Sleep studies

Sleep studies are painless non-invasive tests that monitor your sleep and how your body responds to sleep problems. They are used to help doctors diagnose and manage many sleep disorders. These tests can be performed at home or in a sleep centre or hospital.

Sensors are placed on your body for the sleep study and are used to record your body functions.

The five main sleep studies are:

• Polysomnogram (PSG) – overnight test to monitor body functions such as brain waves, heart rate, leg movements and breathing during sleep.
• Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) - a series of daytime naps that measures how long it takes you to fall asleep.
• Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Titration - used to determine your optimal positive airways pressure (PAP) settings in patients already diagnosed with sleep apnoea.
• Split Night Study – firstly performs a polysomnography and then a CPAP titration. It performs both tests in the same night so you don’t need to come back another night for another test.
• Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) - measures how awake or alert you are during the day and if you can stay awake for a certain amount of time in a relaxing, quiet, and stimulation-free environment.

A sleep study can help diagnose sleep-related disorders including:

• Sleep breathing disorders
  • sleep apnoea - when you pause breathing for a few seconds or minutes due to a partial or full collapse of your upper airways. This may occur many times whilst you are asleep.
  • snoring
• Hypersomnias
  • idiopathic hypersomnia - constant or recurrent episodes of extreme sleepiness
  • onarcolepsy - excessive, uncontrollable daytime sleepiness.
• Insomnia - inability to get enough sleep so that you wake up feeling rested and refreshed. It can be caused by psychological or health problems such as:
  • periodic limb movement disorder - repetitive movements most often in your lower limbs every 5 to 90 seconds
  • restless leg syndrome - an overwhelming urge to move your legs or arms when resting.
• Parasomnias – physically moving your limbs or getting up and engaging in activities associated with waking whilst dreaming. These include:
  • sleep walking - getting up and walking around while in a state of sleep
  • sleep terrors - episodes of screaming, intense fear and flailing while still asleep
  • sleep talking - talking that may include complicated dialogues or monologues, mumbling or complete gibberish during sleep
  • REM behaviour disorder – acting out your dreams that are often very vivid and can involve a wide range of movements and vocalisations. This happens during REM sleep and you recall your dreams when you wake up.

Sleep studies help doctors to diagnose sleep disorders. Often sleep disorders cannot be identified during normal waking hours and sleep specialists need to gather more information while you are asleep.

Sleep studies can take place at home, in hospital or in a sleep centre during your normal sleeping hours.

During a sleep study your brain and body activity during sleep is recorded. The following may be measured:

• brain waves
• eye movements
• heart rate
• breathing patterns and airflow through your mouth and nose
• blood oxygen level
• body position
• limb movement
• snoring and talking
• how quickly you fall asleep
• sleep duration
• sleep efficiency
• ability to stay awake at specified times

Sleep studies monitor your sleep stages and cycles and help to identify if or when your sleep patterns are disrupted and why.

If you may have obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), a hypersomnia such as narcolepsy or a parasomnia such as sleepwalking, then you will be recommended for a sleep study. But you may wonder is it worth doing. The answer is yes for a number of reasons.

Reasons to do a sleep study include:

• You are at risk of unchecked sleep disorders and associated physical health problems such as:
  • Fatigue and excessive daytime sleepiness
  • Stress
  • Obesity
  • Heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attack, and irregular heartbeat
  • Diabetes
  • Headaches
• There are many consequences to your mental health and general well-being as well. These include:

• Depression and anxiety
• Irritability and mood swings
• Difficulty concentrating
• Cognitive impairment
• Decreased sex drive
• Poor work performance

• Your sleep disorder can affect your partner’s sleep.
  • People with sleep apnoea often snore loudly which can disturb their partner's sleep.
  • A cessation in your breathing can cause your partner a lot of worry as they fear that you may stop breathing in the night altogether.
  • Other parasomnias including sleepwalking, REM sleep behaviour disorder, sleep talking, and night terrors can arouse or prevent your partner from sleep.
  • Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) and Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD can cause continuous movement of your legs in bed and may either wake your partner from sleep or prevent them from going to sleep.
• You have a general lower quality of life - being tired all the time means you spend less quality time with your friends and family and have less energy to participate in activities.
• Tiredness can increase your risk of accidents.
• Sleep disorder treatments have a high rate of success. You just need to get diagnosed so that you can receive treatment to help you get better sleep and feel more alert and invigorated during the day.

Signs that you need a sleep study are the symptoms of a sleep disorder, such as:

• Loud and heavy snoring during sleep
• Waking up from sleep and gasping for breath
• Trouble falling and/or staying asleep
• Daytime sleepiness and fatigue
• Inability to concentrate and have consistent memory lapses
• You are depressed
• Lack of sleep is hurting your quality of life or raising safety issues.

Most sleep studies take place over the course of one night.

You will be asked to arrive for your sleep study several hours before bedtime to allow you to settle in. You will have a private ensuite room.

A sleep technologist will place sensors on your scalp, face, chest and legs to record brainwave activity, eye movements, muscle activity, heart rhythm, body movements, nasal/oral airflow, respiratory effort, and oxygenation. The sensors are connected by wires to a computer to record. The wires are long enough to let you turn and move around in bed. This hook-up procedure will take about 30 to 45 minutes.

The testing procedure typically starts between 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. and will continue until around 5.30 to 6 am the following morning.

The costs of a sleep study will depend on the type and extent of testing being used, where the sleep study will be performed, and your Ramsay hospital of choice.

You will receive a formal quotation price after your consultation with one of our specialists in sleep disorder. This formal quote for your sleep study will be valid for 60 days.

We have a number of finance options if you are paying for your sleep study yourself. These include:

• Interest-free finance – requires no deposit and you can make monthly instalments at 0% interest.
• All-inclusive Total Care – is a one-off payment at a pre-agreed price.
• Pay as you go – a flexible funding option if costs are difficult to assess or you want to pay for your costs as and when they arise.

Sleep studies are covered by most medical insurance policies if they are deemed medically necessary. We advise that you obtain written confirmation from your insurance before your sleep study.

There is generally no recovery process needed after a sleep study. This is because the study takes place during your normal sleeping hours. You therefore just go to sleep whilst data is captured using different tools and tests. Multiple wake tests (MWT) that measure whether you can stay awake during specified times may leave you feeling tired.

Ramsay offers a comprehensive range of sleep studies to monitor, investigate and diagnose your sleep problems. Depending on your symptoms and overall health, the most appropriate sleep studies will be advised. You may be asked to do your sleep study at home or overnight in hospital or at the sleep centre.

We use the latest technology and equipment during sleep studies to investigate your sleep problems. Should a sleep disorder be diagnosed, our specialists in sleep disorders are part of a multidisciplinary team who will determine the very best treatment for you. You will have rapid-access to sleep disorder treatment and continuity of care.