44 Nights and 44 Days: A Sample of Insomnia

Full graphic (PDF)

Originally created for the May 2019 Storytelling with Data challenge. From the challenge write-up:

Alyssa’s submission exemplifies how data can be humanizing. Mike [Cisneros] notes “Alyssa’s submission hit on several key topics in data visualization: trust, both between collector and visualizer and trust in the accuracy of the observations; careful handling of personally-identifiable information (PII); the importance of not depicting subjective categories as having absolute values; and in being transparent about what data is not shown, as well as what is shown.”

 
Rested Impaired Operational Incapacitated Sleepless hours (trying to fall asleep) Hours of sleep Sleepless hours (awake before alarm) 3 5 1 3 1 5 Nights and 44 44 A sample of insomnia Sleep data anonymized for patient privacyGraphic by Alyssa Fowers No data Started sleep aid Removed trigger from bedroom Diagnosed with PTSD Days
 

Design notes:

The amounts of sleep designated as incapacitated/impaired/operational/rested are intentionally not labelled for three reasons:

  • Everyone's sleep needs are different, so the number of hours of sleep isn't as informative as the impact that sleep has on a person's life.

  • Second, I want to avoid races to the bottom for sleep deprivation. ("wow, you consider THAT impaired? I haven't slept more than that in fifteen years," etc)

  • Third, the number of hours of sleep in the log were rounded to the half hour, and according to the patient may have been off by 15-20 minutes since it's difficult to know the precise moment they fell asleep. Therefore, I would prefer to give an impression of the patient’s state, rather than show a precise estimate of how long the patient slept.