The LONVIA Edit
Curated insights on space, health, investment, and the future of living.
Science
The mornings change first: what the autumn equinox does to your light
The LONVIA
Edit
Curated insights on space, health, investment, and the future of living.
Science
The mornings change first: what the autumn equinox does to your light
8 min read
The body registers the change of season before you consciously do, and it registers it in the morning. Light in the first hours after waking is the strongest timing signal the internal clock receives. As sunrise drifts later, that signal weakens. In Zurich, sunrise moves from just after seven in late September to shortly after eight by the solstice.
What actually changes at the equinox?
The September equinox falls on 23 September 2026, at 00:05 UTC, which is 02:05 in Switzerland. From that moment the Northern Hemisphere has more darkness than daylight, and the loss accelerates.
The rate depends on where you are. Around the equinox, Zurich loses roughly three and a half minutes of daylight a day. Copenhagen loses about four and a half. Stockholm and Oslo lose more than five. The further north, the steeper the slide.
That daily loss is not distributed evenly across the day. The mornings go first. In Zurich, sunrise falls at about 07:12 on 23 September and about 08:10 on 21 December. Set against a fixed waking hour, an hour of morning daylight quietly disappears over three months. The room looks the same in December as it did in September. The light in it does not.
The mornings change first. Your schedule does not.
Why do the mornings matter more than the evenings this month?
Because morning light is doing a different job from evening light, and it is the job that sets everything after it.
The circadian system takes its strongest timing cue from light in the hours immediately after waking. In studies using comparable light conditions, lower morning light exposure is associated with later sleep timing and reduced daytime alertness. Brown et al. 2022 sets the recommended daytime minimum at 250 mEDI lux at the eye, against roughly 90 per cent of the day spent indoors, commonly under 200.
This is why many people notice something shifting in October without connecting it to light. The bedtime has not moved. The workload has not changed. The morning signal has weakened, and the clock it anchors has drifted with it.
Three things to do, starting this week
None of them require buying anything from us.
If you wake before sunrise and going outside is not practical, a daylight lamp placed at eye level while you have your coffee is a reasonable stand-in until the sun catches up. There are many on the market and they are inexpensive.
Treat it as a measure for the darkest months rather than a permanent arrangement, on the same principle as the rest of this publication: a set-up that depends on you remembering it every morning is a maintained problem, not a solved one.
Why the colour of a bulb is not a guide
This is the part worth carrying into the winter.
ONE CAUTION
Many bulbs and lamps sold as ambient or atmospheric still emit a substantial amount of short-wavelength content, whatever their pink or amber appearance suggests.
The colour you see is not a reliable guide to what your eyes receive.
Appearance and melanopic content are separate properties. A source can look warm and still sit well above the 10 mEDI lux ceiling that Brown et al. 2022 recommends for the three hours before sleep. Colour temperature describes how a light looks to the eye. It says nothing dependable about the biological load it delivers.
If you want certainty in the evening rather than an approximation, bulbs engineered to remove short-wavelength content altogether are widely available and cheap. They are a blunt instrument, and they will not help you during the day, but for the hours before sleep they do what the label promises in a way that ambient warm white does not.
What none of this fixes
Two limits, stated plainly.
The morning walk and the evening bulb are two separate interventions for two separate problems, which is precisely the pattern this publication keeps returning to. Each one works. Together they ask you to run your own light schedule by hand, every day, through the darkest part of the year.
And the daytime hours in between remain untouched. Ten minutes outdoors at eight in the morning does not change what the next nine hours indoors deliver. That gap is the one the season makes worst and the one habit changes address least.
Everything above is drawn from published research on comparable light conditions, not from measurements on LONVIA hardware. The science behind all three habits is set out on the science page.
With light,
Roksana Fasovska
LONVIA Founder
Frequently asked questions
When is the autumn equinox in 2026?
The September equinox occurs on 23 September 2026 at 00:05 UTC. In Central European Summer Time that is 02:05 on 23 September. In the Americas the same moment falls on the evening of 22 September, which is why the date is sometimes given differently.
How much daylight is lost each day in autumn?
It depends on latitude. Around the equinox, Zurich loses roughly three and a half minutes a day, Copenhagen about four and a half, and Stockholm and Oslo more than five.
