, I tend to suffer from mild bouts of seasonal affective disorder in the winter months. I mean, is there anything worse than waking up when it’s cold and dark outside? Despite trying a few ways to make it easier to get out of bed when it's still dark out, and even swapping to nicer pillows last year, I still woke up exhausted with a nagging sense of dread and strong inclination to hit the snooze button.
Research from BMC Psychiatry found that a simulated dawn can “help with resetting the inaccurate organization of body clock functions relative to sleep occurring in winter,” to some extent. The idea is that waking up with a sunrise can support healthy circadian rhythms, resulting in feeling more rested in the morning and getting a better night's sleep at any age.
I began waking up with a little less anxiety and a bit more energy, one day at a time.
Compared to the months before testing the Restore 2, I began waking up with a little less anxiety and a bit more energy, one day at a time. Honestly, I didn’t recognize these changes in the first week or two — it took using the sunrise alarm for nearly a full month to really I felt different in the mornings. I think this is the longest I’ve gone without snoozing my alarm on my iPhone or Apple Watch, which I’ve ultimately disabled now that I trust Hatch to wake me up on time.
The Restore 2 has helped me with getting to bed, too, without needing to try something like the military sleep method. I’m a “can't fall asleep with ambient noise” kind of person, so I’ve made use of the device’s range of restful soundtracks. I’m particularly fond of the rain simulation, which is something I previously needed verbally to ask Alexa to run from my Echo Dot with Clock (2022). Now, I just need to press a button on top of the Restore 2 for sound when I’m ready to fall asleep.
There are some additional relaxation features available to Hatch Sleep members ($4.99/month,) but as a non-member, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. For comparison, making the most of Halo Rise’s sleep-tracking features requires a Halo subscription ($3.99/month.) There are other fitness tracker tools enabled with a Halo membership, but contactless sleep-tracking is not one I need. I sleep wearing my Apple Watch Series 8 and Oura Ring Gen 3, after all.
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Just because the season is changing doesn’t mean I’ll stop relying on Hatch Restore 2. In fact, it’s become an essential part of my sleep routine . The fact that it looks great on my nightstand — did I mention the disappearing clock feature? — is a huge perk. I'd like to think it contributes to my bedroom's Feng Shui for better sleep, without needing to move my bed (and heavy mattress) around.
That said, at $199, the Hatch Restore 2 is more expensive than the original Hatch Restore and Halo Rise, which both cost $129 (though you can often find the Halo Rise on sale thanks to Amazon deals.) If the design doesn’t matter as much to you, the first-gen Restore serves the same purpose as the newer one. And if you’re interested in sleep-tracking data, the Rise might be your speed.