Gear, by time of day

Get outdoor light first: full daylight is about 25,000 lux, roughly 100 times the dawns tested in trials. A sunrise alarm clock earns its place when you wake before the sun or in a dark winter room. For that job, the Philips SmartSleep HF3650 is our pick: rated to 310 lux, sunrise and sunset without an app, no subscription.

A SAD lamp only helps if it puts about 10,000 lux on your eyes at the distance you actually sit. These light therapy lamps are ranked on that rated distance, independent lab checks, light area and price.

A $35 to $45 lux meter is enough to check that your SAD lamp really gives 10,000 lux at your face and to see if your desk gets anywhere near daylight. Reading melanopic light, the kind that sets the body clock, takes a spectrometer.

For sleep, the best blue light glasses have dark orange or red lenses that block nearly all light below 500 nm, worn for the 2 to 3 hours before bed. Sleep Swannies are our top pick, and the $16 Uvex Skyper filters just as well in independent lab tests.

Amber bulbs (around 1800K) and red bulbs (620 to 640 nm) give off little of the light that tells your body clock it is still daytime, so evening lamps delay melatonin less. Use them dim, for the last 2 to 3 hours before bed, or get a tunable smart bulb that shifts on a schedule.

A normal tablet or laptop is a bright, blue-rich light held close to your eyes. These screens either reflect the light already in the room, or add an amber light with almost no blue. The Daylight DC-1 is our top pick, because it is the only full tablet that works by daylight and has a warm backlight for the evening.

The best blackout curtains for a bedroom are coated or lined, not just "room darkening", and hung wide and long enough to overlap the wall. Our top pick is the coated Amazon Basics set, which blocked the most light in the only published lab test we know of. The Sun Zero Oslo is the budget choice.

The Manta Sleep Mask is the best sleep mask for most people: its contoured cups move to seal out light without touching your eyelids, and it goes in the washing machine. On a budget, the MZOO uses the same contoured idea for about $18 on Amazon.

For fine lines and acne, an FDA-cleared red light therapy mask is the best-supported buy, and the Omnilux Contour Face leads. Panels cover more body, but their sleep claims rest on two small studies.