How long should I spend outside in the morning?
Ten to fifteen minutes within an hour of waking is a practical target. Outdoor illuminance under cloud remains far higher than indoor levels, so the exposure is worthwhile in poor weather.
Do warm or amber bulbs protect evening sleep?
Not reliably. Appearance and melanopic content are separate properties, and a warm-looking source at usable brightness frequently exceeds the 10 mEDI lux evening threshold. Bulbs specifically engineered to remove short-wavelength content are more dependable for the hours before sleep.
References
1. Brown TM, Brainard GJ, Cajochen C, et al. Recommendations for daytime, evening, and night-time indoor light exposure to best support physiology, sleep, and wakefulness in healthy adults. PLOS Biology. 2022;20(3):e3001571.
2. International Commission on Illumination (CIE). CIE S 026/E:2018. CIE System for Metrology of Optical Radiation for ipRGC-Influenced Responses to Light. Vienna: CIE; 2018.
3. Viola AU, James LM, Schlangen LJM, Dijk DJ. Blue-enriched white light in the workplace improves self-reported alertness, performance and sleep quality. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. 2008;34(4):297-306.
4. Phillips AJK, Vidafar P, Burns AC, et al. High sensitivity and interindividual variability in the response of the human circadian system to evening light. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2019;116(24):12019-12024.
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Ready to shape a healthier future?
Book an introductory conversation to explore how well-being can be integrated into your space or project
Ready to shape a healthier future?
Book an introductory conversation to explore how well-being can be integrated into your space or project
8 min read
Key Insight
The body registers the change of season before you consciously do, and it registers it in the morning. Light in the first hours after waking is the strongest timing signal the internal clock receives. As sunrise drifts later, that signal weakens. In Zurich, sunrise moves from just after seven in late September to shortly after eight by the solstice.
The body registers the change of season before you consciously do, and it registers it in the morning. Light in the first hours after waking is the strongest timing signal the internal clock receives. As sunrise drifts later, that signal weakens. In Zurich, sunrise moves from just after seven in late September to shortly after eight by the solstice.
What actually changes at the equinox?
The September equinox falls on 23 September 2026, at 00:05 UTC, which is 02:05 in Switzerland. From that moment the Northern Hemisphere has more darkness than daylight, and the loss accelerates.
The rate depends on where you are. Around the equinox, Zurich loses roughly three and a half minutes of daylight a day. Copenhagen loses about four and a half. Stockholm and Oslo lose more than five. The further north, the steeper the slide.
That daily loss is not distributed evenly across the day. The mornings go first. In Zurich, sunrise falls at about 07:12 on 23 September and about 08:10 on 21 December. Set against a fixed waking hour, an hour of morning daylight quietly disappears over three months. The room looks the same in December as it did in September. The light in it does not.
The mornings change first. Your schedule does not.
Why do the mornings matter more than the evenings this month?
Because morning light is doing a different job from evening light, and it is the job that sets everything after it.
The circadian system takes its strongest timing cue from light in the hours immediately after waking. In studies using comparable light conditions, lower morning light exposure is associated with later sleep timing and reduced daytime alertness. Brown et al. 2022 sets the recommended daytime minimum at 250 mEDI lux at the eye, against roughly 90 per cent of the day spent indoors, commonly under 200.
This is why many people notice something shifting in October without connecting it to light. The bedtime has not moved. The workload has not changed. The morning signal has weakened, and the clock it anchors has drifted with it.
Why do the mornings matter more than the evenings this month?
Because morning light is doing a different job from evening light, and it is the job that sets everything after it.
The circadian system takes its strongest timing cue from light in the hours immediately after waking. In studies using comparable light conditions, lower morning light exposure is associated with later sleep timing and reduced daytime alertness. Brown et al. 2022 sets the recommended daytime minimum at 250 mEDI lux at the eye, against roughly 90 per cent of the day spent indoors, commonly under 200.
This is why many people notice something shifting in October without connecting it to light. The bedtime has not moved. The workload has not changed. The morning signal has weakened, and the clock it anchors has drifted with it.
Why do the mornings matter more than the evenings this month?
Because morning light is doing a different job from evening light, and it is the job that sets everything after it.
