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Show HN: Sleep Debt Calculator

26 points| imkevinxu | 13 years ago |sleepdebtcalc.com | reply

19 comments

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[+] freditup|13 years ago|reply
The amount of sleep people need varies from person to person as far as I know. I prefer to sleep 7 hours in the night and take a nap in the afternoon, and that leaves me feeling pretty good most of the day. Some people I know can sleep less than that and feel fine, others sleep more than I do and need it.

As far as I know, sleep is an extremely complex topic that we still don't understand all that well, and in my opinion this seems overly simplistic. I do like the presentation though!

[+] imkevinxu|13 years ago|reply
Thanks for the thoughtful words. I agree this is an overly simplistic view not taking into account age, lifestyle, or anything. Sleep is indeed a very complex topic, the intention with this was just to try to cleanly and simply visualize how sleep debt could play out :)
[+] huggah|13 years ago|reply
This would be much more interesting if it asked you about symptoms of sleep deficit. E.g., "if you go into a dark room and lie down in the middle of the day, how long will it take you to fall asleep?"

Someone who habitually sleeps 6 hours a night but never feels tired is probably fine. Someone who habitually sleeps 8 hours a night but always feels tired should try sleeping more, and if that doesn't work they should seek advice from a doctor.

I expect there is a large segment of people who suffer from sleep deficit and would be more effective if they slept more, but don't know that it would help them. I don't think this is the correct way to reach such people, or the correct message to give them.

[+] jeffasinger|13 years ago|reply
I think this would be a lot more powerful if you had some info on consequences of sleep debt.
[+] imkevinxu|13 years ago|reply
Just added that, let me know what you think!
[+] beagle90|13 years ago|reply
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201091632.ht...

Science seems to contradict the premise of this project. The research out there seems to suggest anywhere from 5-7 hours can be a healthy amount for an adult human.

This sort of project could cause anxiety about lack of sleep therefore causing a further lack thereof.

TLDR: If you're tired sleep. If you're not.. stay awake.*

* A well balanced diet and exercise regime are recommended in order for this point to be valid.

[+] chuckcode|13 years ago|reply
Nice to see how it all adds up over time, at least it isn't compounding like my mortgage interest.

Couple UI notes, when I put in 7.2 the UI doesn't round the resulting 5.5999999999 to something reasonable so overflows text. Also it might be nice to have a gradient of colors (or at least a yellow alert) it is a little abrupt that 7.99 hours is "Drowsiness is red alert" and 8.0 hours is "perfect amount of sleep".

[+] stickydink|13 years ago|reply
If I recall, there's a pretty decent correlation between people who sleep more than 7 a day, and increase in chance of a premature death

Also, you're missing out on so many more hours of conscious life :)

[+] shloime|13 years ago|reply
I think this is preaching to the wrong audience. Anyone getting 8 hours of sleep a night while working on a startup is sleeping too much.
[+] _kst_|13 years ago|reply
It congratulated me for sleeping 23.999 hours/day.
[+] Cyranix|13 years ago|reply
Similarly, I was issued a stern warning for sleeping 7.999 hours each night. The danger of losing "0 hours" of sleep over the course of a year was quite alarming to discover.

With a little less teasing: ignoring issues with assuming that humans are physiologically identical, the assessment could stand to be more sensitive to the significance of deviations from the proposed norm.

[+] chris_engel|13 years ago|reply
Hm, I am sleeping about 6 hrs per night for years now... So do I have to care about some dept? If so: why? It lacks information...
[+] jgoldsmith|13 years ago|reply
The cursor clashes with the question mark that it hovers over before you type a number. Otherwise, really nice design!
[+] cheald|13 years ago|reply
This site says "sleep debt", I see "hours spent awake and productive". :)