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Automatic algorithms are a proposed alternative to manual assessment of polysomnography data for analyzing sleep structure; however, none are acceptably accurate for clinical use. We investigated the feasibility of an automated sleep stage scoring system called Sleep Scope, which is intended for use with portable 1-channel electroencephalograph, and compared it with the traditional polysomnography scoring method. Twenty-six outpatients and fourteen healthy volunteers underwent Sleep Scope and polysomnography assessments simultaneously. Polysomnography records were manually scored by three sleep experts. Sleep Scope records were scored using a dedicated auto-staging algorithm. Sleep parameters, including total sleep time, sleep latency, wake after sleep onset, and sleep efficiency, were calculated. The epoch-by-epoch pairwise concordance based on the classification of sleep into five stages (i.e., wake, rapid eye movement, N1, N2, and N3) was also evaluated after validating homogeneity and bias between Sleep Scope and polysomnography. Compared with polysomnography, Sleep Scope seemed to overestimate sleep latency by approximately 3 min, but there was no consistent tendency in bias in other sleep parameters. The Κ values ranged from 0.66 to 0.75 for experts’ inter-rater polysomnography scores and from 0.62 to 0.67 for Sleep Scope versus polysomnography scores, which indicated sufficient agreement in the determination of sleep stages based on the Landis and Koch criteria. We observed sufficient concordance between Sleep Scope and polysomnography despite lower concordance in sleep disorder patients. Thus, this auto-staging system might serve as a novel clinical tool for reducing the time and expenses required of medical staff and patients.

Health effects of weekend catch-up sleep (CUS) could differ depending on both the ability to obtain sufficient sleep during weekdays and amount of weekend CUS required to compensate for sleep lost during the week. Using data from 3128 middle-aged (40–64 years) participants of the Sleep Heart Health Study, we examined the longitudinal association of these two aspects of sleep with all-cause mortality. CUS was calculated as the difference in self-reported habitual sleep duration between weekends and weekdays, and classified into no, short (1 h), and long (2 h or more) CUS. Polysomnography-measured total sleep time, representing the ability to obtain sufficient sleep, was classified into short (

Bright light (BL) therapy is clinically utilized for treatment of sleep–wake disorders through the manipulation of circadian oscillation. It is also extended to depressive disorders including seasonal affective disorder through emotional regulation. Recently, it has been suggested that BL facilitates memory encoding and consolidation via another psychophysiological mechanism of perceptual information processing in the brain. In particular, BL can help to alleviate stress associated with processing of fear memories. In this study, we explored a potential application of BL for treatment of stress-induced and fear circuitry disorders in patients receiving exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Fourteen patients with panic disorder (PD) or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were enrolled in a single-blind, randomized control trial to assess BL exposure (8000-lux, 30 min, 9 times, 2 weeks apart) compared to sham light (SL) exposure (800-lux, the same duration and frequency), while patients were concurrently receiving exposure-based CBT. The State Trait Anxiety Index (STAI) and the self-rating version of Montgomery–Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS-S) assessed anxiety-related severity scores before and after therapy. After dropouts, 10 participants remained. STAI and MADRS-S scores showed a significantly greater reduction in the BL group than in the SL group. BL may be an effective augmentative therapy when used with exposure-based CBT for PD and PTSD patients. Future trials with larger sample sizes that are adequately statistically powered are required to confirm these preliminary findings.