Test your sleep
Test your sleep. Help our European EUCLOCK project and learn more about your own sleep pattern!
By completing our questionnaire on this website you will help us with our researchproject on sleep-wake regulation. We are interested in individual differences, in exposure to natural and artificial light, and the seasonal changes in our sleep-wake rhythm. The questionnaire consists of 2 parts, one is about personal information, the other one asks for your sleep habits and light exposure during the past 2 months. You will receive feedback about your "chronotype" (whether you are a real late, or early type) compared to our large database of about 8000 Dutch people who already completed the questions.An update
Although the website was not widely advertised we are very happy with the interest. In August 2009 already more then 700 people completed the questionnaire at least once. Of those people 50% completed the questionnaire already twice or more. This is important, because completing the questionnaire repeatedly over time allows us to analyze possible changes over time. We want to know whether sleep patterns change over the season, do people wake up later during the winter, do they sleep longer? Are there individual differences, and if so can we find an explanation for these differences. So also if you do not experience changes please go in, we need that information too.
Light treatment for Olympic swimming team!
The Dutch Olympic swimming team uses light to improve performance even further. The basic idea behind this treamtent is the dual effect of light. Light exposure at certain phases of the day will shift our biological clock. This is necessary to adjust the biological clock of the swimmers to local time in Beijing. If the internal time is not in phase with the external time in Beijing this may result in jetlag complaints, such as sleep disturbances, gastro-intestinal complaints and fatigue. Also timing of peak performance is under the influence of the biological clock. By an appropriate timing of light, peak performance must coincide with the scheduled swimming program.
Why do we have early and late chronotypes?
Our biological clock is located in our brain. It dictates our most profitable time to fall asleep. Why do there exists such extreme differences then? We know that the biological clock of late chronotypes is slower then the one of early chronotypes. But can we do anything for them? What is the role of light, and do seasons affect our sleep timing? With this website you can investigate your own chronotype compared to a large Dutch database, and you will find news on sleep-wake rhythms and your biological clock. By completing the questionnaire you will get feedback on your chronotype and you will help us answering our researchquestions. Thank you very much for your help!
