Are you having trouble sleeping? Is gasping or irregular breathing interrupting your sound sleep? Is your snoring disrupting you and your family’s sleep? You may be suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. Any kind of sleep disorder can cause a deficiency of sleep. Inadequate sleep may victimize you to lethal diseases like obesity, heart strokes, reduced metabolism, and irregular blood sugar levels etc. A night of sufficient sleep helps to function regularly, enhance the ability of concentration, elevates mood memory and brain functions.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a condition in which during sleep the throat muscles relax narrowing or closing the airways. This lowers the oxygen level in blood. The breathing stops causing you to snort, gasp or snore. If you have symptoms like fatigues, all day sleepiness, high blood pressure, snoring and BMI over 35 you may need sleep help.
The sleep tests will help the physician evaluate the sleeping parameters and provide authentic solutions.
With the advance in technology, sleep study kits can be procured at home. One can conveniently avoid unfamiliar visits to sleep study labs. There are home sleep study companies that provide a one-stop solution to all sleep-related issues.
How does a home sleep test work?
The home sleep companies can comfortably send the sleeping device equipment at home with certain instructions. However, a professional prescription is prerequisite. The portable monitor is small and lightweight. For the calculations accurate placement is necessary. The belt should be tied around the midsection, the sensor clip should be attached to the finger and the nasal canal must be fixed under the nose.
What does the Sleeping Device Measure?
The home sleep test aims to gather this information
- Oxygen Saturation level
- The airflow and
- Respiratory effort
- Heart rate
- Movements in the chest and abdomen
- It also records the time spent in snoring
Nevertheless, the sleep test in the lab assesses brain waves and eye movements, position and limb movements. So a home test is useful to estimate sleep apnea but is not effective for all sleep disorders. The home sleep study companies may even give free first consultation to help you figure out the sleeping problem.
Benefits of Home Sleep Tests
Work from home, consultation from home, shop from home has become the new normal. Hence home sleep study to diagnose sleeping patterns is no big deal
- Small Commitment
The equipment is used for just one night. It is administered by the patient. The price is much lower compared to night study labs. It is practically a third or fifth of the cost of sleep labs. The value of a home sleep test is usually covered by insurance companies.
- Convenient
The home surrounding gives a congenial environment. One may have a regular relaxed sleep for testing. The new atmosphere of the study lab can make someone paranoid as well. It is also beneficial for elderly and home-bound patients. However, the patient should make sure that the device is functioning without any interruptions.
- Accuracy
The sensor technology gives accurate readings which are reviewed later by the specialist for treatments. The device gives reliable screening compared to PSG. Automatic results compared to manual scoring gave the following rates.
- Sensitivity: 87%
- Specificity: 95%
- Positive likelihood ratio: 17 : 0
- Negative likelihood ratio: 0: 14
Suitability
The home test is not suitable for every candidate. Some patients may have pre-existing conditions like lung and heart disease, neurological disorders, parasomnias, restless leg syndrome. The home device cannot validate results for patients with such conditions.
The home sleep study companies have the solution for various disorders and clinical experts of sleeping patterns.
Conclusion
Thus overnight sleep studies give a good examination of sleep assessment. Obstructive sleep apnea may lead to heart failures. The reasons that cause the apnea are excess weight, smoking, nasal congestion, being older, use of alcohol, tranquilizers and family history. It is more likely to affect males and people with thicker neck circumference. It is crucial to improve sleep for overall well-being especially when the testing device can be brought home. The home sleep study companies are gaining a lot of importance because of their amazing results.
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