Show HN: Sleep Debt Calculator | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Sleep Debt Calculator

sleepdebtcalc.com

26 pointsimkevinxu19 comments

Great idea, but I'll just leave this here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep#Optimal_amount_in_humans

Thank you. This one is relevant too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep#Sleep_debt

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!

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 :)

Yup, and sorry to be that guy who says something simple isn't complex enough even when it was never intended to be complex ha ha. Here's an actual question though: do you think sleep debt actually adds up like that or no?

Definitely

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.

I think this would be a lot more powerful if you had some info on consequences of sleep debt.

Just added that, let me know what you think!

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.

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".

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 :)

Please, I'm trying, I just don't know how...

http://i.imgur.com/5WdTPna.png

X_X

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.

It congratulated me for sleeping 23.999 hours/day.

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.

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...

The cursor clashes with the question mark that it hovers over before you type a number. Otherwise, really nice design!

This site says "sleep debt", I see "hours spent awake and productive". :)

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