Your health care professional has ordered a sleep study on you. What is it and what do they do during one? What are they looking for and what will happen during the study? We will take a good look into what exactly happens during a sleep study as well as why you may need one.

 What is a Sleep Study?

A sleep study is when you go to a specialist’s office (normally at a hospital or sleep center) and are hooked up to several different wires that are hooked to machines. These wires record different things while you are sleeping, and the results are then read by the specialist and interpreted so that your health care professional knows what happens to you while you are “sleeping”. That is why it is called a sleep study. What exactly do all the wires and machines do? One of the wires monitors your brain and brain activity, another one will monitor muscle movements, one may check for restless leg syndrome, or anything that may be unusual while you sleep. Often times they measure breathing via one of the wires that are attached to you. In a nutshell, all of your bodily movements are electronically monitored and recorded while you sleep through the test. The constant monitoring tracks your every movement during the night and is interpreted in a report to your health care professional. Your sleep stages are noted and anything out of the normal is reported so it can be looked at for further treatment. This test has been done for many years and is safe.

Who Needs a Sleep Study?

If you have told your health care professional that you are tired all the time, or are not sleeping well at night, your doctor has probably ordered a sleep study for you. The test is quite painless and when everything is said and done, you should be able to rest better and get a good night’s sleep – or at least that is the goal. People that have narcolepsy or sleep apnea are prime candidates for a sleep study. Anyone that snores while they sleep should have a sleep study. There are many reasons why your health care professional will order a sleep study. A sleep study test is one of the only tests I know of that you actually are encouraged to sleep through.

What is the Sleep Study Looking for?

The sleep study is looking for anything that is out of the ordinary and may affect your sleep habits. It may be something as simple as snoring, or could be more complicated. Most of the time, a sleep study is only one night long and you are put into a room with cameras that monitor you while you sleep. There are several monitors that record breathing, brain function, sleep stages, muscle movement, etc. and virtually everything so that it can be read by a specialist trained in sleep studies to determine what, if anything, is preventing you from having a restful night of sleep. A sleep study is nothing to be afraid of and once done, should result in measures taken to help you get a good night’s sleep. The results are read by a sleep study specialist and the results are sent to your health care professional. Your health care professional will be able to let you know why you are not sleeping well and will make a recommendation as to what can be done to remedy the problem. There are several things that a sleep study can look for, some of which are:

• Sleep Apnea
• Breathing Disorders
• Narcolepsy
• Obstructive Sleep Apnea
• Shift Work Disorder

Whatever you are being checked for, a sleep study should be able to pinpoint what the problem is and why you are not sleeping or getting adequate sleep. Just because you are in bed for eight to ten hours a night does not necessarily mean that you are getting good, restful sleep. Talk with your health care professional and seek out the answers. Sleep is a necessary body function and without good, restful sleep, you and your body will remain tired and worn out. You owe it to yourself to talk with your health care professional and get the help you need. Once you have had the sleep study done and know what the underlying problem is, follow your health care professional’s advice. The solution to getting a good night’s sleep may be a simple as wearing a mouthpiece to bed to keep the airway open and thus result in a restful night of sleep.

Talk with your healthcare professional, get a sleep study done and give Dr. Mark Levy, DDS a call so you can have the restful night of sleep you deserve.