Home Sleep Testing
Sleep studies are tests that measure how well you sleep and how your body responds to sleep problems. These tests can help your doctor find out whether you have a sleep disorder and how severe it is.
Sleep studies are important because untreated sleep disorders can raise your risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and other medical conditions. Sleep disorders also have been linked to an increased risk of injury, such as falling (in the elderly) and car accidents.
People usually aren’t aware of their breathing and movements while sleeping. They may never think to talk to their doctor about issues that might be related to sleep problems.
However, sleep disorders can be treated. Talk with your doctor if you snore regularly or feel very tired while at work or school most days of the week.
Diagnosing sleep apnea used to be an expensive and inconvenient process requiring an overnight stay in a sleep lab or hospital. A technician observes the patient and records sleeping habits using audio and video equipment. Many sleep centers operate at full capacity causing 4-6 week delays in patient testing and waiting for results.
The home sleep test is more convenient for you. Many experts agree that testing sleep in your normal home environment offers many advantages to the laboratory setting, which is admittedly uncomfortable and unrealistic.
Your doctor might be able to diagnose a sleep disorder based on your sleep schedule and habits. However, he or she also might need the results from sleep studies and other medical tests to diagnose a sleep disorder.