Library · Test
Sleep study
Make it clearer
A sleep study is used to diagnose sleep disorders, among them apnea, the pauses in breathing that happen while someone is asleep. Type one polysomnography is done in a sleep laboratory, where the person spends the night under direct observation.
What it does is record several physiological measures at the same time, both during sleep and during wakefulness. It is one night recorded with several microphones, each listening for something different. The first of them is the electroencephalogram, which picks up the brain's electrical activity and shows which stage of sleep the person is in.
The rest are built around that recording. The electrooculogram tracks the movement of both eyes; the electromyogram, the activity of the chin muscle and of the legs; and breathing effort is measured at the chest and the abdomen. Taken together, all of that makes polysomnography with direct observation the gold standard for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea.
In brief
A sleep study diagnoses disorders such as apnea, and type one polysomnography, done in a lab with someone watching, is the gold standard for obstructive apnea.
It records several physiological measures at the same time during sleep and wakefulness, starting with the electroencephalogram, which identifies the sleep stages.
It is like one night recorded with several microphones, each listening for something different.
It also records the electrooculogram from both eyes, the electromyogram from the chin and legs, and breathing effort at the chest and abdomen.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingSleep Study, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated