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Calculate When You Are Most Awake

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the between-noon-and-midnight dept.

cjellibebi writes "Scientists have devised a formula that works out what times of the day you are most tired. Using their website, you can work out your alertness profile for any given day. It is also discussed on this BBC News article."

7 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Its an Advert for caffiene pills YHBAT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative


    you have been astro-turfed

    next on slashdot, scientists devise a new compound said to give men a huge wang

  2. Re:Guess what they recommend by Caseylite · · Score: 5, Informative
    From http://www.mypharmacy.co.uk/alternative_medicines/ medicines/p/pro_plus/pro_plus.htm:

    Each tablet contains the active ingredient: 50mg caffeine anhydrous Ph. Eur.<br>
    Also contains: sorbitol and magnesium stearate.


    So a nap and caffeine will alleviate tiredness? I'll stick to coffee.
  3. Re:Don't Think This is Going to Work for Me by Gilesx · · Score: 3, Informative

    The "knackers yard" was a place they took tired old horses to be killed and have their bones made into glue....

    --
    Sunday you're Thinking Different, Monday you're a huge tool, paying too much and waiting to think like everyone else.
  4. Science? Try advert by ansak · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't know how scientific the whole thing is, but it's all a protracted (but low-key) advert for some kind of "pep" pills. And as if that weren't enough, the layout doesn't work for Firefox (non-portable HTML), and it's very easy to confuse its text generator.

    Just walk on, folks...ank

    --
    Still hoping for Gentle Treatment...
  5. Re:Guess what they recommend by Tandoori+Haggis · · Score: 5, Informative

    Packets of sugar feee mints containing Sorbitol carry a warning about potential laxative effect.

    Just as you said...I'll stick with coffee!

    --
    My hyperlinks aren't worth the paper they're printed on.
  6. Real Book Recommendations by ChuckDivine · · Score: 5, Informative

    I will, perhaps foolishly, jump in with two real book recommendations.

    The shorter of the two is Stanley Coren's "Sleep Thieves." It goes quite heavily into the various consequences of sleep deprivation. It's quite scary.

    The longer of the two -- and probably more informative on the biology of sleep -- is William Dement's "The Promise of Sleep." Dement is viewed by many as the leading sleep researcher in the United States.

    It will take you much longer to read this books than take the linked for test, but you'll be much better informed. You might even be able to marshall substantial arguments against a PHB's death march.

    Both books also have tests to take to find out how sleep deprived you are. There are also recommendations for treating this condition.

    Both are available from your favorite book seller.

    --
    "Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- B. Franklin
    1. Re:Real Book Recommendations by xenephon · · Score: 3, Informative
      Two others: Why we Sleep, by James Horne, and Why we Nap (edited) by Claudio Stampi. The first is a good overview of sleep research in general, and specifically addresses some of the claims that are made about the purposes of sleep. Horne looks at several arguments (he agrees with some, and disagrees with others) but more importantly gives pointers to the research which supports or refutes each claim.

      The second is a book dealing with polyphasic sleep and chronobiology. Some of the findings presented there seem to have been missed by much of the sleep research community.

      Both books are fairly technical, but this is news for nerds, right?

      On a related note, sleep research is an area in which there are a lot of (widely) divergent views, all with some amount of data to back them up. Anyone who doesn't acknowledge this fact is not giving you the whole story. As a couple of examples, a number of hormones are released in different amounts thoughout the day (and night). In some cases, this is linked to sleep, but in others, the rhythm is linked to other zeitgebers without being directly related to sleep. Since most people sleep at night and are awake during the day, researchers have to be very careful to separate the two.

      Also, experimental methods can be very important. Some of the methods used to limit sleep (or one particular phase of sleep) have caused other trauma which may have been responsible for some of the results. And finally, much research has been done on rats or other small mammals, and then extrapolated to humans. The problem is that humans (unlike rats) have a big enough brain to relax without sleeping. Since the only way for a rat to relax is for it to sleep, there are a number of effects which are tied to being relaxed which some researchers have instead tied to being asleep. Horne's book covers all of these points in detail (as well as several others).