What Is a Sleep Study?

It’s no secret, we care about sleep. For over 20 years, the AccqSleepLabs Team has been helping thousands of patients solve their sleep related issues through our consultative, diagnostic, and therapeutic services. Our diagnostic and therapeutic sleep studies are conducted at our locations in Ontario - Waterloo, Owen Sound, or Paris - and are 100% covered by OHIP with a valid health card.

But what does this really mean? What is a sleep study?

Sleep studies are exactly what the name says: a study of sleep. They are conducted in private rooms - similar to your bedroom at home - and are monitored by trained and qualified sleep technologists. 

What Are Sleep Studies Used For?

Sleep studies are used for a variety of purposes. Most commonly, though, sleep studies are used to investigate symptoms that people may be experiencing during their awake time that could indicate a sleep disorder. Excessive daytime sleepiness, waking up multiple times throughout the night, problems falling asleep or even restless leg syndrome may result in a doctor requesting a sleep study. 

What Happens in a Sleep Study?

During a sleep study, a technician could be monitoring any number of things such as brain activity, eye movement, heart rate, breathing patterns, and muscle activity. Equipment including small sensors and monitors will be used during the sleep study to help monitor these things. A patient’s referral will determine what is being monitored during the sleep study. 

The Purpose of a Sleep Study

Unlike when you break a bone or catch a flu, it’s hard to know what you really do when you are sleeping. You may wake up feeling achy, indicating that you slept funny or be tired because you remember waking up at night. The purpose of a sleep study is to connect these dots and provide insights into what happens while you’re getting your daily dose of REM. 

Diagnostic VS Therapeutic Studies

There are two main types of sleep studies: Diagnostic and Therapeutic. 

Diagnostic studies are done to help investigate initial symptoms. Most of these studies are done overnight although they could happen during the day depending on a person’s sleep-wake cycle. The purpose of this study is to identify what may be causing symptoms to the actual problem. From these studies, (ideally) a diagnosis can be given by. qualified Sleep Medicine Physician and treatment can follow. 

Therapeutic studies are normally conducted after a diagnostic study and a consultation with the Sleep Medicine Physician are used to measure the success of any treatment. The quality of sleep can be compared to that in the diagnostic study, giving an indication of if treatment is working or not. 

Daytime Sleep Studies

While most sleep studies are conducted during the night or your regular sleep cycle time, there are some studies which may be conducted during the day. 

The first is Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MLST). This test is used to monitor and assess excessive daytime sleepiness. The test is used to see how quickly a person falls asleep in a quiet environment in the idle of the day. Narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia - a sleep disorder that causes excessive sleepiness even after a good night's sleep -  are two disorders which may be assessed by a MLST. 

The second is the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT). This test measures how alert and functioning a person remains during the quiet times of the day. MWT is usually used to monitor treatment of daytime sleepiness caused by disorders identified in other tests. It’s basically a therapeutic study, but done during the day to review daytime sleep challenges, not those that happen at night. 

The Power of Sleep

Sleep studies are powerful tools to help identify sleep disorders or disruptors. The same way a doctor might send you for an x-ray, ultrasound or any other type of test, a sleep study can provide valuable insight into your health. 

Sleep Studies During COVID-19

AccqSleepLabs is open and performing sleep studies during COVID-19. All our facilities are following the top safety procedures and precautions to keep our lab technicians and patients safe. If you have any questions about having a sleep study done during the COVID-19 pandemic, reach out to our office and we’d be happy to answer all your questions.