Actigraphy, the Alternative Way?

The gold standards for measurement of sleep and wake are polysomnography (PSG) and the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) and will remain so. Both tests are labor intensive and expensive when seen from the viewpoint of the sleep laboratory and a heavy burden for the patient, in particular for children and their parents. Furthermore, the use of MSLT in children is hampered by the lack of reliable normal values. Actigraphy is a simple technique. The actigraph looks like a small wristwatch and contains a device, which is sensitive to movements, a memory chip, and a battery. With a bin width that can be chosen dependent on the indication and the period of measurement, movements are detected and recorded by the memory chip. The idea is that during sleep only few movements will be detected in contrast to a period during wakefulness. The memory chip can be read through a simple device and plotted using a normal computer, notebook, or tablet. Parameters, such as time in bed (TIB), total sleep time (TST), sleep onset latency (SOL), awakenings and their duration, and naps during daytime, are calculated and showed