The circadian system takes its strongest timing cue from light in the hours immediately after waking. In studies using comparable light conditions, lower morning light exposure is associated with later sleep timing and reduced daytime alertness. Brown et al. 2022 sets the recommended daytime minimum at 250 mEDI lux at the eye, against roughly 90 per cent of the day spent indoors, commonly under 200.
This is why many people notice something shifting in October without connecting it to light. The bedtime has not moved. The workload has not changed. The morning signal has weakened, and the clock it anchors has drifted with it.
What actually changes at the equinox?
The September equinox falls on 23 September 2026, at 00:05 UTC, which is 02:05 in Switzerland. From that moment the Northern Hemisphere has more darkness than daylight, and the loss accelerates.
The rate depends on where you are. Around the equinox, Zurich loses roughly three and a half minutes of daylight a day. Copenhagen loses about four and a half. Stockholm and Oslo lose more than five. The further north, the steeper the slide.
That daily loss is not distributed evenly across the day. The mornings go first. In Zurich, sunrise falls at about 07:12 on 23 September and about 08:10 on 21 December. Set against a fixed waking hour, an hour of morning daylight quietly disappears over three months. The room looks the same in December as it did in September. The light in it does not.
The mornings change first. Your schedule does not.
Three things to do, starting this week
None of them require buying anything from us.
Three things to do, starting this week
None of them require buying anything from us.
If you wake before sunrise and going outside is not practical, a daylight lamp placed at eye level while you have your coffee is a reasonable stand-in until the sun catches up. There are many on the market and they are inexpensive.
Treat it as a measure for the darkest months rather than a permanent arrangement, on the same principle as the rest of this publication: a set-up that depends on you remembering it every morning is a maintained problem, not a solved one.
Why the colour of a bulb is not a guide
This is the part worth carrying into the winter.
ONE CAUTION
Many bulbs and lamps sold as ambient or atmospheric still emit a substantial amount of short-wavelength content, whatever their pink or amber appearance suggests.
The colour you see is not a reliable guide to what your eyes receive.
Appearance and melanopic content are separate properties. A source can look warm and still sit well above the 10 mEDI lux ceiling that Brown et al. 2022 recommends for the three hours before sleep. Colour temperature describes how a light looks to the eye. It says nothing dependable about the biological load it delivers.
If you want certainty in the evening rather than an approximation, bulbs engineered to remove short-wavelength content altogether are widely available and cheap. They are a blunt instrument, and they will not help you during the day, but for the hours before sleep they do what the label promises in a way that ambient warm white does not.
Why the colour of a bulb is not a guide
This is the part worth carrying into the winter.
ONE CAUTION
Many bulbs and lamps sold as ambient or atmospheric still emit a substantial amount of short-wavelength content, whatever their pink or amber appearance suggests.
The colour you see is not a reliable guide to what your eyes receive.
Appearance and melanopic content are separate properties. A source can look warm and still sit well above the 10 mEDI lux ceiling that Brown et al. 2022 recommends for the three hours before sleep. Colour temperature describes how a light looks to the eye. It says nothing dependable about the biological load it delivers.
If you want certainty in the evening rather than an approximation, bulbs engineered to remove short-wavelength content altogether are widely available and cheap. They are a blunt instrument, and they will not help you during the day, but for the hours before sleep they do what the label promises in a way that ambient warm white does not.
What none of this fixes
Two limits, stated plainly.
The morning walk and the evening bulb are two separate interventions for two separate problems, which is precisely the pattern this publication keeps returning to. Each one works. Together they ask you to run your own light schedule by hand, every day, through the darkest part of the year.
And the daytime hours in between remain untouched. Ten minutes outdoors at eight in the morning does not change what the next nine hours indoors deliver. That gap is the one the season makes worst and the one habit changes address least.
Everything above is drawn from published research on comparable light conditions, not from measurements on LONVIA hardware. The science behind all three habits is set out on the science page.
What none of this fixes
Two limits, stated plainly.
The morning walk and the evening bulb are two separate interventions for two separate problems, which is precisely the pattern this publication keeps returning to. Each one works. Together they ask you to run your own light schedule by hand, every day, through the darkest part of the year.
