Non-invasive brain stimulation-based sleep stage classification using transcranial infrared based electrocardiogram

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques, such as transcranial infrared (tNIR) stimulation, offer promising advancements in sleep monitoring and regulation. To enhance sleep stage classification without relying on traditional polysomnography (PSG) systems, we propose a novel approach integrating single-channel electrocardiogram (ECG) signals, heart rate variability (HRV) features, and tNIR stimulation. The maximal overlap discrete wavelet transform (MODWT) is applied for multi-resolution analysis of ECG signals, followed by peak information extraction. Based on the first-order deviation of peak positions, multi-dimensional HRV features are extracted. To identify HRV features strongly associated with different sleep stages, we introduce a feature selection method combining the ReliefF algorithm and Gini index. The selected features are then processed using the INFO-ABC Logit Boost method to establish correlations between HRV dynamics and sleep stages. Experimental results on publicly available datasets demonstrate that the proposed model achieves an overall accuracy of 83.67%, a precision of 82.59%, a Kappa coefficient of 77.94%, and an F1-score of 82.97%. Compared with conventional sleep staging methods, our approach enhances sleep quality assessment and facilitates real-time, non-invasive monitoring in home and mobile healthcare settings, leveraging the potential of tNIR-based NIBS for sleep modulation.