What is one of the primary uses of actigraphy in the context of sleep studies?

Actigraphy is primarily utilized to estimate sleep duration and patterns by monitoring movement. The device, typically worn on the wrist like a watch, detects physical activity and inactivity over time. In sleep studies, it helps researchers and clinicians gain insights into a person's sleep-wake cycles, providing a practical and non-invasive method to gather data about sleep habits outside of a sleep lab.

This method allows for the assessment of sleep quality and quantity in a person's natural environment, capturing data over extended periods, which can be more representative than short-term studies conducted in clinical settings. By analyzing the patterns of movement, it can effectively differentiate between sleep and wake states, thus delivering valuable information about the individual's overall sleep behavior and contributing to the diagnosis and management of sleep disorders.