Home Sleep Monitors; diagnosis and monitoring of sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is not well known with people thinking that it involves having a nasal band put on you at night to stop you snoring, unfortunately it is highly dangerous to your health both directly and indirectly with over 80% of sufferers having no idea of the issues involved. There are two forms of sleep apnea with one involving the physical obstruction of the throat by the weight of relaxed muscles or fat in the neck, or caused by inflammation from smoking, drinking or infections. The other is related to intermittent signalling from degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s stopping breathing muscles from working. In addition to this some people, a minority suffer from both. Thankfully obstructive sleep apnea is the easiest to treat and assisted by home sleep monitors.

The main challenge with sleep apnea is that a sufferer becomes tired and confused over time due to lack of REM sleep due to excessive movement to free the obstruction during the night. This can lead to death or harm to the sufferer or other people.

Heart Disease and Sleep Apnea
To make matters worse there is a strong correlation between sleep apnea and heart disease which is often overlooked. At present medical teams are being trained to look out for signs of sleep apnea due to this correlation, because a person with sleep apnea is much more likely to require readmittance into hospital after being treated for heart disease related illnesses. Interestingly if diagnosed with sleep apnea patients can also be identified as being at risk of heart disease and treated before irreversible cardiovascular damage occurs.

To do this successfully insurance companies and healthcare providers are turning to sleep study monitors to assess sleep apnea for patients due to the scarcity of overnight observation facilities and sleep specialists, it is far cheaper for successful diagnosis, faster to investigate and provides far more data for assessment. A sleep study monitor provides a triple win between the patient, the insurer and the stretched healthcare.

Sleep apnea sufferers receive much lower oxygen content in the bloodstream, this can cause hypertension and a change in blood pH while reducing the nitric oxide formation at the cardiovascular cell wall. This all accelerates cardiovascular hardening, hypertension and associated heart disease. The cardiovascular system regulates plasma flow from the bloodstream to and from cells in the body. This reduction of elasticity not only makes it worse for cells to get oxygen, but also allows arterial furring to occur. This constricts and builds up lipids and blood cells; rapidly increasing the risk for a stroke to occur.

If caught early this hardening of the cardiovascular walls is reversible within a one-month timeframe, however after this time is irreversible and problematic to treat. A home sleep monitor can help assess sleep apnea and by proxy helps with assessing cardiovascular disease.

Why you need a home sleep monitor
Sleep apnea is extremely difficult to diagnose without use of a sleep study monitor. Symptoms include loud snoring, a gasping or choking during the night and over 80% of sleep apnea sufferers dismiss it as just a bad night. In addition, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases are also difficult to diagnose in time, however as there is a strong correlation between both issues, a sleep study monitor could save you costly medical treatments or your insurers. Being proactive with your health can save you from major surgeries or death so a home sleep monitor should be always near your bedside. They can be the size of a wrist watch and have auto generating report functionality that can send your general practitioner reports and provide easy to read information for your own interest. They monitor blood oxygen, body positions, REM sleep durations, breathing and snoring and gasping events giving the healthcare professional everything they need to monitor your condition.

Sleep study companies play a vital role in helping doctors and clinics to study their patients suffering from sleeping disorders. Sleep studies are majorly performed at the sleep centers but with the advent of mobile technology, sleep study companies such Cardio sleep solutions as now provide with tools and equipment that allows patients to conduct a sleep study of themselves from the comfort of their home. A sleep study, also known as polysomnography, help doctors and sleep specialist diagnose sleeping disorders, such as REM sleep behavior disorder, nighttime behaviors like sleepwalking, insomnia, restless leg syndrome, narcolepsy, periodic limb movement disorder, and sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is the major cause of conducting sleep studies and patients are advised to go to sleep study companies for diagnosis and tests.

How does it work?
A sleep study is an overnight, non-invasive exam that allows sleep specialists to monitor the patient while they sleep. This is done to determine how the brain and body are functioning when the patient is asleep. For the sleep study, the patient will have to visit a sleep study company. A sleep lab is set up for the overnight stay.

Sleep study companies are equipped with all the necessary sleep monitoring tools and equipment. When you are asleep, an EEG machine monitors your cycles of nonREM and REM sleep along with sleep cycles during the night. The study also gauges the body movements, snoring, breathing rates, oxygen levels in your blood, and eye movements, among other things through sensors. You can be rest assured that the process is completely non-invasive and there are no needles involved.

A sleep study center or company boasts a sleeping room that is designed to make the patient feel comfortable. The sleep study room is essentially dark. In most cases, the sleep specialist will ask you to come to the center at least two hours before bedtime. You are allowed to bring all your sleeping essentials, such as your pajamas, and other items related to sleep. The reason why you are called early before your sleep is that the clinical staff will places electrodes and sensors all over your body so that everything could be recorded and monitored properly. While you may think that the wires and cables will hinder your sleep, these equipment are designed in such a manner that they give you plenty of room to move and get comfortable during sleep. In short, the machines won’t bother you during your sleep.

The clinical staff will monitor you during your sleep and if you face any complications like if you are infrequently breathing, he/she will assist you with a breathing aid. Even if you want to go to the bathroom, you will be assisted.

In most cases, a full night’s study is not needed. The equipment can gather all the necessary information about your sleep from a few hours of your sleep.

The data retrieved from your sleep study is taken by the sleep specialist and later reviewed by the concerned doctor. The test results may take at least two weeks to come up. After that, you will have to visit your doctor with the report to discuss the issues (if any).

While you can take a sleep test at home as the sleep study company will provide you with all the necessary equipment to take home and set up a sleep lab in your bedroom, self-reports don’t paint a reliable picture. If you want your sleep test to be accurate, it must be taken under the supervision of an experienced sleep specialist who will monitor you throughout your sleep.

How to prepare for your sleep test?
Your sleep specialist will prescribe you to take certain measures before your sleep test. A sleep test is usually taken between 8 pm and 10 pm. So, you should follow your regular routine and diet as much as possible. However, make sure that:

You don’t consume caffeine in any form starting from the lunchtime
You don’t consume alcohol or any element that will give you any sort of ‘high’
You keep your hair clean. If you use any hair product, wash your hair with shampoo as these products can interfere with sleep recording
You don’t take a nap during the day
You tell your sleep specialist about the medications you take because you might have to stop taking them for one for your sleep test Sleep Study

Sleep Study

Contact Itamar Medical for more information