How to Prepare for an INTEGRIS Sleep Study
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Sleep is much more complex than you might think. Every night, your body goes through an intricate process of relative unconsciousness with various stages, or realms, of sleep.
Unfortunately, sleep issues like chronic snoring, insomnia or sleep apnea can interrupt these sleep patterns and leave you feeling tired or having difficulty concentrating throughout the day. If you’re showing symptoms of a sleep disorder, your doctor may order a sleep study. Here’s how to be prepared.
What is a sleep study?
A sleep study is the most accurate way to diagnose most sleep disorders like sleep apnea, snoring, narcolepsy, movement disorders like restless leg syndrome and insomnia. It involves monitoring many aspects of your sleep for the entire night and measuring your sleep characteristics during light and deep sleeping.
The INTEGRIS Sleep Disorders Center of Oklahoma has a team of technologists that work together to monitor your sleep, including your brain activity, heart rate, oxygen level and breathing pattern.
What happens when you go in for a sleep study?
Most labs want to test you for at least seven hours for accurate results. The rooms are designed to make you feel comfortable and are more like hotel rooms, rather than hospital rooms, to help you fall asleep faster and easier.
The only difference is that you may notice a video camera or two in the room to record your movements. You’ll also be fitted with whatever is needed for your sleep study, which may include wired sensors and other devices to track your sleep and movement.
What should you bring?
The INTEGRIS Sleep Center recommends you bring anything you would typically need during a night’s stay away from home. This can include:
- Pajamas or other sleep attire that you’ll be comfortable in
- Toiletries (toothbrush and paste, brush, contact case and solution)
- Clothes for the next day
- Special needs items (a light snack, reading material, etc.)
- Personal bedding items like pillows and blankets are discouraged
Medications
The UCLA Sleep Disorders Center says that some medications can actually hinder sleep study results, so it’s important that your sleep doctor is up-to-date with your current medications, including sleep aids. If you’re worried about falling asleep because of your medications, be sure and let your doctor know and they can find the best solution for you.
What information can you learn from a sleep study?
A sleep study, also referred to as a polysomnogram, is really just a series of many sleep recordings. These recordings measure brain wave activity, eye movement and also muscle movement. Other recordings may capture electrical activity of the heart.
Sleep doctors cover every aspect of what could be affecting your sleep. This could be certain stressors throughout your day, medications you’re taking, or other health problems like diabetes. With this information, doctors are able to determine the root cause of common sleep problems and can prescribe what is needed.
Once you receive your results and speak with your doctor, there are many resources provided by INTEGRIS to get you what you need. In the recent On Your Health article about CPAP machines for sleep apnea, we cover everything you need to know about the CPAP machine and how to work with your insurance provider if a CPAP machine is the ideal solution for you.