Photonic OS
Lost
Light
Years
Light deprivation is costing you years. PHOS measures exactly how many, and shows you how to reclaim them.
01
Three facts your organisation has not been told
01
Every cell in your organisation runs on light.
20,000 neurons in the hypothalamus time every process in the body by morning light. Cortisol, melatonin, insulin, immunity: all of it runs on the schedule light sets.
02
Modern life broke the signal.
Bright screens at night, dim days indoors, irregular schedules. The body runs on the wrong time: chronically, silently.
03
Hibernation is what follows.
A suppressed signal turns every system down a gear: cognition, immunity, metabolism. This is what misalignment does to your workforce, every working day.
02
Photonic Age
Your age, measured in light. The gap from your calendar age is your Lost Light Years.
What the calendar says.
Example: senior professional, London, 43 years old · three-night TipTraQ study
Measured across three domains with TipTraQ, at home, in three nights. No blood tests. No clinic.
03
What Lost Light Years costs your firm
Lost Light Years are a commercial metric. Each one costs an estimated 15 percent of sustained cognitive performance.
Annual cost per person = Lost Light Years × Annual salary × 0.15
Source: Hafner et al. (2016) · RAND Europe · Why Sleep Matters
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Top-tier London law firm |
| Senior professionals | 150 fee earners |
| Average annual salary | £120,000 |
| Average Lost Light Years | 3.8 years |
| Productivity coefficient | 15% |
| Annual revenue impact | £2.7 million |
This is conservative. It excludes healthcare costs, attrition, and the compounding cost of impaired decisions.
04
The methodology, published
Photonic Age: A Methodology for Measuring Lost Light Years and the Hidden Cost of Circadian Misalignment
The full methodology: scientific foundations, a worked clinical example, and the commercial translation into revenue impact.
Grant Munro · NIHI Fellow, University of Auckland · The Circadian Foundation · Auckland, New Zealand · June 2026