Remote technology could make sleep and dementia research more accessible

Older people, including those with mild cognitive impairment or dementia, can successfully take part in long-term sleep research from home when technology is simple, reliable and supported by researchers, a new study has found.

Researchers from the University of Bristol, North Bristol NHS Trust and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Bristol explored people’s experiences of using digital technologies to monitor sleep and cognition remotely. The findings have been published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

The study involved adults aged over 50 with and without cognitive impairment. Participants completed 8 weeks of remote assessments, including:

• Wearing activity monitors and an electroencephalography headband
• Recording sleep in a digital diary
• Undertaking online cognitive tests
• Collecting saliva samples at home

Researchers analysed interviews with 14 participants and questionnaires completed by 28. They identified 6 themes covering:

• People’s motivation to contribute to research
• Trust in technology
• Adapting study activities to daily routines
• Concerns about completing tasks correctly
• The role of social support
• Participants’ understanding of sleep

Overall, participants were motivated to take part and wanted to provide good-quality data. Technology was most acceptable when devices were comfortable, straightforward and dependable. Flexible scheduling and responsive contact with researchers also helped people incorporate assessments into everyday life.

Repeated cognitive tests produced mixed experiences. Some participants enjoyed trying to improve their scores, while others found repetition tiring or upsetting, particularly when tasks became difficult. The researchers recommend varying test content and difficulty and allowing flexibility in when remote tasks are completed.

Victoria Grace Gabb, Senior Research Associate in Dementia and Sleep Neuroscience, said:

“Many research studies investigating the link between sleep and dementia have relied on traditional research methods of in-lab sleep recordings or one-off questionnaires. However, sleep varies from night to night. If we want to see how sleep patterns change over time, we need to design research which aligns with the needs and preferences of patients.

“Our findings show that older adults, including people experiencing cognitive impairment, are willing and able to participate in remote sleep research. However, we need to make sure that technology is unobtrusive, works as expected, and connections to the study team aren’t lost when research becomes remote.”

The study also highlighted the need to avoid requiring every participant to have a study partner. Although family members often provide invaluable practical support in research, making this compulsory may exclude people who are able to participate independently.

Professor Anne Roudaut, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, said:

“Remote monitoring offers an important opportunity to collect detailed information about sleep and cognition in people’s own homes.

“By designing studies around participants’ different abilities, routines and preferences, we can make this research more inclusive while improving the quality of the information collected.”

This study forms part of the Remote Evaluation of Sleep to Enhance Understanding of Early Dementia (RESTED) programme, which investigated how sleep and cognition can be monitored remotely in people with mild cognitive impairment and early dementia.

An initial paper confirming the feasibility of conducting this type of research was published in 2025. Building on that work, the research team has also recently explored how sleep reported by participants compares with sleep measured objectively using wearable technology.

In a study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, researchers found that people with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body disease often reported less sleep disturbance than was detected through long-term monitoring.

Together, all three papers highlight the potential of combining remote monitoring technologies with participant-centred research design to improve understanding of the relationship between sleep and dementia.

The researchers hope this growing body of work will support the development of more accurate sleep assessments, help to identify sleep-related changes linked to different forms of dementia, and ultimately inform future interventions aimed at supporting brain health and improving quality of life.