Sleep study question?
Sunday, May 16th, 2010 at
10:19 am
I am having a sleep study to diagnose RLS and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. What can I expect to happen during the sleep study? What can I take with me? How can they tell if I have these sleep disorders?
Tagged with: question • Sleep • Study
Filed under: Obstructive Sleep Apnea
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I know someone who just did one. They said they were hooked up to a series of monitors, for heart rate, breathing rate, brain activity, etc. A technician monitored them as they slept; the various machines watched for things that indicate sleep apnea – basically, stopping and suddenly restarting breathing, and abrupt changes in heart rhythms caused by it.
The tests are pretty much all computerized; over the course of the night they’ll collect all this data, and in the morning produce a report for your doctor that shows how many times you stopped breathing, how long each time, whether you ever got to REM sleep, how long it lasted, etc. etc. etc.
Take your overnight bag, just as you would if booking into a Hotel for the night. They will hook you up to various machines, monitor your brain rhythms once you are asleep.
http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/sleep-basics/viewasleepstudy.htm
gives you the insight you asked for.
You can take whatever pajamas you are most comfortable in, your pillow, and any/all other comforts. Also, medications should be brought with you and not taken prior to driving. In terms of what what takes place in the lab: Multiple sensors will be placed on your scalp, chest, and legs, however none of them will cause pain. It might take some getting used to, but most people have no trouble falling asleep with the sensors in place.
Your responsibility in terms of the study is simply to sleep. The sensors placed on your body the night of the study will collect information allowing the physician to determine any/all sleep problems you may have. The data is how they determine whether or not you have disorders.
My recommendation is to relax and just sleep as usual.
I traveled to see Dr. Barry Krakow at Maimonides Sleep Arts and Sciences, in Albuquerque, NM – He is a leading sleep specialist and author of Sound Sleep, Sound Mind.