Sleep Study

The purpose of a sleep study is to get a thorough understanding of your sleep and to identify disorders that interfere with your sleep. In addition to helping diagnose sleep disorders, polysomnography may be used to help adjust your treatment plan if you have already been diagnosed with a sleep disorder.

After a review of your sleep and medical questionnaire, If the doctors at Snoring and Sleep Apnea Centre feel that due to your snoring, symptoms of tiredness, insomnia , trouble falling asleep or staying awake or other medical conditions, it would be appropriate to assess if you have a breathing or movement disorder while you sleep.

A sleep study is effectively used to diagnose snoring, obstructive sleep apnea, periodic limb movement disorder and insomnia and can give valuable information to assist in the diagnosis of central sleep apnea, delayed sleep phases syndrome,narcolepsy and other sleep disorders.

A small device is worn overnight to monitor breathing pattern, nasal air flow, snoring loudness and frequency, respiratory effort, blood oxygen levels, brain activity, eye movement, heart rate, body position and movement using several simple sensors strapped on the body. All of these measurements are recorded on a continuous graph. This whole procedure is entirely non invasive and painless.

Our sleep technician will put on the monitor and sensors either at your home or at our sleep lab, depending on the level of testing needed.

At Snoring and Sleep Apnea centre, all our sleep studies are manually scored by our sleep technicians , rather than depending on the automated readings of the polysomnogram .

The measurements recorded during polysomnography provide a great deal of information about your sleep patterns. For example:

• Brain waves and eye movements during sleep can help your health care team assess your sleep stages and identify disruptions in the stages that may occur due to sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and REM sleep behavior disorder.
• Heart and breathing rate changes and changes in blood oxygen that are abnormal during sleep may suggest sleep apnea.
• Correct settings for PAP or oxygen in case your doctor would like to prescribe these for home use.
• Frequent leg movements that disrupt your sleep may indicate periodic limb movement disorder.
• Unusual movements or behaviors during sleep may be signs of REM sleep behavior disorder or another sleep disorder.

The information gathered during polysomnography is evaluated first by our sleep technician, who uses the data to manually score and chart your sleep stages and cycles. Then that information is reviewed by our sleep center doctor.

This type of reporting is what sets Snoring and Sleep Apnea Centre apart , from most other sleep centers, in that each study is individually read and manually scored for better accuracy. We do not depend on automated readings from the machine alone.

You can expect the results of polysomnography in a day or two. At a follow-up appointment, your doctor at Snoring and Sleep Apnea Centre will review the results with you. Based on the data gathered, your doctor will discuss any treatment or further evaluation that you may need.

The home sleep test is sleep study done in the convenience of your home. You can get it done in your bed at night, without the presence of any technician.

The home sleep test is sometimes done as a preliminary sleep test and based on the results, your doctor may recommend further evaluation or a more comprehensive sleep study.

DISE or drug induced sleep endoscopy is a procedure done by our ENT specialist, wherein a thin, flexible camera is used to look for obstruction in the nose and throat area, while the patient is asleep. This is an important tool for studying dynamic airway in a sleeping patient.