Sleep Study

So, for any of you who have ever gone to anything with me where there is very much sitting, you will know I like to fall asleep. Well, not that I like to fall asleep, I just do fall asleep. Given the coverage on our health insurance, I have decided to figure out what is wrong with. So, in November I had a "sleep study" and this last Tuesday night I had a second one.

Basically, they hook a bunch of stuff up to you and let you sleep. Then, in my case, in the morning, they had me do "nap studies" where they have me take 5 20 minute naps, or at least they put me in a dark room laying down and see what happens. It was all interesting. So far, they have found nothing (and I suspect they wont find anything) but I can at least be pretty confident that I tried to figure out what was going on. So now for a description of what I wore to bed:

This second study they put a tube down my nose into my throat. It supposedly extended down to my mid-chest. You can see it in the back of my throat. It was, needless to say, somewhat odd and difficult to sleep with a tube the size of a spaghetti noodle down your nose.

Here are some of the things on my head: And on my face: And a video of some more of them:

In addition to what is shown, right before you fall asleep they put a monitor on your finger, a very annoying thing that hangs in front of your nose and mouth, and two straps around your middle (like the ones women in labor wear).

They put all that on, then put you in bed, and the lights turn out. They tell you to do all sorts of stuff to calibrate their machines (blink five times, look right, look left, wiggle your feet, and so on). Then, they tell you to go to sleep. It is weird, because someone is listening to you all night long. If you wake up and are up for very long, there is a voice "Do you need something?"

You are being watched, listened to, your oxygen intake and outtake, chest cavity pressure, brain activity, leg movement, heart and respiration rates are all being monitored. It is a very Orwellian feeling. You wake up in the morning and you fill out a questionnaire. It asks things like "How long did you sleep for?" "Did you dream?" You know they know exactly how long you slept for, and if you dreamed. For all I know, they can watch my dreams through their little instruments.

So, that is that. In the end, it is amazing what they can do these days, and a very weird feeling to be so closely monitored as you sleep.