Combat winter blues with the Maplin SAD light box

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The Maplin SAD light box looks a bit like an old flatbed computer scanner turned on its side, but it's actually a lamp.

As the name suggests, it's a SAD lamp, designed to combat seasonal-affected disorder.

When the seasons turn cold, dark and gloomy, some people are proned to depression. This device shines a very bright light towards the user; the idea being that they might feel a bit happier or more calmed by simulating the daylight you might get during the summer.

These SAD lamps normally cost quite a lot of money, but this one, available from Maplin, is a bit cheaper at around £40. As you can see, when I turn it on, it's very bright. It's also large, which means there is quite a lot of light coming out of it. And when I put it on my desk next to me in the office it was pretty distracting. It feels a bit like it might blind you rather than cure you, but we are going to give it a go.

Two months later...

So, here we are two months later and has the SAD lamp made any difference? Well, the truthful answer is that it's kind of hard to tell. I've been using it a few hours a day at my desk in the Computeractive office and it certainly does brighten things up. In fact when I switched off every night, before going home, I could hear a groan resonating throughout the office.

It doesn't just brighten up my desk – it also brightens up the desks of my colleagues. And that led us to a bit of a problem – it's hard to figure out where to position the lamp for best effect. You want it shining at you but if you are working in a confined office environment, or even at home, there are likely to be other people around and you want to avoid blinding them if you can.

Is there a cumulative effect of having the lamp on for all that time? Again, it's hard to tell. Maybe I feel a bit happier but maybe that's because we're coming out of winter and it's getting brighter anyway. However, this lamp is relatively inexpensive and if you are suffering from the blues it might be a good choice.