Polysomnography (PSG) is a comprehensive sleep study used to diagnose and evaluate various sleep disorders. It is often considered the gold standard in sleep medicine because it provides detailed data on a person’s sleep patterns, physiological functions, and disturbances throughout the night. This non-invasive, overnight test helps doctors understand the quality and structure of sleep, allowing for accurate diagnosis and treatment planning.
What Is Polysomnography?
Polysomnography is a multi-parametric test that records several physiological variables during sleep. The word “polysomnography” literally means “many sleep recordings.” During the test, various sensors are attached to the patient’s body to monitor brain waves, eye movements, muscle activity, heart rate, breathing patterns, oxygen levels, and sonno limb movements. The collected data helps specialists analyze different sleep stages, detect abnormalities, and identify disorders such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, and periodic limb movement disorder.
How Is Polysomnography Performed?
The test is typically conducted in a specialized sleep lab or clinic. Patients arrive in the evening and are connected to a range of electrodes and sensors placed on the scalp, face, chest, and limbs. These sensors are attached with minimal discomfort using adhesive patches or belts. The patient then sleeps overnight while the monitoring equipment continuously records data.
Throughout the night, technicians observe the patient’s sleep remotely, ensuring the equipment functions properly and noting any unusual behaviors. In some cases, video recording is also used to monitor physical movements or behaviors such as sleepwalking or talking.
Parameters Monitored in Polysomnography
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Electroencephalogram (EEG): Measures brain wave activity to determine different sleep stages, including rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep.
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Electrooculogram (EOG): Tracks eye movements, which help identify REM sleep phases.
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Electromyogram (EMG): Records muscle activity, particularly around the chin and legs, to detect movements or muscle tone changes.
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Electrocardiogram (ECG): Monitors heart rate and rhythm.
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Respiratory channels: Measure airflow, respiratory effort, and oxygen saturation to identify breathing disturbances.
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Body position sensors: Track the patient’s sleeping posture.
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Snore microphone: Detects snoring sounds.
Why Is Polysomnography Important?
Sleep is essential for physical and mental health, affecting cognitive function, mood, metabolism, and immune response. Disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can significantly impair sleep quality, leading to daytime fatigue, cardiovascular disease, and decreased quality of life. Polysomnography allows doctors to detect these conditions accurately.
For example, in obstructive sleep apnea, the test reveals pauses in breathing, drops in oxygen levels, and arousals from sleep. This information is critical to developing appropriate treatment plans, which may include lifestyle changes, CPAP therapy, or surgery.
Additionally, PSG can help diagnose less common disorders like narcolepsy, characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden muscle weakness, or periodic limb movement disorder, which causes involuntary limb jerks during sleep.
Advances and Variations
While traditional polysomnography requires an overnight stay in a sleep lab, advances have led to portable home sleep apnea tests. These are simpler devices primarily focused on respiratory parameters but lack the comprehensive data provided by full PSG.
In some cases, multiple sleep latency tests (MSLT) are conducted after PSG to assess daytime sleepiness, further aiding in diagnosing narcolepsy.
Polysomnography is a crucial diagnostic tool that provides an in-depth view of sleep physiology and disorders. By capturing a wide array of body functions during sleep, it enables healthcare professionals to diagnose conditions accurately and tailor effective treatments. For anyone experiencing unexplained daytime fatigue, snoring, or other sleep-related symptoms, undergoing a polysomnography study can be the first step toward improved sleep health and overall well-being.
