Utility of Activity Monitors and Thermometry in Assessing Sleep Stages and Sleep Quality

Abstract

Activity monitors provide an inexpensive and convenient way to measure sleep, yet relatively few studies have been conducted to validate the use of these devices in examining measures of sleep quality or sleep stages and if other measures, such as thermometry, could inform their accuracy. The purpose of this study was to compare one research-grade and four consumer-grade activity monitors on measures of sleep quality (sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, and wake after sleep onset) and sleep stages (awake, sleep, light, deep, REM) against an electroencephalography criterion. The use of a skin temperature device was also explored to ascertain whether skin temperature monitoring may provide additional data to increase the accuracy of sleep determination. Twenty adults stayed overnight in a sleep laboratory during which sleep was assessed using electroencephalography and compared to data concurrently collected by five activity monitors (research-grade: ActiGraph GT9X Link; consumer-grade: Fitbit Charge HR, Fitbit Flex, Jawbone UP4, Misfit Flash) and a skin temperature sensor (iButton). The majority of the consumer-grade devices overestimated total sleep time and sleep efficiency while underestimating sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, and number of awakenings during the night, with similar results being seen in the research-grade device. The Jawbone UP4 performed better than both the consumer- and research-grade devices, having high levels of agreement overall and in epoch-by-epoch sleep stage data. Changes in temperature were moderately correlated with sleep stages, suggesting that addition of skin temperature could increase the validity of activity monitors in sleep measurement.