The Efficacy of a Mattress Type Sleep Measuring Device in Analyzing Sleep in Healthy University Students: Comparison with Actigraphy

Sleep disturbance relates to various disorders and is a significant public health issue. Evaluation of sleep quality is necessary to analyze and improve sleep quality. Polysomnography (PSG) is an efficient method for sleep analysis. However, complicated systems are required for the analysis. Also, PSG can be stressful for participants and is, therefore, not suitable for long term sleep monitoring. Sleepscan is a non-invasive mattress type sleep measuring device developed by TANITA. Sleepscan measures the participant’s heart rate, respiration, and body movement during sleep, and evaluates sleep quality objectively. We measured the sleep quality of healthy university students with Sleepscan and a widely-used sleep measuring device, actigraph. We also discussed the efficacy of using Sleepscan daily. Sleepscan detected longer sleep latency and shorter awake episodes during sleep than actigraph. Although these devices showed quite different results for some sleep variables, the sleep score recorded by Sleepscan and sleep efficiency by actigraph correlates well. Since sleep efficiency is used as a representative index for comprehensive sleep quality in actigraphy, the sleep score by Sleepscan can be an alternative index used to evaluate sleep quality objectively. Sleepscan can also analyze the depth of sleep. The deep sleep variables recorded by Sleepscan did not correlate with the sleep variables by actigraph, suggesting that these variables may represent aspects of sleep quality that cannot be detected by actigraphy. Sleepscan may be useful in analyzing sleep quality objectively more comprehensively over a long period.