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| Sleep Study | • The amount of actual sleep during the night
• The time you woke up in the morning
• The time you got out of bed
• Whether you dreamed during the night
• How you felt about the quality of your sleep
• Whether you took any medicines to help you sleep
• Whether you drank coffee or alcohol before you went to bed
• Whether you took any naps during the day
• Whether there were any events during day that may have affected your sleep
Based on your history and physical exam, your doctor may recommend a sleep study. For this study, you usually stay overnight in a sleep lab, a specialized unit with computerized monitoring equipment that is staffed by healthcare providers and other specialists.
Such a sleep study can help your doctor make a diagnosis and guide treatment by providing information on everything from body position and blood oxygen levels to heart rate and eye movements.
During a sleep study, you will be connected to electrodes that will record your brain waves and muscle movements throughout the night. Therefore a microphone will record snoring, and two belt-like straps around the chest and lower abdomen will monitor muscle movement during breathing.
• Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT)
This test determines your ability to stay awake. It contains four nap opportunities. Each of them lasts 40 minutes. For the period of these periods you will be asked for staying awake. Most people are able to stay awake without excessive sleepiness.
• Multiple Sleep Latency Test
It is a test to objectively determine your degree of daytime sleepiness. It is done in a sleep lab. Prior the day your overnight sleep study, you will be asked to take 4 or 5 naps over 8 to10 hours. Each of nap periods lasts about 20 minutes. During the naps you will be closely monitored, as you were during your sleep study.
• Actigraphy
The actigraph is a device worn over the wrist like a watch. This records a signal when movement is detected. There are no recorded signals during sleep or inactivity.
Signals are just recorded with motion or activity. It can provide information about periods of rest/sleep or activity. The mechanism is worn for several days to weeks, if needed.
• Lab tests
Your doctor may order lab tests, including those to test for medicines known to affect one's level of alertness, such as stimulants, opiates, and antianxiety medicines.
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