Find Better Sleep With A Home Or Lab Sleep Study

Restless sleep can impact your lifestyle, whether you're dealing with a busy work day, vacation with the family, school or exercising at the gym. While everyone has experienced poor sleep at some point, consistently having poor sleep can hinder your lifestyle and may even be a part of a bigger problem. Thankfully, sleep studies can help answer where your poor sleep is coming from and how you can address it.

Brian Dickover, MD, specializing in sleep medicine and pulmonary with Franciscan Physician Network in Michigan City, explains what you should know about home and in-lab sleep studies and how they can make bedtime re-energizing again.

What Is A Sleep Study?

A sleep study, also known as a polysomnogram, records your brain waves, heartbeats and breathing as you sleep. It also charts the oxygen levels in your blood, as well as eye and limb movements. Sleep studies are designed to track how the systems in your body work together while you're sleeping. Theses tests use sensors that monitor your heart, brain and respiratory system. 

While there are a couple of options for a sleep study depending on your condition, both options are designed to evaluate your sleeping patterns and determine what could be disrupting your sleep.

There are two types of sleep studies:

• Home sleep study
• In-lab sleep study

Home Sleep Studies

Dr. Dickover explained that a home sleep study involves acquiring a device you'll set up at home.

"I often tell patients that if you're capable of pumping gas into your car, you're also capable of applying the device at home, which then assesses your sleep," Dr. Dickover said.

"And everything else being equal, I do feel that patients prefer to have a home sleep study done if and when it's possible to do that," he said. "There are reasons not to be able to undergo home sleep studying. Still, for the most part, I think anybody would rather stay at home as opposed to having in-lab testing."

In-lab Sleep Studies

"There's another variety of sleep study that takes place in a devoted sleep lab," Dr. Dickover said. "The patient will visit the lab, sleep overnight and be evaluated by sleep technologists."

What Are Common Symptoms That Lead To A Sleep Study?

You'll always know when you didn't sleep well, but knowing when to get a sleep study is essential.

Dr. Dickover explained that the main symptom that leads to sleep studying is the disruption of sleep during sleepiness.

"One of the things that sometimes is difficult to tease out is the difference between being tired and being sleepy," Dr. Dickover said. "I used to make a joke in my training with a phrase that mentions 'I have been tired for a long, long time, but I'm not terribly sleepy.'"

Dr. Dickover explained that sleepiness and fatigue can be somewhat different, but sleepiness is the main complaint they see in their office before any kind of testing takes place.

He also mentioned complications with snoring and breathing.

"Some people snore and have sleep-disordered breathing, yet others may not snore but still have sleep disordered breathing," Dr. Dickover said. "This is because their apneas are so severe that they don't even have enough flow to create the sound of snoring."

Dr. Dickover mentioned that patients can have a bed partner who complains about snoring or breathing, which may lead to a sleep study.

"There's also periodic leg movement disorder of sleep, which is somewhat different than restless leg syndrome," Dr. Dickover said. "This is something that can also be evaluated with an in-lab test."

What Are Common Reasons People Get A Sleep Study?

Many people may consider getting a sleep study to evaluate sleep-disordered breathing, such as obstructive sleep apnea.

"Obstructive sleep apnea is an entity where people either slow down or stop breathing while they're sleeping," Dr. Dickover said. "It's due to an obstruction in their upper airway. So, if they're asleep with an obstruction and they stop breathing, then they have obstructive sleep apnea. It can also come in varying different severities."

Still, there are other reasons why a sleep study can be necessary.

How Can You Get Referred For A Sleep Study?

While you can talk with your family doctor about your sleep concerns, visiting other providers such as a pulmonologist or cardiologist also can lead to a sleep study.

"The Franciscan Sleep Lab in Michigan City gets a lot of referrals from primary care providers," Dr. Dickover said. "We also get a lot of referrals from cardiologists for patients with cardiovascular disease."

