What Information Can a Sleep Study Provide?

A sleep study is a diagnostic test that involves recording multiple body systems during sleep. Key systems like your breathing, heart rate, and brain activity are measured during these tests. Sleep studies can typically be completed during one night and are an effective way to diagnose many sleep-related health issues like sleep apnea.

How a sleep study helps with diagnosing sleep disorders

Medically termed a polysomnogram, a sleep study is a diagnostic test that tracks the performance of multiple body systems during sleep. The test involves attaching various sensors to a patient to monitor their vitals while they sleep.

These tests are usually recommended to help with diagnostics or to rule out the possibility of certain health issues as the cause of a patient’s sleep disorder. Healthcare providers typically order these tests when a patient displays symptoms of a sleep disorder that impacts their heart, brain, or nervous system function.

Some of the disorders sleep studies can help diagnose include:

• Narcolepsy
• Insomnia
• Periodic limb movement disorder
• Sleep apnea
• Some types of epilepsy and seizures
• Sleepwalking
• Sleep paralysis
• Night terrors

Most sleep studies occur during the patient’s normal sleeping hours. Sleep labs typically give patients the option of being monitored at night or during the day depending on their regular sleeping schedules. Over 800,000 sleep studies were billed to Medicare in 2014, and many more patients used these services through their insurance providers.

Sleep studies are often performed by healthcare professionals like nurses, nurse assistants, and medical technicians. A physician goes over the results of a patient’s study once completed, and they might order more tests or recommend treatments for the patient’s existing issues. Patients might also be referred to other healthcare professionals such as neurologists based on the results of their tests.  

Getting a sleep study at home

There are at-home sleep testing kits that share some similarities with sleep studies, but they are not as effective as getting a sleep study done by professionals. Many of these kits do not have all the sensors that would be used in a sleep study due to how expensive some of them are. For example, at-home testing kits often do not include sensors that monitor brain activity, the heart’s electrical activity, and eye movement. At-home kits often involve only sensors that detect breathing through a person’s mouth and nose and the movement of the muscles engaged during breathing.

Interpreting the information

The goal of a sleep study is to extract information that paints a detailed picture of any issues that might be hindering the patient’s sleep so appropriate treatments can be done. Some of the crucial information extracted by these tests include oxygen levels, eye movements, brain activity, limb movements, blood pressure, and the heart’s electrical activity.

Combined, these things paint a picture that a doctor can use to diagnose a wide range of sleep disorders. Once diagnosed, many of these issues can be treated so the patient’s sleep quality is restored.

We get you back to sleeping like a baby

Getting past your sleep disorder starts with a sleep study so appropriate treatments can be performed. Give us a call or stop by our Red Bluff clinic to set up an appointment.

Request an appointment here: https://www.dentalsleepsolutionsgroup.com or call Dental Sleep Solutions Group at (530) 727-6080 for an appointment in our Red Bluff office.

Check out what others are saying about our services on Yelp: Sleep Study in Red Bluff, CA.