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Review

Wearables in Chronomedicine and Interpretation of Circadian Health

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Submitted:

20 November 2024

Posted:

20 November 2024

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Abstract
Wearable devices gain increasing attention for use in multifunctional applications related to health monitoring, particularly in research of the circadian rhythms of cognitive functions and metabolic processes. In this comprehensive review, we encompass how wearables can be used to study circadian rhythms in health and disease. We highlight the importance of these rhythms as markers of health and well-being, and as potential predictors for health outcomes. We focus on the use of wearable technologies in sleep research, circadian medicine, and chronomedicine beyond the -ircadian domain, with an emphasis on actigraphy as a validated tool for monitoring sleep, activity, and light exposure. We discuss various mathematical methods currently used to analyze actigraphic data, such as parametric and non-parametric approaches, applied to quantify circadian and non-circadian variability. We also introduce novel actigraphy-derived markers, which can be used as personalized proxies of health status, assisting in discriminating between health and disease, offering insights into neurobehavioral and metabolic status. We discuss how lifestyle factors such as physical activity and light exposure can modulate brain functions and metabolic health. We emphasize the importance of establishing reference standards for actigraphic measures to further refine data interpretation and improve clinical and research outcomes. The review calls for further research to refine existing tools and methods, deepen our understanding of circadian health, and develop personalized healthcare strategies.
Keywords: 
Subject: Public Health and Healthcare  -   Public, Environmental and Occupational Health
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
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