Evaluation of a sleep switch device

Study Objective: To evaluate the performance of a sleep switch device (held between finger and thumb) in normal sleepers and in insomniacs by comparing its performance to PSG data, wrist actigraphy, and subjective estimates. Design: 19 insomniacs and 6 normal sleepers each spent one night in the sleep laboratory. Sleep latency and total sleep time were evaluated by the sleep switch device, polysomnography, wrist actigraphy, and subjective estimates. Setting: NA Patients or Participants: NA Interventions: NA Results: The sleep switch device correlated .98 with PSG sleep latency (to the onset of the first 10 minutes of solid sleep, stage 1 or deeper). Mean and standard deviations were almost identical between the two measures. The sleep switch was somewhat less accurate than the wrist actigraph in assessing total sleep time. Conclusions: The sleep switch device is a very accurate and inexpensive tool when trying to assess sleep latency in insomniacs and in normals.