Sleep Studies

• Sleep apnea (AP-ne-ah) is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep.
• Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. They may occur 30 times or more an hour. Typically, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a loud snort or choking sound.
• Sleep apnoea usually is a chronic (ongoing) condition that disrupts your sleep. When your breathing pauses or becomes shallow, you’ll often move out of deep sleep and into light sleep.
• As a result, the quality of your sleep is poor, which makes you tired during the day.
• Sleep apnoea is a leading cause of excessive daytime sleepiness.

• Sleep apnea often goes undiagnosed. Doctors usually can't detect the condition during routine office visits. Also, no blood test can help diagnose the condition.
• Most people who have sleep apnoea don't know they have it because it only occurs during sleep. A family member or bed partner might be the first to notice signs of sleep apnoea.

• The most common type of sleep apnoea is obstructive sleep apnoea. In this condition, the airway collapses or becomes blocked during sleep. This causes shallow breathing or breathing pauses.
• When you try to breathe, any air that squeezes past the blockage can cause loud snoring. Obstructive sleep apnoea is more common in people who are overweight, but it can affect anyone.
• For example, small children who have enlarged tonsil tissues in their throats may have obstructive sleep apnoea.

• Increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, and diabetes
• Increase the risk of, or worsen, heart failure
• Make arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeats, more likely
• Increase the chance of having work-related or driving accidents
• Sleep apnoea is a chronic condition that requires long-term management. Lifestyle changes, mouthpieces, surgery, and breathing devices can successfully treat sleep apnoea in many people.

The most effective method for diagnosing sleep apnea is a sleep study which requires the person suspected of having the disorder to spend the night in a sleep center. While this method is very effective, it is also expensive which means it is inaccessible to some people. However, there is a new FDA approved test that allows people suspected of having sleep apnea to be tested for the disorder at home. This new home test, which is significantly less expensive than a full sleep study, removes much of the anxiety some people experience about spending the night at a sleep center and this is now available at Health Renewal.

The test is easy to take. Patients meet with our sleep therapist for a consultation. During this consultation, the patient will complete various questionnaires and receive information regarding the sleep study. The Sleep therapist will attach electrodes to the patients’ skull and also show the patient how to use the device at home. At night, the patient sleeps with the device and the data necessary to determine whether or not they have sleep apnea is recorded by the device. With this device, we can test OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) and UARS (Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome). Once complete, the patient returns the test device to the branch where the data can be extracted, read, and a diagnosis can be made, if necessary. We have a neurophysiologist who will write a report on the data in order to provide a proper diagnosis. By capturing the patient’s heart rate, airflow, respiratory effort, the amount of oxygen in their blood, and the different sleep phases, the home testing device makes it possible for a Neurophysiologist to provide a diagnosis accurately.

 We also have our In-House sleep study. This sleep study will take place in our Sleep Clinic in Morningside. Our In-house sleep study records your brain waves, breathing, respiratory effort, the oxygen level in your blood, heart rate, snoring, arousals, apnoea’s, awakenings, sleep stages, rapid eye movement, limb movement as well as restless legs. The patient will stay over in Sleep Renewal’s sleep clinic with on suite bathrooms, soundproof rooms, healthy light meals, FDA approved equipment and friendly staff. The recoded data will be scored and calculated by our sleep technologist with more than 20 years of experience in the sleep industry and the diagnostic report will be signed off by our Pulmonologist DR Grace Kay-Eddie. Our In-House sleep studies can be claimed back from your medical aid if you request an invoice from our Front desk in Morningside

After the Sleep-study done in the comfort of your own home, we will extract the data from the device and a report will be generated by a Neurophysiologist. If you have been diagnosed with Sleep- apnea you will be booked with one of our Health Renewal doctors to discuss a treatment plan with you. Depending on the severity of the sleep apnea, we have different treatment options from Supplements, CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) Device, Mouth piece etc.