And the daytime hours in between remain untouched. Ten minutes outdoors at eight in the morning does not change what the next nine hours indoors deliver. That gap is the one the season makes worst and the one habit changes address least.
Everything above is drawn from published research on comparable light conditions, not from measurements on LONVIA hardware. The science behind all three habits is set out on the science page.
Frequently asked questions
When is the autumn equinox in 2026?
The September equinox occurs on 23 September 2026 at 00:05 UTC. In Central European Summer Time that is 02:05 on 23 September. In the Americas the same moment falls on the evening of 22 September, which is why the date is sometimes given differently.
How much daylight is lost each day in autumn?
It depends on latitude. Around the equinox, Zurich loses roughly three and a half minutes a day, Copenhagen about four and a half, and Stockholm and Oslo more than five.
How long should I spend outside in the morning?
Ten to fifteen minutes within an hour of waking is a practical target. Outdoor illuminance under cloud remains far higher than indoor levels, so the exposure is worthwhile in poor weather.
Do warm or amber bulbs protect evening sleep?
Not reliably. Appearance and melanopic content are separate properties, and a warm-looking source at usable brightness frequently exceeds the 10 mEDI lux evening threshold. Bulbs specifically engineered to remove short-wavelength content are more dependable for the hours before sleep.
References
1. Brown TM, Brainard GJ, Cajochen C, et al. Recommendations for daytime, evening, and night-time indoor light exposure to best support physiology, sleep, and wakefulness in healthy adults. PLOS Biology. 2022;20(3):e3001571.
2. International Commission on Illumination (CIE). CIE S 026/E:2018. CIE System for Metrology of Optical Radiation for ipRGC-Influenced Responses to Light. Vienna: CIE; 2018.
3. Viola AU, James LM, Schlangen LJM, Dijk DJ. Blue-enriched white light in the workplace improves self-reported alertness, performance and sleep quality. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. 2008;34(4):297-306.
4. Phillips AJK, Vidafar P, Burns AC, et al. High sensitivity and interindividual variability in the response of the human circadian system to evening light. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2019;116(24):12019-12024.
References
1. Brown TM, Brainard GJ, Cajochen C, et al. Recommendations for daytime, evening, and night-time indoor light exposure to best support physiology, sleep, and wakefulness in healthy adults. PLOS Biology. 2022;20(3):e3001571.
2. International Commission on Illumination (CIE). CIE S 026/E:2018. CIE System for Metrology of Optical Radiation for ipRGC-Influenced Responses to Light. Vienna: CIE; 2018.
3. Viola AU, James LM, Schlangen LJM, Dijk DJ. Blue-enriched white light in the workplace improves self-reported alertness, performance and sleep quality. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. 2008;34(4):297-306.
4. Phillips AJK, Vidafar P, Burns AC, et al. High sensitivity and interindividual variability in the response of the human circadian system to evening light. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2019;116(24):12019-12024.
With light,
Roksana Fasovska
Roksana Fasovska
LONVIA Founder
Science
The mornings change first: what the autumn equinox does to your light
8 min read
The body registers the change of season before you consciously do, and it registers it in the morning. Light in the first hours after waking is the strongest timing signal the internal clock receives. As sunrise drifts later, that signal weakens. In Zurich, sunrise moves from just after seven in late September to shortly after eight by the solstice.
Key Insight
What actually changes at the equinox?
The September equinox falls on 23 September 2026, at 00:05 UTC, which is 02:05 in Switzerland. From that moment the Northern Hemisphere has more darkness than daylight, and the loss accelerates.
The rate depends on where you are. Around the equinox, Zurich loses roughly three and a half minutes of daylight a day. Copenhagen loses about four and a half. Stockholm and Oslo lose more than five. The further north, the steeper the slide.
That daily loss is not distributed evenly across the day. The mornings go first. In Zurich, sunrise falls at about 07:12 on 23 September and about 08:10 on 21 December. Set against a fixed waking hour, an hour of morning daylight quietly disappears over three months. The room looks the same in December as it did in September. The light in it does not.
The mornings change first. Your schedule does not.
Why do the mornings matter more than the evenings this month?
Because morning light is doing a different job from evening light, and it is the job that sets everything after it.
