New Perspectives in Nonintrusive Sleep Monitoring for Neurodegenerative Diseases—A Narrative Review

Abstract

Good sleep quality is of primary importance in ensuring people’s health and well-being. In fact, sleep disorders have well-known adverse effects on quality of life, as they influence attention, memory, mood, and various physiological regulatory body functions. Sleep alterations are often strictly related to age and comorbidities. For example, in neurodegenerative diseases, symptoms may be aggravated by alterations in sleep cycles or, vice versa, may be the cause of sleep disruption. Polysomnography is the primary instrumental method to investigate sleep diseases; however, its use is limited to clinical practice. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the available innovative technologies and methodologies proposed for less invasive sleep-disorder analysis, with a focus on neurodegenerative disorders. The paper intends to summarize the main studies, selected between 2010 and 2022, from different perspectives covering three relevant contexts, the use of wearable and non-wearable technologies, and application to specific neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, the review provides a qualitative summary for each selected article concerning the objectives, instrumentation, metrics, and impact of the results obtained, in order to facilitate the comparison among methodological approaches and overall findings.