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Canadian Tiredness Test

Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
Cort Johnson gets credit for bringing this to my attention on his Health Rising website.

http://www.painfreesleep.ca/tiredness-test?&cid=semeOyQHbZq

"Canadian Tiredness Test

Did you have a bad night’s sleep last night? Are you feeling tired and not at your best? Take The Canadian Tiredness Test to find out just how alert you are!"


I realize from years of experience that "tiredness" doesn't come close to describing what people with ME experience. Nevertheless, the test was a fun exercise with interesting results. Here are mine -- test done after fully awake, but before much done to deplete my energy:

"time for some serious snoozing

Sounds like you got a terrible sleep last night.

test duration: 1 minute, 39 seconds
false starts: 0 (reaction time quicker than 100 milliseconds)
signals missed: 5 (reaction time slower than 500 milliseconds)
average reaction time: 419 milliseconds (on average, 220 milliseconds would be a 'good' reaction time)"

Anyone out there interested in taking the challenge?
 

Hutan

Senior Member
Messages
1,099
Location
New Zealand
Mine was 278 seconds. This was in the morning after 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep then 1.5 hours of resting in bed. I hadn't actually got out of bed yet. The interpretation of this result was:

Feeling sleepy?
Today you may find things are taking slightly longer than usual and you might not be as engaged. If you haven't fallen asleep at your desk yet, it might be a good idea to hit the hay early tonight and catch up on some well-deserved shut-eye.

I did this similar test
http://www.sleepdisordersflorida.com/pvt1.html#responseOut
every evening for a while and my performance on it was correlated with other symptoms including orthostatic intolerance measures and resting heart rate. My response time was markedly slower in the evening than in the morning.
 

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
Just to be boringly prosaic, it should be mentioned that if you use a wireless mouse there's usually a time lag with them. Wired mices are quicker, but some of those can be laggy, too. It's fun to do but things like that are only meaningful if you do what Hutan did and set a benchmark then do regular comparisons.
 

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,335
Location
Southern California
Just to be boringly prosaic, it should be mentioned that if you use a wireless mouse there's usually a time lag with them. Wired mices are quicker, but some of those can be laggy, too. It's fun to do but things like that are only meaningful if you do what Hutan did and set a benchmark then do regular comparisons.

Thank you! My mouse is wireless -- (my brain too! :sluggish:)
 

Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
. . . it should be mentioned that if you use a wireless mouse there's usually a time lag with them. It's fun to do but things like that are only meaningful if you do what Hutan did and set a benchmark then do regular comparisons.

Yes, although fun to do, I now realize the test is only meaningful if compared with a benchmark.

I retested myself later in the day using the same wired mouse, after a short trip to get groceries. My average reaction time improved (396 milliseconds vs 419). But, my signals missed (reaction times slower than 500 milliseconds) increased from 5 to 16. It's apparent these especially slow times were not included in the average. So, based on the calculated reaction time, it appears I improved while actually achieving worse results.
 

TiredSam

The wise nematode hibernates
Messages
2,677
Location
Germany
It's fun to do but things like that are only meaningful if you do what Hutan did and set a benchmark then do regular comparisons.
Never mind that, I just want to beat everybody else.

Result - 303
Today you may find things are taking slightly longer than usual and you might not be as engaged. If you haven't fallen asleep at your desk yet, it might be a good idea to hit the hay early tonight and catch up on some well-deserved shut-eye.

That's after an interrupted night's sleep, a mid-morning 30-minute lie-down, teaching for 6 hours, locking my office door in the break and lying on the floor for 15 minutes, getting home and going straight to bed where I slept for 70 minutes, getting up at 9 in the evening, eating, drinking a glass of wine, it's now 2 am so I've been up for 5 hours. If anyone would like to analyse that lot for me I'd be most grateful.

I shall now hit the hay for some well-earned shut-eye.
 

Dechi

Senior Member
Messages
1,454
My average is 396. I am very tired and barely can keep my eyes open. It's almost 9 pm and time for me to put my pyjamas on amd get ready for bed...
 