The circadian system takes its strongest timing cue from light in the hours immediately after waking. In studies using comparable light conditions, lower morning light exposure is associated with later sleep timing and reduced daytime alertness. Brown et al. 2022 sets the recommended daytime minimum at 250 mEDI lux at the eye, against roughly 90 per cent of the day spent indoors, commonly under 200.
This is why many people notice something shifting in October without connecting it to light. The bedtime has not moved. The workload has not changed. The morning signal has weakened, and the clock it anchors has drifted with it.
Why do the mornings matter more than the evenings this month?
Because morning light is doing a different job from evening light, and it is the job that sets everything after it.
The circadian system takes its strongest timing cue from light in the hours immediately after waking. In studies using comparable light conditions, lower morning light exposure is associated with later sleep timing and reduced daytime alertness. Brown et al. 2022 sets the recommended daytime minimum at 250 mEDI lux at the eye, against roughly 90 per cent of the day spent indoors, commonly under 200.
This is why many people notice something shifting in October without connecting it to light. The bedtime has not moved. The workload has not changed. The morning signal has weakened, and the clock it anchors has drifted with it.
Why do the mornings matter more than the evenings this month?
Because morning light is doing a different job from evening light, and it is the job that sets everything after it.
The circadian system takes its strongest timing cue from light in the hours immediately after waking. In studies using comparable light conditions, lower morning light exposure is associated with later sleep timing and reduced daytime alertness. Brown et al. 2022 sets the recommended daytime minimum at 250 mEDI lux at the eye, against roughly 90 per cent of the day spent indoors, commonly under 200.
This is why many people notice something shifting in October without connecting it to light. The bedtime has not moved. The workload has not changed. The morning signal has weakened, and the clock it anchors has drifted with it.
What actually changes at the equinox?
The September equinox falls on 23 September 2026, at 00:05 UTC, which is 02:05 in Switzerland. From that moment the Northern Hemisphere has more darkness than daylight, and the loss accelerates.
The rate depends on where you are. Around the equinox, Zurich loses roughly three and a half minutes of daylight a day. Copenhagen loses about four and a half. Stockholm and Oslo lose more than five. The further north, the steeper the slide.
That daily loss is not distributed evenly across the day. The mornings go first. In Zurich, sunrise falls at about 07:12 on 23 September and about 08:10 on 21 December. Set against a fixed waking hour, an hour of morning daylight quietly disappears over three months. The room looks the same in December as it did in September. The light in it does not.
The mornings change first. Your schedule does not.
Three things to do, starting this week
None of them require buying anything from us.
Three things to do, starting this week
None of them require buying anything from us.
If you wake before sunrise and going outside is not practical, a daylight lamp placed at eye level while you have your coffee is a reasonable stand-in until the sun catches up. There are many on the market and they are inexpensive.
Treat it as a measure for the darkest months rather than a permanent arrangement, on the same principle as the rest of this publication: a set-up that depends on you remembering it every morning is a maintained problem, not a solved one.
Why the colour of a bulb is not a guide
This is the part worth carrying into the winter.
ONE CAUTION
Many bulbs and lamps sold as ambient or atmospheric still emit a substantial amount of short-wavelength content, whatever their pink or amber appearance suggests.
The colour you see is not a reliable guide to what your eyes receive.
Appearance and melanopic content are separate properties. A source can look warm and still sit well above the 10 mEDI lux ceiling that Brown et al. 2022 recommends for the three hours before sleep. Colour temperature describes how a light looks to the eye. It says nothing dependable about the biological load it delivers.
If you want certainty in the evening rather than an approximation, bulbs engineered to remove short-wavelength content altogether are widely available and cheap. They are a blunt instrument, and they will not help you during the day, but for the hours before sleep they do what the label promises in a way that ambient warm white does not.
Why the colour of a bulb is not a guide
This is the part worth carrying into the winter.
ONE CAUTION
Many bulbs and lamps sold as ambient or atmospheric still emit a substantial amount of short-wavelength content, whatever their pink or amber appearance suggests.
The colour you see is not a reliable guide to what your eyes receive.
