A narrative review on in-flight use of consumer sleep technologies for aviation research

Aviation is a global safety-sensitive industry that employs strict guidance about the monitoring and management of fatigue. Ecological sleep data is routinely collected to assess fatigue risk in flight crew during long-haul operations for safety and regulatory purposes. There is a growing body of scientific literature that supports the evaluation and use of consumer sleep technologies (CSTs) for ecological research. CSTs have the potential to facilitate longitudinal monitoring of sleep and fatigue in the aviation context and thus improve not only the health and well-being of flight crew but the safety of their passengers as well. However, CSTs have not been robustly studied for the measurement of in-flight sleep. Flight crew regularly take in-flight rest opportunities to mitigate fatigue when the opportunity arises and it is legally permitted. Technologies that cannot accurately capture in-flight sleep are not a reliable method to use for aviation research. The goal of this narrative review is to describe how CSTs could potentially be used to collect sleep data, specifically in the in-flight environment, based on existing guidance from the scientific and regulatory literature on fatigue risk management. Aviation stakeholders and the sleep science community should work together to develop criteria for the appropriate testing and use of CSTs as part of appropriate fatigue risk management systems (FRMS). This article is part of the Consumer Sleep Technology Special Collection.