Sleep Quality Management in Hospitalized Patients

Sleep quality in hospitalised patients is frequently compromised by a combination of environmental disturbances, clinical routines and physiological factors. Intrinsic contributors include pain, anxiety and the underlying illness itself, while extrinsic factors encompass nocturnal nursing interventions, excessive noise, inadequate lighting and uncomfortable bedding. Disruption of natural circadian rhythms further exacerbates sleep fragmentation, leading to impaired immune function, cognitive decline, delirium and prolonged recovery. Assessment tools range from patient‐reported questionnaires to objective actigraphy, yet standardised protocols for monitoring and intervention remain underdeveloped. Emerging strategies focus on minimising overnight intrusions through risk‐stratified monitoring, leveraging unobtrusive wearable technology, and implementing chronotherapeutic approaches such as timed light exposure and light filtering. Together, these efforts aim to integrate non‐pharmacological and pharmacological measures into patient care pathways to optimise rest, enhance satisfaction and reduce length of stay.

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Sleep Quality Management in Hospitalized Patients publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in sleep quality management in hospitalized patients across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Actigraphy: non-invasive monitoring of movement with wrist-worn sensors to estimate sleep–wake cycles.

Recurrent neural network: type of artificial neural network that processes sequential data by retaining memory of previous inputs to predict future events.

Circadian rhythm: intrinsic approximately 24-hour physiological cycle governing sleep–wake patterns and other bodily functions.

Modified Early Warning Score: composite clinical score based on routine vital signs to assess patient stability and risk of deterioration.

References

1. The Role of Wearable Sensors to Monitor Physical Activity and Sleep Patterns in Older Adult Inpatients: A Structured Review. Sensors (2023).
2. Let Sleeping Patients Lie, avoiding unnecessary overnight vitals monitoring using a clinically based deep-learning model. npj Digital Medicine (2020).
3. Effect of Morning Light Glasses and Night Short-Wavelength Filter Glasses on Sleep-Wake Rhythmicity in Medical Inpatients. Frontiers in Physiology (2020).