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Do you find consumer grade wrist actigraphy useful in measuring sleep quality and duration?

1 Answer
Mednet MemberInvited Expert
Pulmonology · University Hospitals
Answered on

Consumer wearables are advancing quickly, and there is a lot of variation in their performance, particularly in those with sleep disorders. Unfortunately, there is a wide variation in the performance of devices, even ones using the same signals to calculate sleep/wake. Additionally, orthosomnia is a concern.

Overall, these devices tend to overestimate total sleep time, particularly in those with sleep disorders. They seem to be passable in generally informing sleep-wake (sleep duration and timing) in healthy people, as long as they are used appropriately (e.g., inappropriate use: turn on sleep tracker when starting to read/watch TV in bed but not asleep - sleep time can be artificially elevated). I have concerns about both consumer and medic...

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