Actigraphy is a non-invasive method of monitoring an individual’s sleep-wake cycles. Actigraph watches typically record limb movement in the form of activity counts. Algorithms that have been validated against polysomnography, are then used to score the raw activity data into the individual’s sleep-wake states. Actigraphy can generate several output values for both daytime and nighttime data, including mean day and night activity, total sleep time, wake bouts, etc.
In the SHEL, actigraphy is our primary method of data collection in field studies. We use the MotionWatch 8 wrist actigraph from CamNtech, paired with their MotionWare software, for data collection and subsequent sleep, nap, and circadian rhythm analysis.
