Sleep monitoring is when people use different methods to understand how they sleep (Krueger et al., 2008). There is no direct measure of sleep quality but scientists use techniques like monitoring brain waves, eye movements, muscle activity, and heart rhythms to get information about it (Krueger et al., 2008). Polysomnography (PSG) is a way to collect all this data at once, and it’s considered the best way to measure sleep, and is mainly used to help people with sleep problems (Bloch, 1997). A cheaper and easier way to measure sleep is by using wrist activity monitors (Kripke et al., 2010; McCall & McCall, 2011; Shambroom et al., 2011). These monitors use a special tool to measure movement and can tell if you’re sleeping or awake based on your activity level (Dickinson & Hanrahan, 2009; Shambroom et al., 2011).
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Krueger, J. M., Rector, D. M., Roy, S., Van Dongen, H. P. A., Belenky, G., & Panksepp, J. (2008). Sleep as a fundamental property of neuronal assemblies. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9, 910919.
McCall, C., & McCall, W. V. (2011). Comparison of actigra- phy with polysomnography and sleep logs in depressed insomniacs. Journal of Sleep Research, 21, 122127.
Shambroom, J. R., Fabregas, S. E., & Johnstone, J. (2011). Validation of an automated wireless system to monitor sleep in healthy adults. Journal of Sleep Research, 21, 221230.