The Measurement of Sleep by Actigraphy: Direct Comparison of 2 Commercially Available Actigraphs in a Nonclinical Population

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To compare 2 commercially available actigraphs. DESIGN: Subjects wore the Actiwatch L and the Basic Mini-Motionlogger for 2 nights. SETTING: Naturalistic. PARTICIPANTS: 20 healthcare workers aged 24 to 64 years. MEASUREMENTS: Measures included sleep latency, total sleep time, wake after sleep onset, and sleep efficiency. Actiwatch L data were analyzed at 3 sensitivity settings. RESULTS: The Mini-Motionlogger reported more total sleep time, less wake after sleep onset, and greater sleep efficiency than the Actiwatch L set at high sensitivity. It also reported more wake after sleep onset than the Actiwatch L set at low sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: Both devices achieved similar overall performance when the Actiwatch L was set at medium sensitivity.