Your Night at SLEEPWELL Diagnostic and Treatment Center

What to bring:

We want you to be as comfortable as possible during your sleep test. Pack a small bag with your pajamas, toothbrush and any other items you will need the next morning. Many patients like to bring their own pillow for better sleep. Let's go to the sleep center, our warm, friendly staff are waiting for you!

When you arrive, you will be escorted to your private bedroom. Along the way, you are likely to see the central monitoring area, where the technicians monitor as many as four sleeping patients. We do this by means of video, computers, and printouts of your recorded activity. The technicians will be able to react quickly if you need help or have a question while in your room.

Throughout the entire process, your technician is paying close attention to the activity of his or her sleeping patient.

What happens next?

Now, you have arrived at your private bedroom. It may look like a hospital room, a hotel room, or your bedroom at home. Your technician will ask you to slip into your pajamas before the process of hooking up the surface electrodes (leads) begins. The hook-up process may take place in your bedroom or an outer work area.

The Hook-up

Setup can take 30-45 minutes or more in order to get everything connected properly. There are a large number of supplies that are used in the process. The two belts are placed around your chest and abdomen to measure your respiratory efforts, and the band-aid like oximeter probe on your finger measures the amount of oxygen in your blood. The electrodes are temporarily "glued" to your skin and scalp. Don't worry; the glue comes off very easily the next morning! Tell your doctor if you have asthma or an allergy to tape, so that SLEEPWELL'S technicians can use hypoallergenic materials for the hook-up. You will also have some belts to hold sensors to your chest.

Although being hooked up may look uncomfortable and sleeping through the night seems impossible, most patients fall asleep with little difficulty.

Now, its time to relax.

Once you are hooked up and the preparation is over, you may have some time to relax before dropping off to sleep. Usually, you may choose your own bedtime, within reason. You may watch television, or you may want to bring a book or magazine. Also, the technician can adjust your bedroom's temperature to suit your personal preference.

So, what exactly is going on while I sleep?

A key part of a sleep study is understanding what is happening while you sleep. By attaching the electrodes to your body, the recorded electrical signals generated by your brain and muscle activity are sent back through the wires. Gold plated surface electrodes will be glued to the skin and scalp during the polysomnograph (PSG), and will record the extremely low levels of electrical energy present during any muscle or brain activity.

This information is recorded digitally. Our sleep specialist then "reads" or interprets the study, and can recognize the pattern of this activity. These valuable clues reveal whether or not you have a sleep disorder, and if you do, how severe it is.

Seems simple, but really very complex:

Sleeping is a complex activity that must occur for a successful polysomnographic study. During sleep, our brain and body cycle between NREM (nonrapid eye movement) and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep approximately every 90 minutes.