If you have trouble sleeping, or you snore like this dog, your family physician may recommend a sleep study. Sleep studies are tests that record what happens to your body during sleep.
Snoring and sleep apnea are the primary diagnosis of the test, but sleep is a complicated process. In fact there are more than 80 disorders of sleeping and waking during the night. We probably don’t need to tell you this (as you could guess), but sleep disorders can lead to a lowered quality of life, reduced personal health and a drowsy, grumpy YOU during the day.
A sleep test is a relatively easy thing…all you really have to do is sleep, but for our Brigham City doctors, it’s pretty intense. Our sleep technologists are very busy all night long. They observe and monitor your sleep by looking at patterns, anomalies and problems. Common physical maladies such as hunger and cough, and more uncommon conditions, like restless leg syndrome and dozens of others, can keep you awake. Psychological problems like anxiety, stress and the inability to “turn your mind off” are common sleep interrupters too. You may even be suffering from combinations of body and thought disturbances.
To help identify disorders, our sleep technologists will apply up to 20 different monitoring electrodes to you. The electrodes monitor processes such as breathing, brain waves, heartbeat, blood oxygen levels, leg movements and snoring. The readings we get from these instruments will be used to determine which type of sleep problem(s) you have and will also give your doctor clues as to how to treat you. The study is performed and will be scored by a registered respiratory therapist or a registered polysomnography technician.
Treatment for sleep disorders vary from quick home remedies to oxygen therapy to surgery in some cases. Your sleep study will help you and your physician determine the right track to getting you a full, deep and long night’s sleep.