Twitter
Advertisement

Drifting in and out of sleep? Try the sleep lab

Sleep study is a painless procedure conducted over two days. Various equipment is used to track the patient’s sleep pattern and bodily movements before diagnosing the problem.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

The Puranas were rather unfair to Kumbhakarna, Ravana’s powerful brother in Ramayana. His perpetual slumber and loud snores were seen as a mere humour element. He was pictured as a bumpkin. And all hapless snorers ever since evoke the Kumbhakarna image and are taunted as sleepaholics. Thanks to medical advances, we know better — snoring isn’t a sign of sound sleep. On the contrary, it is the sign of a serious sleep disorder called obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Sleep labs are here to help.

“Those suffering from OSA snore loudly because the muscles in their oro-pharynx are constricted and air cannot pass smoothly. The snoring is air struggling its way in,” says Dr Satyanarayana, senior consultant at the Sleep and Asthma Centre India (P) Ltd (SACI), which has a sophisticated sleep lab. He says snores pause the breathing during the sleep for a while. They are most often left choking and gasping for breath. “This will cut off the oxygen supply for short durations, jolting the brain to act on a crisis mode. This means the person rarely sleeps well,” he adds. Such people tend to be sleepy throughout the day.

A sleep lab, as the name suggests, is just that: a laboratory set-up to study sleep patterns, and treat any disorders. The patient is asked to sleep overnight at the lab. The sleep study is a painless procedure conducted over two consecutive days. He/she is evaluated using various equipment to track the sleep pattern, and bodily movements and reactions. Eighteen parameters are monitored, including electro encephalogram (EEG), electro oculogram (EOG), electro mayogram (EMG), electro cardiogram (ECG), blood oxygen levels, and nasal flow. Sleep technicians stay up all night observing and recording the patient’s sleep. The report that they collate will be analysed by sleep therapists and consultants, who then treat it accordingly.

At the SACI, infrared cameras are set up in the sleep room and through these, the technicians watch the patient’s sleeping positions from the adjacent room. The centre is virtually connected to a mother hospital, Dr Hegde’s institute in the US, which monitors the patients.

The second overnight stay is for titration study. The titration machine figures out the precise amount of pressure required to open the airway of the patient. And a Counter Productive Air Passage (CPAP) machine would provide that pressure and prevent the air passage from choking. “This is the gold standard treatment for OSA,”

Dr Satyanarayana says. The treatment involves use of CPAP machine while sleeping at home, and not medicines.

OSA needs to be treated because otherwise, it would lead to heart failure, respiratory problems, hypertension and high blood pressure. It’s highly prevalent among middle-aged Indians and studies show that it’s more common among those who weigh over 75 kg and have a collar size of 16-17 inches.

Sleep labs are designed to treat other sleep-related disorders like narcolepsy as well. “Besides OSA and narcolepsy, at SACI, we offer treatment for chronic insomnia, periodic leg movement syndrome and parasomnias,” says Dr Satyanarayana. One-third of a lifetime is meant for sleep. That is more than enough reason to pay attention to it, especially when help is so at hand.
Reach the Sleep and Asthma Centre India at 080-2660840 or 22452405. www.saci.co.in

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
    Advertisement

    Live tv

    Advertisement
    Advertisement