General monitoring and evaluation.

Used to diagnose Narcolepsy and measure the degree of daytime sleepiness. To ensure accurate results, it is performed on the morning following a Diagnostic Overnight PSG.

General monitoring and diagnostic evaluation is conducted on the first night. If Sleep Apnea is discovered, the patient returns for a second night to determine the necessary CPAP pressure required to alleviate apnea.

Split Night PSG is conducted when moderate or severe Sleep Apnea has been discovered or strongly suspected during the first part of the nights study. The second half of the night is used for CPAP Titration.

This test records several body functions during sleep, including brain activity, eye movement, oxygen and carbon dioxide blood levels, heart rate and rhythm, breathing rate and rhythm, the flow of air through your mouth and nose, snoring, body muscle movements, and chest and belly movement.

This test measures whether you can stay awake during a time when you are normally awake.

This test measures how long it takes you to fall asleep. A video camera is used to record movements during sleep. A Multiple Sleep Latency Test or MSLT, is designed to measure the degree of sleep tendency or sleepiness in a given patient. This test is conducted during the day following a routine PSG and features a series of up to 5 naps, each lasting usually less than 30 minutes.

is required if sleep apnea is diagnosed or strongly suspected. Typically, this is a full night of study performed during a second night, but is sometimes performed during the last few hours of a split-night study. During the titration study, the technician will set the air pressure on the CPAP at a certain level and then watch the resulting measurements. If that pressure does not reduce the number of apnea and hypopnea events, or eliminate the snoring, the technician will adjust the air pressure and continue observation. This process continues throughout the night until the optimum pressure is reached.

therapy is the first line of treatment for sleep apnea. The CPAP device delivers pressurized air through tubing to a nasal mask or nasal pillows, which are fitted around the head. The pressurized air acts as an airway splint. It gently opens the patient's throat and breathing passages, allowing them to breathe normally while asleep, but only through their nose!

The CPAP machine, with humidifier and hose:

To properly treat sleep apnea, the correct CPAP air pressure setting must be determined by titration. Titration is done for each patient - there is no "one size fits all" solution.

During a titration study, the patient will sleep all wired up, just like a normal sleep study, but they will also wear a nasal mask, which is connected to a CPAP machine. Since the pressurized air can be irritating to a nose that hasn't been used much at night, many sleep labs also connect the CPAP device to a heated humidifier during the titration procedure. This adds moisture to the air after it leaves the CPAP and before it enters the patient's nose, easing the drying effect of the pressurized air.