Dr. Dickover explained that a patient's cardiovascular disease can be more challenging to treat because of their sleep disorder.

"Referrals can also come from subspecialists like kidney doctors, neurologists or psychiatrists, because patient's mental health is being impacted by their disrupted sleep," he said.

What Can a Person Expect During a Sleep Study?

As you are preparing for your sleep study, pack any items that you need for your nightly routine, such as pajamas, a toothbrush and toothpaste and reading materials.

During an in-lab sleep study, patients can expect a private sleeping room and will also have a bathroom available to them. Upon arrival, a sleep technologist will ask about your sleep habits and you may be asked to complete a pre-sleep questionnaire. The sleep technologist will attach sensors to your body. The sensors, which are glued or taped to you, monitor your body while you sleep. These sensors are painless and are long enough to let you move around and turn over in bed.

You are free to read or watch TV until your normal bedtime. When it is time for you to try to go to sleep, the lights will go off and a low-light video camera will allow the technologist to see you from a nearby room. If a sensor comes loose or you need to go to the bathroom during the night, the technologist will have to help you with the wires.

In the morning the technologist will test and then remove the sensors. The in-lab study is complete once you are awake and the sensors have been removed.

When Do Patients Need To Go To A Lab For A Sleep Study?

"In-lab sleep studies can be used to determine what pressure someone needs when they have a device applied to their face such as continuous positive airway pressure, otherwise known as CPAP," Dr. Dickover said. "There is a variety of an in-lab test called a split night test, where the patient is evaluated and diagnosed potentially with sleep disordered breathing during the first half of the night."

Dr. Dickover explained that during the second half of the night, a CPAP-type device is applied to treat the sleep apnea diagnosed during the first half.

He explained that some patients already have a CPAP device at home but may have difficulty tolerating it, require a change in their pressure, or no longer need it. Due to this, patients may come back to the lab for an overnight test, during which their CPAP device, usage and pressures are evaluated.

"There are other sleep entities such as narcolepsy or idiopathic hypersomnia, and those diagnoses need to involve the use of an in-lab test," Dr. Dickover said. "Patients will sometimes also potentially have seizures at night, and those can also be evaluated with the use of an in-lab sleep study."

Dr. Dickover also explained that conditions like insomnia are not usually evaluated with an in-lab test and restless leg syndrome can be a clinical diagnosis.

What Technology Does Franciscan Health Use To Diagnose Sleep Disorders?

Monitoring plays a key role during a sleep study, and since the study can be performed at home and in the lab, it's crucial to know how the technology is used in each environment.

Home Sleep Study Technology

"For the home sleep study, it's a small device that comes in a zipped-up fabric sack that people take home," Dr. Dickover said. "It's about as big, as a half or a full sheet of paper."

Dr. Dickover explained that the home sleep study involves a sensor underneath your nose, a probe on your finger and two comfortable bands around your chest and belly.

He also mentioned a sensor that helps determine your heart rate during the home sleep study.

"I have rarely heard any patients say that at home when they have that device in place they have any difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep," Dr. Dickover said.

In-Lab Sleep Study Technology

"The in-lab test is more involved and because they're the only way to assess the stages of sleep is to have electroencephalographic EEG leads placed on your scalp," Dr. Dickover said.

Dr. Dickover explained that this test includes having leads placed on your scalp with overnight monitoring, similar to home sleep studies, but with more detail due to the present technology in the lab.

"With the technology, we're able to better assess whether or not somebody's having a seizure potentially or exactly what stage of sleep they're in," Dr. Dickover said. "Some may say that their phone, smart watch or some personal monitoring device will tell them when they're in REM sleep. Still, the only way to know exactly what stage of sleep somebody's in is to have EEG leads on your scalp."

With either home or in-lab sleep studies, your provider can use technology to determine the cause of your poor sleep and the steps you can take to solve it. If you're having problems with drowsiness during the day or not getting enough rest at night, start a conversation about a sleep study with your doctor and find a solution for a good night's rest.