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Show HN: Sleepio - how I cured my insomnia, turned into software.

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Re: Show HN: Sleepio - how I cured my insomnia, turned into software.

#31

Post by yvoschaap2 »

phames wrote: post #29
sneak wrote: post #27

Starting with "At what time do you normally get in to bed?" to this Non-24 sufferer living in Germany is sort of like opening with "Enter your ten digit phone number" or "What is your ZIP code?"

The thing we've wrestled most with (and haven't yet cracked) is how to accept time entry in a way that is unambiguous to even the least confident users, and also encompasses the range of quanta we need to manage (from mins to many hours). We've tried a few different solutions but 24hr dropdowns result in the least comprehension errors!! How would you do it if you were us?

How about a visual analog round clock where people can drag the hour hand to a certain point, and choose to create a range by dragging and so extending the time slice with another hour hand.

Re: Show HN: Sleepio - how I cured my insomnia, turned into software.

#33

Post by phames »

yvoschaap2 wrote: post #31
phames wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing we've wrestled most with (and haven't yet cracked) is how to accept time entry in a way that is unambiguous to even the least confident users, and also encompasses the range of quanta we need to manage (from mins to many hours). We've tried a few different solutions but 24hr dropdowns result in the least comprehension errors!! How would you do it if you were us?

How about a visual analog round clock where people can drag the hour hand to a certain point, and choose to create a range by dragging and so extending the time slice with another hour hand.

Thanks for the suggestion - it's something we've considered; the issue with our tests to date has been getting the minute-to-minute fidelity with a circular interface (plus it's actually quite hard to drag something accurately in a circular motion). But we should revisit this all with fresh eyes - and the idea much appreciated!

Re: Show HN: Sleepio - how I cured my insomnia, turned into software.

#34

Post by phames »

minikomi wrote: post #30
phames wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes that's the vision! That when you have a problem, you just 'visit The Prof', and he gives you a blended programme to help you. Sleep is a good starting point, since it is a) socially acceptable to talk about, and b) is highly co-morbid with other problems - a good way in to health in general. A limitation of our current media-rich approach however is the cost of adapting content - we took a short term cheap, long…

Man, good luck. It's a head smackingly obvious yet simple idea.. some more: quitting smoking, learning a language, cooking at home.. :)

Thanks man! Yes it's a case of picking battles really at first - even within sleep there's so much we can do...

Re: Show HN: Sleepio - how I cured my insomnia, turned into software.

#35

Post by highace »

tokenizer wrote: post #25

Why wouldn't you use sleep.io as the default?

Answered a similar question the other day. Webmaster tools doesn't let you target .io domains globally, as it's intended for the Indian Ocean countries. Therefore it won't rank as well as a .com in the Google serps, which is a big disadvantage.

Re: Show HN: Sleepio - how I cured my insomnia, turned into software.

#36

Post by sneak »

phames wrote: post #29
sneak wrote: post #27

Starting with "At what time do you normally get in to bed?" to this Non-24 sufferer living in Germany is sort of like opening with "Enter your ten digit phone number" or "What is your ZIP code?"

The thing we've wrestled most with (and haven't yet cracked) is how to accept time entry in a way that is unambiguous to even the least confident users, and also encompasses the range of quanta we need to manage (from mins to many hours). We've tried a few different solutions but 24hr dropdowns result in the least comprehension errors!! How would you do it if you were us?

My issue is not with your way of input, but with the question itself. My sleep patterns shift forward every single day.

I no more have a time I go to bed every night than I have a US zip code or a ten-digit cell phone number.

Re: Show HN: Sleepio - how I cured my insomnia, turned into software.

#37

Post by bjourne »

phames wrote: post #17
rane wrote: post #15

Is there a free alternative using the same methodology? Sounds interesting, but £49.99 is way too much for me right now.

Well, the techniques are out there in the literature, but it's how they are tailored to your own situation - and more importantly how you actually deliver positive behaviour change, rather than just info - that's the real challenge that we're trying to address at a price less than the £600 you'd need to pay for a course of face to face therapy. We're going to try a lower price point ongoing subs model to avoid that i…

I'd gladly pay £100 or more.. If I actually believed the product would work on me. However, there is so much crap and scams on the internet that it is hard to believe a web site programme would be effective. All the thousands of "get abs in six weeks!" ads has made me cynical. Maybe if someone I trusted had taken the programme and could recommend it to me it would put be over the trust threshold.

Re: Show HN: Sleepio - how I cured my insomnia, turned into software.

#38

Post by phames »

highace wrote: post #35
tokenizer wrote: post #25

Why wouldn't you use sleep.io as the default?

Answered a similar question the other day. Webmaster tools doesn't let you target .io domains globally, as it's intended for the Indian Ocean countries. Therefore it won't rank as well as a .com in the Google serps, which is a big disadvantage.

Interesting. Thanks! That will be my response from now on...

Re: Show HN: Sleepio - how I cured my insomnia, turned into software.

#39

Post by phames »

sneak wrote: post #36
phames wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing we've wrestled most with (and haven't yet cracked) is how to accept time entry in a way that is unambiguous to even the least confident users, and also encompasses the range of quanta we need to manage (from mins to many hours). We've tried a few different solutions but 24hr dropdowns result in the least comprehension errors!! How would you do it if you were us?

My issue is not with your way of input, but with the question itself. My sleep patterns shift forward every single day. I no more have a time I go to bed every night than I have a US zip code or a ten-digit cell phone number.

Understood. Fair point.

We've taken what are the clinical standard measures - and some indeed feature counterintuitive questions. And you're right, one of the main issues with 'insomnia' is an unreliable sleep pattern.

We don't want to know how you slept last night, since this may be unrepresentative; but as you say an 'average' may also not capture it/be a natural way to report it. 3 x sample points ('last 3 nights') may be longwinded. Will consider...any ideas on a better question?

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