Sleep screening
Sleep screening — the problem is not the snoring but the pauses in breathing
Source : KBS 1TV "The Secret of Life and Death"
When the airway at the back of the throat narrows or closes during sleep, breathing repeatedly stops. Without the person's awareness, oxygen falls through the night and sleep becomes shallow.
As a result you wake unrefreshed and feel sleepy during the day, and the risk of hypertension, arrhythmia, and stroke rises as well.
Polysomnography records EEG, respiration, oxygen saturation, and leg movement together over a single night, quantifying how many times, for how long, and in which sleep stage the apneas occur.
When symptoms and test results meet the criteria, national health insurance applies; CPAP therapy eliminates the apneas, restoring both deep sleep and oxygen saturation. If daytime sleepiness keeps recurring, do not put off finding out why.
What this screening can reveal
We interpret the pattern of an entire night, not a single number — not only the count of apneas, but oxygen desaturation, the architecture of sleep stages, and leg movements as well.
- Presence and severity of sleep apnea (apnea-hypopnea events per hour)
- How far and how often oxygen saturation falls during sleep
- The architecture of sleep stages and the proportion of deep sleep
- The frequency of micro-arousals the person is unaware of
- Quantitative measurement of snoring (episodes per night and frequency per hour)
- Periodic limb movement disorder with twitching legs
We recommend this for
Snoring and apnea are noticed by the person sharing the bed before the patient. If any of the following applies, a single night's study can identify the cause.
- Those who have trouble falling asleep or wake often
- Those observed to snore heavily or stop breathing during sleep
- Those told they stop breathing in their sleep
- Those with morning headache who wake unrefreshed
- Those whose daytime sleepiness interferes with daily life or driving
- Those whose legs feel restless, making it hard to fall asleep
※ This is general medical information provided for understanding only. The actual screening items and interpretation of results are determined after consultation with a specialist.
