Screening For Obstructive Sleep Apnea In The Comfort Of Your Own Home

Testing at home with sleep monitors is convenient, and these tests are presently available in easy to use forms with various different functions.

They can be used to determine the quality of your sleep. How long you sleep, and how long it takes to send you off.

Also how many times you wake in the night, the oxygen level in your blood and your pulse rate.

In general the overall sleep patterns in your daily life.

The results recorded during this screening for obstructive sleep apnea can be downloaded to a computer, and reports drawn up that give a clear picture of any disorders you may be experiencing.

Sleep is usually measured in five phases, each serving their own function, usually lasting around 100 minutes.

In stage one you are in a light sleep. which develops in to a deeper sleep in stage two.

Stage three and four, which is referred to as 'delta' sleep is when you are sleeping the heaviest, during which your body regenerates and refreshes itself.

This is the cycle when energy is reserved for the day ahead and your immune system is boosted.

Stage five is the 'REM' phase (rapid eye movement). In this time you breathe faster, your brain is more active, your muscles are relaxed and you experience dreams.

These cycles are repeated throughout the night.

The first part of the night the 'delta' stages are longer than the 'REM' stage, but this reverses as the night wears on, and by the last part of the night the 'REM' phase lengthens and the 'Delta' ceases.

These essential cycles are recorded during the screening for obstructive sleep apnea, and because some of the stages are incomplete or too short when we have apnea episodes, the test gives indications of the problem and its severity.

Everyone has different sleep cycles, and no-one has the same cycle twice. The factors that can influence sleep cycles include diet, exercise, medications, drugs or alcohol, stress, sleep disorders, and sleep deprivation.

Men sleep less soundly than women, the older we get the more restlessly we sleep.

Your working memory is affected by sleep deprivation.

This is the part of the brain that holds information which you may need to process, and is important for the cognitive functions of making decisions and logical reasoning.

Other side effects are poor concentration, short temper, a negative mood and depression, low energy and sex drive.

I must stress that any sleep study or test will not give you solutions to a sleeping or breathing disorder. Unless your symptoms are very mild, medical treatment is advisable.

For people who bedridden, or who can't afford expensive test in clinics or hospitals, screening for obstructive sleep apnea at home can deliver vital answers to sleep problems on which doctors can make more informed decisions for treatment.

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