Home Sleep Studies

Home sleep studies help to determine if you have a disorder like obstructive sleep apnea. At Quiet Dental PC in the Pelham Bay/Morris Park section of the Bronx in New York, the team uses home sleep study data to design an effective treatment plan for patients affected by sleep apnea. Call the office to learn more about home sleep studies, or use the online scheduling tool to request an appointment.

What are home sleep studies?

Home sleep studies monitor your breathing, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels while asleep.

You wear a small device on your wrist that records all this data overnight and sends it to a computer system for analysis.

Why might I need a home sleep study?

You might need a home sleep study to determine whether you have sleep apnea. This common disorder affects how you breathe when asleep, frequently causing brief pauses in air intake that reduce the oxygen levels in your blood.

Your brain wakes you to restart your breathing. You’re unlikely to remember waking the next day, but it can happen multiple times each night.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common form. When you have OSA, soft tissues in the back of your mouth and throat cover your airway as you relax into sleep. The less common central sleep apnea is a neurological disorder where the breathing muscles stop working during sleep.

Sleep apnea may make you excessively sleepy and irritable during the day. It also increases your risk of severe health problems, including heart disease. Quiet Dental PC’s home sleep studies are a simple, convenient way of determining if you have sleep apnea.

How do home sleep studies work?

Home sleep study devices are easy to use. Your provider explains the procedure and gives you written instructions. She shows you how to use your home sleep test machine and tells you what happens when the results come back. You can also access a video online detailing how to set up and use your device.

Home sleep study devices are usually on straps you wear around your wrist. You put the device on before settling down in bed at night, and the unit’s sensors detect your pulse and how much oxygen your blood contains. The next day, you return the device to Quiet Dental PC for analysis, and the team contacts you to discuss the results.

How do home sleep studies differ from visiting a sleep center?

Sleep centers are facilities where you stay overnight for a more in-depth analysis of sleep abnormalities. Home sleep tests are far more convenient and ideal for confirming a sleep apnea diagnosis, but you might need to attend a sleep center if you have other sleep disorders or complex sleep apnea.

Call Quiet Dental PC to learn more about home sleep studies, or book an appointment online today.