Sleep Monitoring in Microgravity

摘要

Sleep is vital in any environment, whether that be on Earth or in space, and improving sleep quality can lead to a higher performance output. It is well documented that sleeping in space is more difficult when compared to sleeping on Earth. Therefore, the necessity to improve sleep quality for astronauts is crucial especially considering the dangers associated with space travel/flight. Here we detail efforts to construct a wearable sleep monitoring platform to non-invasively determine the real-time sleep stage of a person (whether in space or not). To date a lab-built system has been constructed and initial sleep data has been successfully extracted. The data obtained from a heart rate sensor, breathing rate sensor and accelerometer has been analysed by means of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), to determine whether this approach is valid for sleep stage determination. From this analysis 3-4 possible groupings have been initially identified by eye. While more testing and additional sensors are required to improve analysis, it is envisaged that in the future this device will be easily deployed on future missions into space. With the hope that the acquired data will advance our understanding of sleep in microgravity and be able to influence environmental factors to increase sleep quality.