Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the few things everybody agrees is essential to our wellbeing. Estimates, unfortunately, say that only about two-thirds of people surveyed claim to get at least seven hours of healthy sleep. The rest of us deal with the difficulties associated with unpredictable daily schedules, travel across time zones, stress, and other factors which can affect our ability to conk out.
Disorders such as insomnia (inability to sleep), sleep apnea (sleep interrupted by poor breathing), or other causes such as restless legs, heart problems, lung disease and chronic pain can contribute to bad sleep. Needing to use the bathroom during the night wakes us up, while too much caffeine may keep us up. Medications can interfere with nodding off; sometimes the cause isn’t as obvious.
My doctor knew I had sleep issues, so he ordered a sleep study for me. Insurance covers part of the expense, but I did write a check for some of the cost because my golden years will thank me for it later. The objective is to observe a normal evening and record what may interfere with healthy downtime. This meant that I went to a sleep center for observation overnight.
The sleep center resembles a cross between a hospital ward and a hotel. My room contained a queen sized bed with two pillows of various resilience, a television, lamp, chair and locker. I was invited to bring my own pillow, but I had a brand new one at home, so I declined and opted for what was offered.
My normal evening routine doesn’t include TV in bed or late night snacking. It was easy for me to go into my pre-sleep routine for the study. After changing into comfortable pajamas, a technician applied rubbing alcohol and an adhesive paste to parts of my scalp (which needed to be clean and free of any conditioner or hairspray: also known as bed head), then attached monitors to my skin, as well as on my legs, head, chin, by my eyes and, most notably, airway probes inside my nose and bands around my chest and abdomen. These would pick up brainwave activity, leg and mouth movement (including teeth grinding), disruptions in breathing and blinking.
The tech doused the lights–it was around 11 PM–and had me remotely perform some breathing and movement tasks for her and the camera to pick up. I was recorded all night under special lighting, similar to those hidden camera themed horror movies like Paranormal Activity.
No ghosts were mentioned as having appeared in my study.
The first thought most people have is, “How the heck can anybody sleep with all those wires all over your head?” Amazingly, I fell asleep at, what I think was, rather close to my usual time. I was awakened once when my nostril rejected the probe, but the end of the study came quickly at 6:00 AM when the tech put me through some more tasks, then the lights came on like a lightning storm and I was allowed to dress and go home.
The results won’t be in for about two weeks, but in the meantime I’m continuing to sleep in my usual bed at my usual time without any wires.
And no TV.
Susan's Scribblings the Blog 