Appearance and melanopic content are separate properties. A source can look warm and still sit well above the 10 mEDI lux ceiling that Brown et al. 2022 recommends for the three hours before sleep. Colour temperature describes how a light looks to the eye. It says nothing dependable about the biological load it delivers.
If you want certainty in the evening rather than an approximation, bulbs engineered to remove short-wavelength content altogether are widely available and cheap. They are a blunt instrument, and they will not help you during the day, but for the hours before sleep they do what the label promises in a way that ambient warm white does not.
What none of this fixes
Two limits, stated plainly.
The morning walk and the evening bulb are two separate interventions for two separate problems, which is precisely the pattern this publication keeps returning to. Each one works. Together they ask you to run your own light schedule by hand, every day, through the darkest part of the year.
And the daytime hours in between remain untouched. Ten minutes outdoors at eight in the morning does not change what the next nine hours indoors deliver. That gap is the one the season makes worst and the one habit changes address least.
Everything above is drawn from published research on comparable light conditions, not from measurements on LONVIA hardware. The science behind all three habits is set out on the science page.
What none of this fixes
Two limits, stated plainly.
The morning walk and the evening bulb are two separate interventions for two separate problems, which is precisely the pattern this publication keeps returning to. Each one works. Together they ask you to run your own light schedule by hand, every day, through the darkest part of the year.
And the daytime hours in between remain untouched. Ten minutes outdoors at eight in the morning does not change what the next nine hours indoors deliver. That gap is the one the season makes worst and the one habit changes address least.
Everything above is drawn from published research on comparable light conditions, not from measurements on LONVIA hardware. The science behind all three habits is set out on the science page.
Frequently asked questions
When is the autumn equinox in 2026?
The September equinox occurs on 23 September 2026 at 00:05 UTC. In Central European Summer Time that is 02:05 on 23 September. In the Americas the same moment falls on the evening of 22 September, which is why the date is sometimes given differently.
How much daylight is lost each day in autumn?
It depends on latitude. Around the equinox, Zurich loses roughly three and a half minutes a day, Copenhagen about four and a half, and Stockholm and Oslo more than five.
How long should I spend outside in the morning?
Ten to fifteen minutes within an hour of waking is a practical target. Outdoor illuminance under cloud remains far higher than indoor levels, so the exposure is worthwhile in poor weather.
Do warm or amber bulbs protect evening sleep?
Not reliably. Appearance and melanopic content are separate properties, and a warm-looking source at usable brightness frequently exceeds the 10 mEDI lux evening threshold. Bulbs specifically engineered to remove short-wavelength content are more dependable for the hours before sleep.
References
1. Brown TM, Brainard GJ, Cajochen C, et al. Recommendations for daytime, evening, and night-time indoor light exposure to best support physiology, sleep, and wakefulness in healthy adults. PLOS Biology. 2022;20(3):e3001571.
2. International Commission on Illumination (CIE). CIE S 026/E:2018. CIE System for Metrology of Optical Radiation for ipRGC-Influenced Responses to Light. Vienna: CIE; 2018.
3. Viola AU, James LM, Schlangen LJM, Dijk DJ. Blue-enriched white light in the workplace improves self-reported alertness, performance and sleep quality. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. 2008;34(4):297-306.
4. Phillips AJK, Vidafar P, Burns AC, et al. High sensitivity and interindividual variability in the response of the human circadian system to evening light. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2019;116(24):12019-12024.
References
1. Brown TM, Brainard GJ, Cajochen C, et al. Recommendations for daytime, evening, and night-time indoor light exposure to best support physiology, sleep, and wakefulness in healthy adults. PLOS Biology. 2022;20(3):e3001571.
2. International Commission on Illumination (CIE). CIE S 026/E:2018. CIE System for Metrology of Optical Radiation for ipRGC-Influenced Responses to Light. Vienna: CIE; 2018.
3. Viola AU, James LM, Schlangen LJM, Dijk DJ. Blue-enriched white light in the workplace improves self-reported alertness, performance and sleep quality. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. 2008;34(4):297-306.
4. Phillips AJK, Vidafar P, Burns AC, et al. High sensitivity and interindividual variability in the response of the human circadian system to evening light. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2019;116(24):12019-12024.
Roksana Fasovska
LONVIA Founder
With light,