CFS_for_19_years

Hoarder of biscuits
Messages
2,396
Location
USA
Canadian Tiredness Test:
286 milliseconds
Today you may find things are taking slightly longer than usual and you might not be as engaged. If you haven't fallen asleep at your desk yet, it might be a good idea to hit the hay early tonight and catch up on some well-deserved shut-eye.

Psychomotor Vigilance Test:
305 msec
Your results show that your alertness may be suboptimal. Consider medical evaluation.
Hmm, OK, will do.
This is after being in bed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. I've been up for 2 hours. Time to go back to bed.:sleep:
 

CFS_for_19_years

Hoarder of biscuits
Messages
2,396
Location
USA
Well here's a new word: Presenteeism. Found on the Canadian Tiredness website.
Sleep loss due to pain may cause presenteeism, meaning to be present, be it at home or in the workplace, but absent in mind, whether sick, in pain, tired, distracted, or also a combination of these.

Wikipedia even has an entry for it, but their focus is on the workplace, not the home environment.
Presenteeism or working while sick can cause productivity loss, poor health, exhaustion and workplace epidemics. While the contrasting subject of absenteeism has historically received extensive attention in the management sciences, presenteeism has only recently been studied.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40516
The term "presenteeism" was coined by Professor Cary Cooper, a psychologist specializing in organisational management at Manchester University in the UK.
 

JohnCB

Immoderate
Messages
351
Location
England
test_duration.png

1 minute(s) 19 second(s)
false_starts.png

1 (reaction time quicker than
100 milliseconds)
signals_missed.png

0 (reaction time slower than
500 milliseconds)
average_reaction_time.png

~298 milliseconds

My mouse is wireless but it has very sensitive buttons which may have shaved off the odd mS.. The false start I had not intended to press the button but it responded to my finger twitching.

My conclusion - I prefer Tetris but the last time I tried that I fried my brain. Flappy Bird is doable, but eventually gets tedious. I would expect to do quite well at this kind of exercise if I was illness free, but I am not. However this is a little bit of fun which most of us can still join in.

ETA: I did the test again on a touch screen tablet. That was worse. I got a lot of false starts as my finger twitched try to hold it just above the screen. My reaction times showed as slower. I found the experience more demanding and rather unpleasant compared to using the mouse. I abandoned it without completing the full test.
 
Last edited:

Mel9

Senior Member
Messages
995
Location
NSW Australia
Never mind that, I just want to beat everybody else.

Result - 303
Today you may find things are taking slightly longer than usual and you might not be as engaged. If you haven't fallen asleep at your desk yet, it might be a good idea to hit the hay early tonight and catch up on some well-deserved shut-eye.

That's after an interrupted night's sleep, a mid-morning 30-minute lie-down, teaching for 6 hours, locking my office door in the break and lying on the floor for 15 minutes, getting home and going straight to bed where I slept for 70 minutes, getting up at 9 in the evening, eating, drinking a glass of wine, it's now 2 am so I've been up for 5 hours. If anyone would like to analyse that lot for me I'd be most grateful.

I shall now hit the hay for some well-earned shut-eye.


Six hours teaching! Are you overdoing things?
 

TiredSam

The wise nematode hibernates
Messages
2,677
Location
Germany
Six hours teaching! Are you overdoing things?
Thanks for your concern :). I don't think I'm overdoing things - Monday is my busiest day, I take the evening and Tuesday morning off afterwards to recover. Plus I've planned my course so that the students do most of the work. I have a much lighter workload for the rest of the week (except every other Thursday - don't ask). I have most Fridays off completely, plus I do nothing all weekend. I've been doing those Mondays for 2-3 years now, and can compare how they used to wipe me out to how I feel now, which is much better due to pacing more efficiently over the whole week.
 

erin

Senior Member
Messages
885
test_duration.png

1 minute(s) 53 second(s)
false_starts.png

3 (reaction time quicker than
100 milliseconds)
signals_missed.png

3 (reaction time slower than
500 milliseconds)
average_reaction_time.png

~352 milliseconds
 

TiredSam

The wise nematode hibernates
Messages
2,677
Location
Germany
test_duration.png

1 minute(s) 24 second(s)
false_starts.png

1 (reaction time quicker than
100 milliseconds)
signals_missed.png

0 (reaction time slower than
500 milliseconds)
average_reaction_time.png

~274 milliseconds