Sleep Apnea Test | Sleep Apnea Symptoms

Sleep Apnea Test For Diagnosis

Do you wake up not feeling rested, even if you were sleeping for enough hours? Does your partner complain of your snoring, or do you wake yourself up with your own snoring? Do you have a hard time staying awake during the day? If you are having these types of sleep problems it is a good idea to see your doctor about it.

We all go through periods where we don’t get enough sleep, but when the problem becomes chronic, even when there seem to be no outside stresses or other causes it is time to see what the problem might be and what can be done to solve it.

Your doctor may check you to rule out any other possibilities and then decide to have you undergo a sleep apnea test. Sleep apnea is when you repeated stop breathing in your sleep five or more times per hour. This is most often caused by an obstruction of the airway because of low muscle tone which allows the tissues to collapse, blocking the passage of air.

A sleep apnea test to determine whether or not you have the condition can be done in a sleep laboratory or at home. Your doctor can help you determine if sleep apnea is the source of your nighttime sleep problems. This is done by doing a sleep apnea test called a polysomnograph.

There are many different aspects of a polysomnograph. They are all used together to get the best possible view of what exactly you are doing during your sleep to make the diagnosis of your sleep problem as accurate as possible.

A polysomnograph, or PSG, keeps track of many different body functions while you sleep. It measures and tests the function of the brain, muscles, eye movements, as well as heartbeats. It was only in the 1970s when sleep apnea was identified that they added monitoring of respiration and airflow to the tests.

Sometimes a sleep apnea test can be performed during the first half of the night, and if it is obvious that you do have the condition you can be treated for it during the second half of the night. This can help give a good idea of what can be done for you during the night while you are at home.

The most common method of treatment besides pillows that keep you sleeping on your side or with your head raised and lifestyle changes are the use of a CPAP machine that keeps a constant flow of air going through your passageways. It stands for continuous positive airflow pressure because it forces air through and does not allow your airways to become blocked.

This type of sleep apnea test is generally very conclusive and can tell you with good accuracy whether you have sleep apnea and how severe it is so that you can get straight to treating it.

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