How to get a sleep study?

Do you always find it difficult to wake up with a headache or tiredness? Then this could be a sign of Obstructive Sleep Apnea or OSA. When we sleep, our muscles usually relax, including the chest and throat muscles which help us breathe, and you get OSA when your breathing gets interrupted during your sleep for more than ten seconds.

With Sleep Study, it is possible to determine whether you are facing trouble breathing. A home sleep test is a simple breathing monitor that tracks breathing, breathing efforts, and oxygen levels. In this article, we will help you understand how sleep study is effective for your cognitive functions to perform better and how EdrawMind lets you create mind maps that let you organize all your thoughts and create a schedule that meets all of your requirements.

The sleep study is an overnight test that lets doctors monitor you while you sleep to understand what is happening in your body and brain. You need to go to the sleep lab for this, where you will find the setup for overnight stays. It would be a sleep center or a hospital. Here, an ECG monitors your sleep stages, including the REM and non-REM sleep cycles you go through every night. The analysis of these sleep cycles helps identify the possible disruptions in the sleep pattern.

The sleep study also helps measure oxygen levels in your blood, heart and breathing rate, body movement, and eye movements. The technologist takes this data from your sleep study and then evaluates the doctor. It should be noted here that this testing process can go up to two weeks to get accurate results.

Types of Sleep Studies

Generally, a sleep study collects data related to what is happening in your body while sleeping. There are different sleep studies available depending upon your symptoms and sleep disorders.

• Polysomnography (PSG)
  In this type of sleep study, the sleep technician monitors a patient who stays overnight at a specialized clinic during the treatment. The functions are then measured throughout the night, including brain and muscle activity, eye movements, blood oxygen levels, respiratory effort, airflow, and body positioning and movements.
• Multiple Sleep Latency Test
  Multiple Sleep Latency Test is conducted to measure how quickly someone falls asleep and how quickly they enter the REM Sleep during the daytime naps. This type of test is used to diagnose excessive daytime sleepiness due to unknown causes.
• CPAP Titration
  Continuous Positive Airway Pressure or CPAP Titration refers to a common treatment followed for sleep apnea. Here the technician determines the amount of air pressure that the patient requires from their CPAP to program the machine properly for home-usage. It usually requires a second sleep study. There could be a need for a split night sleep study if there is a strong suspicion of sleep apnea. During this study, Polysomnography is primarily used to diagnose sleep apnea during the first half of the treatment night, and CPAP Titration is performed during the later part of the night.
• Home Sleep Apnea Testing
  In the Home Sleep Apnea Testing, the center collects data about the patient's heart rate, breathing, and other variables over the night. Compared to Polysomnography, home testing provides less information, and the technologist does not observe the process.
• PSG and MSLT
  The multiple sleep latency test, aka MSLT, determines excessive daytime sleepiness by measuring how quickly you fall asleep. Here the person is given 4 to 5 opportunities to sleep every two hours during normal wake times.

If you have determined to get the sleep study diagnosis, it is the right time to order the sleep study. The sleep study is a medical procedure that needs to be collected by the physician. Here is a list of what you need to order for the sleep study.

1 Completed Demographics and Insurance Information

In most North American and European states, the majority of the Insurance plans cover sleep studies. Therefore, include complete information about yourself and the result you hope to receive for faster processing and insurance coverage.

2 The Reasons for Testing

You may have many reasons to conduct the sleep study test. It would help if you mentioned clear reasons with supporting documentation to conduct the test. Usually, medicare requires a face-to-face evaluation to discuss the sleeping issues, which are not more than 30 days before ordering the sleep study.

3 Select the Proper Sleep Study

Different testing options are available for diagnosis and ruling out different types of sleep disorders. Therefore it is important to order the right sleep study, which we have mentioned in the above section.

4 Send Your Order to the Sleep Center

You can always contact the respective Insurance company to find the right contracted provider. If you have HMO insurance, your physician will need to request authorization. In the case of PPO insurance or Cash, you can send the order directly to the center.

It should be kept in mind that sleep study is very private, and it depends from person to person. Some need to understand what causes them to sleep late at night, while few are just looking to understand their REM cycles. The sleep study is conducted to diagnose several sleep disorders. Some of the most common ones are:

• Insomnia
• Sleep Apnea
• Restless Leg Syndrome
• Narcolepsy
• Periodic Limb Movement Disorder
• Sleepwalking
• Sleep Talking
• REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

Who needs a sleep study?

The sleep study is a vital diagnostic tool used for many sleep disorders; however, it is not required. Your doctor can prescribe a sleep study looking at your symptoms and overall health. You can talk to your doctor if you experience any sleep issues or symptoms like:

• Drowsiness
• Fatigue
• Depression
• Difficulty in concentration

It should be noted here that patients with obesity and sleeping issues need to be screened for sleep apnea.

If you are still confused about how to get a sleep study done and understand your sleeping pattern, then mind mapping can help you. With EdrawMind, you can find the important sleeping points and understand the sleeping patterns by adding them to your topics and sub-topics. Even if you are a beginner who is just looking to understand sleep study, then creating a detailed mind map with EdrawMind will help you organize every study pattern in a detailed format while ensuring that the details do not look too clumsy.

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