Wearables and Wireless Sensor Networks for Assisting Sleep, Respiration, Asthma and Stress Monitoring

Dear Colleagues,

The combination of recent developments in sensor technologies and machine learning provides a multitude of opportunities in medical specialty and wellbeing applications. Home sleep monitoring using ambient and/or wearable sensors is one such area that enables us to monitor a wide range of sleep disorders on a continuous basis within the native environment of the subject. Another condition that benefits from recent advances in sensors and machine learning is stress. Stress has long been measured through physical tests and questionnaires that primarily rely on user-provided data. Sensor technologies and algorithms promise real-time, continuous collection of stress data that can potentially be used in clinical diagnoses or for personal stress monitoring and mediation. Stress can cause the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to release hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones raise the heart rate to circulate blood to vital organs and muscles more efficiently, preparing the body to take immediate action if necessary. High levels of cortisol result in disturbed sleep patterns. Insufficient sleep can lead to irritability, mood swings and fatigue, which can further exacerbate psychological or even physical stress. Wearable and ambient sensors may help us to monitor both sleep patterns and stress levels and thus develop remedies for breaking vicious sleep–stress cycles.

Low back pain is another condition that effects sleep and triggers sleep disturbances. Low back pain (LBP) affects up to 80% of people at some point in their lives and is second only to respiratory illness in terms of lost workdays. Advances in sensor technologies may allow ambulatory monitoring of spine posture during daily activities and sleep, revealing the underlying causes of low back pain. Understanding these factors is a necessary first step for developing targeted interventions and reducing the overall costs associated with chronic and recurrent LBP problems in terms of human suffering and utilization of healthcare services.

As one of the most common chronic conditions, asthma affects over 235 million people worldwide. In the U.S. alone, asthma affects 18.7 million adults and 6.8 million children. Whether it is due to the symptoms of asthma or simply staying up too late, missing sleep can exacerbate asthma. The chances of experiencing asthma symptoms are higher during sleep. Nocturnal wheezing, cough and troubled breathing are common. Stress is also a common asthma trigger. New sensor technologies can help to monitor respiratory rate, movement, stress levels and sleep patterns and may allow us improve the management of asthma exacerbations.

We invite manuscripts proposing new sensors and presenting and evaluating sensors, sensor technologies and algorithms for assessing sleep, stress, respiratory conditions and their cause-and-effect relationships. In addition, we welcome novel sensors monitoring the abovementioned conditions as well as algorithms and solutions to address these conditions.

Prof. Dr. Yusuf Ozturk
Prof. Dr. Ahmet Enis Cetin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.