COULD A ‘SUNBRELLA’ HELP SAD?
I’m not someone who’s immune to the encroaching gloom of winter. Having lived in overcast Denmark for the past four years, and been annually subjected to 50 shades of grey come October time that no amount of hygge can quell, you could say that I’ve had some thorough training.
By now, I’m pretty well-versed in the accoutrements that come with battling the winter blues. Whether that’s chowing down vitamin D supplements at alarming rates, or forcing myself out in subpar temperatures in a mad quest for endorphins – I’ve tried it all (hold the winter bathing). But this is the first time I’ve come across a sunbrella that purports to make “gloomy days brighter” – by beaming light down as you open it. So, obviously, I leapt at the chance to give it a whirl.
Although the sunbrella isn’t currently on sale, only available to guests at some Days Inn by Wyndham hotels, they were still kind enough to send one through. The “Innbrella” (as they call it) arrived to dozens of excited faces in the office, all eager to test it out and nab some portable sunshine.
Slightly bedazzled by the LED lights hovering overhead, I pushed on. The mood-boosting panels – 120 individual little battery-powered lights operated with a simple on-off button in the handle – reportedly “emulate the principles of light therapy” by emitting 4,000 lux so “sunshine stays in” and other unwelcome elements stay out. The promise is that it can shine bright for roughly five hours.
It’s only really when I headed outside to a crowded bus stop that I begin to feel selfconscious, jostling between people with this huge contraption. It’s not the lights that I feel so awkward about, but the sheer size of the thing carrying them. Though subtlety is no longer an option anyway, as I am a great, glowing beacon.
But then a curious thing happens. As I stand waiting patiently under the sunbrella, its protective canopy provides a brief feeling of serenity, as there’s now a little undisturbed space, a slither of light, between my body and the busyness. My fellow bus takers are all standing about in the drizzle, huddled together in their gloom, whereas I’m basking in my one-woman sunny spot. I even take out my book and catch up on a couple of pages under the shine of my own private night light. Somehow I’ve curated a little oasis of inner city calm.
It’s not for the faint hearted, though. You’ll have to make peace with some pointing and a bit of side eye, but, still, it gets people talking. One emphatic passer-by tapped me on the back to tell me how much he “LOVED my brolly” and another woman chortled, adding that it had really made her smile. As the compliments and endearing looks from my fellow, usually pofaced, Londoners came rolling in, I began to get a warm, fuzzy feeling: could the 4,000 lux be kicking in?
It definitely gave me a lift, and because you can fit the sunbrella into your daily routine (admittedly, as long as it’s raining) there’s no need to sit indoors staring aimlessly into a light box. But its lower beam intensity (compared to the Beurer TL 30), means you would probably have to be out and under it for a lot of your day to really feel its therapeutic rays.