

Show HN: Sleep Debt Calculator - imkevinxu
http://sleepdebtcalc.com/

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

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

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

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freditup
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!

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imkevinxu
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 :)

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freditup
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?

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imkevinxu
Definitely

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huggah
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.

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

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imkevinxu
Just added that, let me know what you think!

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beagle90
[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201091632.ht...](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201091632.htm)

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.

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chuckcode
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".

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stickydink
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 :)

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dreen
Please, I'm trying, I just don't know _how_...

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

X_X

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shloime
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.

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_kst_
It congratulated me for sleeping 23.999 hours/day.

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Cyranix
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.

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chris_engel
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...

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

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

