at Princeton Community Hospital

The Sleep Center • First Floor • Main Entrance122 Twelfth Street • Princeton, WV 24740Phone: 304.487.7713 or 304.487.7702

www.pchonline.org

What Happens Duringa Sleep Study?When you arrive for your sleep study, you will bemet by a registered polysomnographictechnologist (RPSGT) who will be administeringyour sleep study. They will generally go over yourpaperwork, have you fill out any necessary forms,and review with you what the sleep study willentail. After collecting your health history as well assome vitals like your blood pressure, the tech willapply monitors to measure activity in your body asyou sleep. This will normally include:• Wires with small cup electrodes attached toyour scalp with a conductive paste to measurebrain activity. This lets the tech know if you aresleeping, and what stage of sleep you are in.

• Wire electrodes are taped to your face near theeyes and chin to show muscle activity. Theseelectrodes are used to measure eye movements,which also give clues to sleep stages, as well aschin movements which can observe possiblenocturnal teeth grinding as well as other sleepdisorders related to muscle activity.

• A nasal cannula (clear plastic tubing) and smallheat monitor measure all breathing activity.

Once you have been hooked up to the variousmachines, the RSPGT will begin monitoring thedata from another room.

Getting to Sleep during an In-lab Sleep StudyBeing able to sleep comfortably outside of one’sown bed while hooked up to a myriad of wires mayseem an impossible feat. But it’s really not. Rarelydoes a sleep study fail because the patient wasunable to sleep. Even if you think that you didn’tget any sleep during your overnight sleep study,you may be surprised to find that you slept muchmore than you realized.

What Happens After a Sleep Study?In the morning, around 6:00 – 7:00 a.m., the sleeptechnologist will wake you, remove your monitors,have you fill out some more paperwork and allowyou to go home or to work. The RSPGT will not be able to share your resultswith you. Instead, the information is sent to yourdoctor or a sleep specialist for evaluation. Yourdoctor or sleep specialist will review the results ofyour sleep test as well as your medical history andsleep history to make a diagnosis.If you would like more information about the SleepCenter at Princeton Community Hospital, or if youhave any other sleep associated questions, pleasecall us at 304.487.7713 or 304.487.7702.

Lead Registered Sleep Technologist Keyisha Richardsonmonitoring the patient throughout the night.

The Sleep Center at PCHDo you fall asleep while driving? Drift off early in theevening instead of enjoying family time? Snore?Feel tired or groggy when you wake up? Have yougained weight? Is your blood pressure elevated? Ifyou answered “yes” to any of these questions, youmay have a sleep disorder.

If you do, you’re not alone. In fact, more than 70million people in the U.S. struggle with sleepdisorders that interrupt quality rest. Our SleepCenter offers all-night sleep studies – also knownas polysomnograms – to identify sleep disordersand recommend the best course of treatment.

You may be diagnosed with any number of sleepdisorders—simply defined as any abnormal orirregular sleeping pattern. The most commoninclude:

Insomnia – Described as difficulty falling andremaining asleep, difficulty returning to sleep, earlymorning awakenings or non-restorative sleep.

The Sleep Center tests for:• Sleep apnea• Narcolepsy• Teeth grinding• Sleep disorders that involve movement such

as restless leg syndrome and periodic limbmovements

• Other sleep-related disorders

How To Prepare forYour Sleep StudyArrive shortly before your usual bedtime,approximately between 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. for anovernight study.

Make sure you have already had dinner and areready for bed.

• Bring your medications.• Bring comfortable clothes that you normally

sleep in.• Bring your morning bathroom supplies.

Restless Leg Syndrome and Periodic LimbMovement Disorder can lead to insomnia.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea – A potentially harmfulcondition where a person literally stops breathingwhile asleep, for several seconds at a time, manytimes during the course of a night. While a personsuffering from Sleep Apnea won’t usually be aware ofthese “non-breathing” incidents, what they will noticeis that they sleep poorly, have low energy, or feeldrowsy during the day.

Narcolepsy – A genetic sleep disorder that results inexcessive sleepiness, even when sleep hasoccurred.

The Sleep Center at Princeton Community Hospital isaccredited by the American Academy of SleepMedicine (AASM). To become accredited, sleepcenters must comply with the AASM Standards forAccreditation, the gold standard for patient care inthe sleep field.

“Improving the quality of apatient’s life is the mostrewarding aspect of working atthe Sleep Center.”

– Keyisha RichardsonLead Registered Sleep Technologist

Lead Registered Sleep Technologist Keyisha Richardson attachingelectrodes to patient’s head in preparation for the sleep study.

Patient is ready to begin the sleep study.