If you are snoring, experiencing choking episodes in the night or having unrefreshing sleep, feeling tired during the day this could be because of sleep apnoea and this needs to be evaluated by overnight sleep study. There are whole other range of symptoms like increased urination in the night, dryness of mouth, morning headaches which could also suggest sleep apnoea. If you have other comorbid conditions like Diabetes, Heart diseases, depression etc, you could also be at risk of sleep apnoea.

What does sleep study involve?

It involves monitoring multiple parameters like brain activity, eye movements, breathing, Oxygen level, leg activity or any other body movements overnight using sensors. This can both done at home and in a sleep lab.

What are the different types of sleep studies?

Sleep studies generally be classified into either an attended in lab sleep lab (level1) or home-based sleep study (HST). HSTs can be further subclassified into level 2-4 depending on number of sensors used.

Which is the best sleep study for you?

There are a range of tools now available to evaluate your risk of sleep apnea but it is for the experts to match you with the right tool. Whilst it is true that more the sensors used more is the information derived but this comes at the cost of inconvenience of sleeping with more wires in an unfamiliar environment plus higher out of pocket costs. However, in certain cases like morbid obesity, heart and kidney diseases and in many other circumstances home sleep study is not ideal thus an in-lab sleep study is required. In other situations where the risk of sleep apnea has been assessed to be high home sleep studies can do the job.

What should you be careful about?

It is best to ensure that you have been matched to the right test by an expert in the field. It is best to understand the process flow and quality and it is important to ensure that it not totally biased towards pushing the CPAP device sales.

Talk to us to see how we can help you successfully negotiate this journey with our two decades of pioneering experience in the field
www.goldcoastlungandsleep.com.au