stcredzero comments on Empirical Sleep Time - Less Wrong

3 Post author: rlpowell 24 June 2012 07:09PM

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Comment author: stcredzero 25 June 2012 02:47:20AM 1 point [-]

I had a Zeo for awhile. It does a pretty good job, but it was disturbing how locked-in your data was. There are smartphone apps that will also gather comparable data for much less:

http://lifehacker.com/5441045/sleep-cycle-analyzes-your-sleep-patterns-for-a-better-wake+up

Also, if you snore, then blood oxygenation level is not a bad proxy for sleep, and clinical quality devices are available on ebay for much less than a new Zeo.

Comment author: CasioTheSane 26 June 2012 07:54:28AM *  2 points [-]

ZEO isn't locked in at all anymore- they have a decrypted firmware you can download, an open source library for interfacing the data format, as well as instructions online to interface the ZEO directly via a serial port if you want realtime data.

You can now use the ZEO without even ever uploading the data to their website.

Comment author: gwern 25 June 2012 03:03:32AM 2 points [-]

Locked in?

Also, I haven't see any reliable information to the effect that accelerometer-based inferences are comparable to the Zeo's electrode recording.

Comment author: [deleted] 25 June 2012 03:05:35AM 1 point [-]

I'm confused by this thread. A Zeo isn't going to tell you when you ought to go to sleep.

Comment author: stcredzero 25 June 2012 03:26:57AM 2 points [-]

No, but it will tell you if you aren't getting enough in general, which is more relevant since sleep debt can build up over several days.

Comment author: [deleted] 25 June 2012 04:18:55AM *  0 points [-]

It's not what OP is asking about.

Comment author: shokwave 25 June 2012 04:40:30AM 2 points [-]

If the OP is interested in performance as it relates to sleep, this is probably an interesting area to explore. Metaphorically, if I see someone struggling to pick apples from a tree here, I might direct them to the low-hanging oranges on the tree there.

That said, I also did answer the OP's question up-thread.

Comment author: [deleted] 25 June 2012 07:55:40AM 0 points [-]

Yeah, I guess Zeo would be better, but I dunno whether it is so much better as to justify the larger price (two orders of magnitude more expensive than Sleep Cycle).

Comment author: stcredzero 25 June 2012 03:25:57AM 0 points [-]

Yes, locked in. When I was using the Zeo, all of your data lived on their flash based site, and there was no obvious way to get it out and into your own analytic tools.

Also, for purposes of managing sleep hygiene, you don't need highly accurate records. Moderately accurate data will benefit most individuals with imperfect sleep hygiene.

Comment author: VincentYu 25 June 2012 08:11:33AM *  2 points [-]

Perhaps it's a new functionality, but their site currently offers data export to CSV.

Comment author: gwern 25 June 2012 02:29:40PM *  1 point [-]

They've had CSV export ever since I began using it, and I've never had major problems with that - it's what I use for my statistics in R. Since around when I got one, they even have firmware that supports sending out the raw data second by second over a serial cable (which I was thinking about using for meditation).

So I figure either stcredzero used Zeo a long time ago, or he simply didn't know about the options.