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What to Expect

Many patients do not know what to expect when visiting our lab for the first time.  The following information is provided to help you know what to expect when visiting any of our labs.

For a typical study, you will be spending the night in our lab.  You will want to arrive around 9:00 pm so that we can get you prepared for the study.  After the appointment is scheduled, the patient will receive a Sleep Questionairre in the mail.  Please bring the completed form to your appointment to provide to your sleep technician.

When you arrive, you will meet your technician.  Each technician will monitor up to two patients at a time.  You will then be shown to your room so that you can settle in.  When it is your turn to be prepped for study, your technician will apply the following sensors:

  • EEG/EOG leads to monitor brain and eye activity
  • EMG leads to monitor muscle activity in the chin and legs
  • EKG leads to monitor heart rate
  • 2 effort sensing belts, one around the chest, one around the belly
  • SpO2 sensor - a light based sensor to measure oxygen in the blood
  • Oral/Nasal flow sensors to detect the movement of air

Many people are concerned about being able to sleep with these sensors attached, but in our experience, most people are able to adjust to the equipment with surprising ease and are soon sleeping soundly.

After the sensors have been applied, your technician will take you back to your room and connect you to the sleep monitoring equipment.  The technician will then turn out the lights and go back to the control station.  The technician will then ask you via intercom to perform several maneuvers (look up using only your eyes, look down using only your eyes, flex different muscles, etc).  This is called biocalibration, each maneuver is used to make sure that a particular sensor is correctly gathering data.  As every patient is different, the sensors must sometimes be moved in order to get the best signal.

At this point, all you have to do is fall asleep and our professional technicians will handle the rest!