Application of an infrared sensor to home-monitoring of rest-activity patterns in a child with sleep disturbance
First published: 10 June 2003
Dr T Nakano, Home Appliance R & D Center, Matsushita Electric Works Ltd., 1048 Kadoma, Osaka 571-8686, Japan. Email: [email protected]
Abstract
An infrared sensor system was applied on a sleep-disturbed 4-year-old child with spastic diplegia for 5 months as a home-monitoring assessment tool of bedside rest-activity patterns. Simultaneous measurements showed that infrared and actigraphic rest-activity during sleep were cross-correlated (R = 0.70). After the first month of measurement, an intervention by light exposure was introduced in order to improve the sleep-wake rhythm. The per cent sleep indices during night-time, whether estimated from either actigraph or infrared sensor, increased after the intervention and remained at higher values for 4 months.
