Photon Quiet Hours: A Lab‑Style Evening Light Protocol to Shorten Onset Latency #915566

You prefer schematics over slogans. Photon Quiet Hours gives hobbyists a precise, test‑repeatable framework for evening light discipline that reliably compresses time‑to‑lights‑out. The protocol specifies luminance ceilings (melanopic lux targets), color‑temperature ramps (Kelvin waypoints), screen‑nit caps, distance rules, and content‑arousal filters—plus automation schedules that enforce the plan without micromanaging. Each module includes exact durations, intensities, and pass/fail checkpoints so you can iterate like a mini experiment and log results with confidence.

You’ll implement a staged taper: ambient lighting shift, display transforms (grayscale, warm spectrum), notification triage, and a cognitive off‑ramp that prevents late‑night task looping. Environment and device settings are mapped to a one‑page timing grid, with recovery flows for travel, social late nights, and shift‑skewed weeks. Metrics focus on onset latency, wake‑after‑onset, and morning clarity—simple numbers that tell you if the system is working.

If you love dialing in processes until they lock, this is your blueprint: clean, measurable, repeatable. Run it tonight, record the delta tomorrow, and tune parameters across the week for a stable, predictable lights‑out.