Last night, I completed a sleep study. They connected me to an EEG and EKG. They also measured my breathing and monitored me all night through video and audio. The sleep tech explained that they were not allowed to tell me what the results were, so I have to wait for the specialist to contact me in a few weeks. In the mean time, I’m wondering what the sleep study could possibly reveal about my sleep and general well-being.
Edit: For years, I have been waking up feeling exhausted. It takes me hours to get going in the morning. They were concerned I might have sleep apnea. However, when I was getting hooked up, the sleep tech told me that they look for much more than just sleep apnea.
You’re still asleep. This is doctor. We’ve been trying to reach you. Time to wake up.
I’m sorry Dr. Wesker I’ve decided to live here full-time. Please notify my family.
Your insurance isn’t going to cover. Our technicians have alerted the dream police. You must be victed.
Sleep apnea, of course, but any other abnormalities in the expected “pattern” of sleep. The typical pattern is a specific amount of relaxation and various brainwave activity over time. If you spend too long or too little time in one of those phases is may indicate some medical or psychological issues that can usually be treated and/or cured to help you wake up refreshed like everyone is “supposed” to for a longer, better life.
They usually look for how long you’re in each stage of sleep, how well you oxygenate, heart patterns, and awakenings. All of these things, if not working correctly, cause us to get poor sleep and lose grey matter in our brain.
Apnea is really about oxygen delivery which can be hindered by something like our tongue, or our chest (obstructive sleep apnea), or even our brain not communicating properly (called central sleep apnea).
We can also have arm and leg twitching which wakes us up. Heart issues can play a role as well. There are others but I can’t remember them off the top of my head right now.
When I did my sleep study the doctor told me that it takes a long time to analyse the data because there’s a lot of it. So a cursory glance is usually not enough to see everything.
Sleep apnea is apparently the most common cause of issues. My doc also said there are other possible causes but I can’t remember what he said (or if he listed any others at all).
I had one earlier this year for similar reasons. I was diagnosed with idiopathic hypersomnia, which depending on who you ask, is very similar if not the same as narcolepsy without cataplexy. I hope your results give you some warranted info.
They measured one night, so nothing.
Got a source to back that up that one night would reveal nothing?
My n=1, they measured two consecutive nights because usually the first night is bad because you have to get used to all the stuff attached to you.
Hey, there’s some logic to get behind!
With one night, they can still gather some information – since everyone’s first night will be bad, they’d still be able to determine differences from “the normal first night”.
More data is always better, but that doesn’t mean that one point is useless. (And I know you’re not the one who was making that claim)
Yes, it’s one night.
If you need a source to confirm that one abnormal nights sleep tells you almost nothing about a persons “sleep and wellbeing” then you are either 9 years old or an idiot. Perhaps you are both.
