Slaaptechneuten

Slaaptechneuten is a Dutch colloquial term used to describe people who are deeply interested in sleep technology and sleep science. The word is a compound of slaap (sleep) and techneut (techie, tinkerer) and is not an official job title. In Dutch-language discourse it can refer to both professionals working with sleep technology—such as researchers, engineers, or clinicians involved in developing sleep-monitoring devices and methods—and hobbyists who tinker with devices, apps, and data to optimize or understand their own sleep.

Slaaptechneuten may work with a range of tools, from consumer wearables and smartphone apps to laboratory equipment like actigraphy or polysomnography in research settings. They often engage in data collection and analysis of sleep parameters (such as sleep onset, duration, and quality) and explore interventions such as light exposure, temperature, or sound to influence sleep patterns. The term is typically used informally and can carry a lighthearted or affectionate tone, especially when describing enthusiasts who share tips and experiments in blogs, forums, or social media.

Relation to formal fields: the concept overlaps with sleep medicine, sleep technology, chronobiology, and human factors engineering. However, slaaptechneuten does not denote a recognized professional designation; individuals involved are described by their specific roles (researcher, engineer, clinician, data analyst) rather than by the umbrella term.

See also: Sleep technology, Sleep medicine, Chronobiology, Wearable technology, Sleep data, Actigraphy.