What Does a Home Sleep Study Entail?
If you wake up feeling sluggish and fatigued, odds are that something is disturbing your sleep. Sleep disorders are tough to pin down since they can only be properly diagnosed while you sleep, which often means you need to pack up for an overnight visit to a sleep lab.
Here at Sound Sleep Health, we understand that for many of our patients, sleeping away from home just isn’t possible, which is why we offer at-home sleep studies. An at-home sleep study provides much of the same valuable information about your sleep patterns as a facility-based study, but is much more convenient, helping us your sleep in the comfort of your own home.
The power of sleep
If you suspect that something is keeping you from getting the sleep you need, were glad you’ve decided to come to us. Lack of sleep does more than force you to struggle through your day — it carries with it the potential for serious health complications.
While you’re awake, your body is on high alert, performing the myriad tasks your brain asks of it on a daily basis. When you sleep, your body takes this time to scan itself and do whats needed to repair, regenerate, and regulate. With your command center shut down, your biological functions take over and make sure that all of your systems are in good health.
For example, while you sleep your heart rate slows and your blood pressure drops. Your muscles are also at rest, which allows for better circulation. This, in turn, allows your cells the time to regenerate and repair themselves. Your brain is also at work categorizing the days information and creating memories. Not to be left out, growth hormones are released that provide critical support for your body’s development.
It sounds like an exhausting to-do list, but your body is up to the task — as long as you give it ample time. If you don’t, you’re at risk for an alarming number of mental and physical health concerns, like depression or cardiovascular disease to name just two.
A sleep study is the first step in diagnosing the underlying cause of your inability to sleep well and gets us pointed in the right direction for treatment.
Theres no place like home
Taking a night away from your house may sound easy enough for some, but we understand that, for others, there are a number of obstacles that prevent this time away from home.
One of the most common reasons our patients ask for an at-home sleep study is due to care-taking. If you have children or an elderly parent at home, we understand that getting away for the night just isn’t possible.
You may also have mobility problems, making sleeping away from home more of a problem due to access issues.
We also understand that you may simply not feel comfortable sleeping away from home. In these cases, a lab sleep study does neither of us any good, since we cant truly study your usual sleep patterns if you’re too uncomfortable to sleep in a foreign environment.
Whatever your reason, rest assured that we work with you to set up a home sleep study.
A study in sleep
For your at-home sleep study, you’ll need to pick up the necessary equipment from one of our three locations, and well give you full instructions on its use. We have several different kinds of monitors and will choose the appropriate kind that is best suited for your specific needs.
When you go to bed, you simply attach the sensors to your body and turn off the lights. These sensors record a variety of biological signals and measure your:
- Chest movements
- Heart rate
- Airflow
- Oxygen saturation
- Body position
- Snoring
- Body movements
- Brain activity (EEG)
- Eye movements
In the morning, you simply remove the sensors and return the equipment to us so we can analyze the information and check for sleep apnea, general insomnia, restless leg syndrome, and narcolepsy, to name the most common sleep disorders.
Don’t waste another night in a battle to get the rest you need. For diagnosis and treatment of insomnia, sleep apnea, and other sleep disorders, book a consultation by phone or online at one of Sound Sleep Health’s three locations in Kirkland and Seattle, Washington. Exclusively treating patients with sleep issues, the practice is lead by renowned Board Certified Sleep Medicine Specialist Dr. Gandis G. Maeika, who trained at Harvard and Duke Universities, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and an active member of the National Sleep Foundation.
