Do SAD Lamps Actually Work?

The Wirecutter Show

The New York Times

Life Hacks, Product Recommendations, Wirecutter, Podcast, New York Times, How To, The Wirecutter Show, Leisure, Recommendations, Products, Testing, Home & Garden, Society & Culture, Education

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Seasonal affective disorder can disrupt your mood and sleep. We explain how light therapy lamps work, who they’re for, and which ones are worth investing in.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's screaming, I am being used under medical supervision.
0:08.4	I have no aesthetic value, but I might be able to help you survive in life.
0:16.7	I'm Kyra Blackwell.
0:18.3	I'm Rosie Garron, and you're listening to The Wirecutter Show.
0:33.5	Kaira, are you okay?
0:34.7	No.
0:35.6	Yeah.
0:36.2	Is it by any chance because you live in a basement and it is February?
0:41.2	Oh, what do you think?
0:42.3	I think maybe it has something to do with it.
0:44.9	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:46.0	I mean, I talk about this all the time, but I do live in a basement and I don't get any light, like, ever.
0:52.0	And it's especially hard in winter when it's in full swing because
0:56.1	it just, it just feels like I'm in darkness all the time. Yeah, and the days are shorter, too.
1:00.3	Have you ever considered getting one of those big lights that they advertise that you should use
1:06.5	in winter so that you are less sad? Yeah, the technical name is actually a light therapy lamp,
1:12.9	but since they're pegged for use during winter when seasonal effective disorder hits,
1:17.3	they're often referred to with their acronym, S-A-D, or sad lamps. So they're literally called
1:22.3	sad lamps. They're literally called sad lamps for the sad ease of the world. But yeah, I've thought
1:26.7	about it. I've read about it a lot,
1:29.1	but I don't know. It's been kind of hard for me to decide if I should dive right into it for a
1:33.9	couple of reasons. I wasn't sure how well they might work. And they're a little bit expensive.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New York Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The New York Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.