The truth about light and sleep.
And why your old bulbs worked against you.
No vague claims. Here is the mechanism, how OIO acts on it, the numbers we publish, and the honest limits of what a light can do. Written to be followed by a non-scientist and respected by one.
Prefer practical answers? See the guides on the best light for sleep, jet lag, and night shifts, or all guides.
Your clock has its own light sensor.
Deep in your retina sits a set of cells called ipRGCs. They aren't for seeing images. Their job is to tell your brain what time it is, and they are most sensitive to cyan-blue light around 480nm.
Bright, blue-rich light in the morning is the clock's strongest daytime signal; the circadian system reads that 440–495 nm band and times the rest of the day around it. The same band at night is the strongest signal to shift the clock later. So the question isn't how bright a light looks, it's how much lands in that band, and when.
A well-timed, regular circadian rhythm is linked to better sleep, daytime alertness, mood, and long-term metabolic health; a chronically mistimed one is not. That link is the whole reason the timing of the blue signal matters. What moves it is timing and consistency, the right blue signal at the right time every day, not fiddling with a dimmer.
Two lights that look like the same warm white. One keeps a spike in the melanopic band; OIO's night spectrum removes it. Same color to your eye, a different message to your clock.
Most “circadian” bulbs are two LEDs and a marketing team. This is real spectral engineering.
A warm/cool bulb just slides between two white LEDs, so warmer always means the same trade. OIO reshapes the whole spectrum, so it can land on one target color from many different spectra and set the blue signal where it wants it: full and blue-rich by morning, and by night stripped almost to nothing while the white stays warm. That is why it can give you a warm evening white with almost no light in the melanopic band.
Hit the warm white you want while removing the blue your clock reads. Invisible to the eye, not to your body.
A deep, blue-free night ember up to bright, blue-rich daylight, all from one bulb.
Blue-rich by morning to fill the melanopic band; blue taken out at night to empty it.
High color rendering, so skin, food and materials look right at every setting.
We publish the spectra. Check them against your own data.
Per-mode spectral power distributions and melanopic ratios (mEDI) at each time of day. The full dataset lives here, and updates as we publish measured production values.
Figures here are representative; the method and standards are real (CIE S 026, WELL L03). Full measured per-mode spectra publish with the shipping bulb.
We measure against the same standards the researchers do.
Circadian light is not a vibe. It is a measured quantity, with an international metrology standard behind it. OIO is designed to the same framework.
The international metrology standard for ipRGC-influenced light. It defines melanopic EDI (mEDI), the number we design the night ember to keep low.
Circadian lighting design targets for melanopic light in occupied spaces. OIO's day mode aims at these daytime thresholds.
A consensus of circadian researchers on recommended indoor light exposure: bright and blue-rich by day, dim and blue-poor in the hours before sleep.
What light can do, and what it can't.
Light is the strongest external cue for your body clock, so giving it the right signal genuinely helps. But it is not a drug. OIO supports healthy circadian timing. It does not treat or cure insomnia or any sleep disorder, and it works best alongside consistent sleep habits and morning daylight. If you have a diagnosed sleep condition, talk to a clinician. We would rather tell you that than oversell you.
Want the full, rigorous version? Read the Korrus primers on the body clock. Start with What Circadian Rhythms Are, or see all white papers.
- Berson, Dunn & Takao (2002). Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock. Science, 295(5557).
- Lucas et al. (2014). Measuring and using light in the melanopsin age. Trends in Neurosciences, 37(1).
- CIE S 026:2018. System for Metrology of Optical Radiation for ipRGC-Influenced Responses to Light.
- Brown et al. (2022). Recommendations for daytime, evening, and nighttime indoor light exposure. PLOS Biology, 20(3).
- Prayag et al. (2019). Light modulation of human clocks, wake, and sleep. Clocks & Sleep, 1(1).