Bookings: 705-728-9090 Ext. 46238
Fax: 705-739-5641
Emergency or cancellations:
705-728-9090 Ext. 46238
Manager: Julie Matthews 705 728-9090 Ext. 47650
Appointment cancellations occur regularly. Call the Booking department for openings 705-728-9090 Ext. 46238
- Unrefreshing sleep
- Daytime sleepiness
- Breath-holding (apnea) episodes during sleep
- Loud snoring
- Leg twitching/restless legs at night
- Abnormal behaviors at night (violent and non-violent behaviors in sleep)
Preparation
On the day of your sleep study:
- Avoid caffeine (coffee, tea, cola, and chocolate) after 3:00 p.m.
- Try to follow your usual daily routine before the sleep study
- We ask men to shave if they do not have a beard or moustache
- Women who usually shave their legs, may do so, as there will be electrodes placed on the lower leg near the shinbone
- Women should also remove their nail varnish, make-up and avoid excess hairspray
- All patients are asked to shower and shampoo their hair prior to coming to the lab
- We try to avoid shaving men’s chests for electrode placement to measure heart rate (EKG), but it is sometimes necessary to shave a small area for electrode placement.
- Any required nighttime or morning medications with you (staff are not able to dispense any medications)
- An overnight bag including pajamas (or shorts and a t-shirt) and your own pillow
- Your health card
- A list of your current medications
- If you have a CPAP/BiPAP unit, make sure to bring your mask, hose and headgear
- Shampoo and soap to remove the paste from your hair/scalp after your test (Please note: there are no shower facilities available)
If you have special needs, please advise the sleep lab clerical staff so that lab staff can accommodate you.
Please Note: All registrations for the Sleep Lab take place in the Imaging Department.
From the Main Entrance follow the Blue Navigation Line.
Once you have arrived at the lab, a sleep technologist will meet and register you, then show you around the lab, and your bedroom. Each person is assigned their own room to sleep in. You will have time to change and get ready for bed. The technologist will begin applying the electrodes, and he/she may ask you some questions pertaining to your sleep or the equipment that will be used during the night.
You should inform the technologist of any changes in your sleep or specific difficulties that you might not have already discussed with your doctor. If you have a commitment in the morning (i.e., you have to be at work at a certain time), be sure to inform the sleep technologist prior to your study, so that a suitable wake-up time can be arranged.
All patients should be in bed no later than 11:30 p.m., unless prior arrangements have been made (i.e., for shiftworkers). Generally the study ends between 5:30 a.m. – 6:00 a.m. Early departure is possible upon request.
An intercom is located beside your bed so you can contact lab staff during the night. A technologist will monitor the machines in an adjoining room and is available at all times during the night should you require assistance. In case of an emergency, there is a sleep physician on call.
The wires (electrodes) that are attached to your head measure your brain wave activity and determine if you are awake or asleep. Once you fall asleep, we can measure what stage of sleep you are in. Electrodes are also placed by your eyes to measure eye movement. Again, certain stages of sleep have specific associated eye movements. Electrodes are placed on your chin to measure muscle tone, and on your legs to measure limb movements. A sensor is taped to your neck to measure for snoring and placed by your nose and mouth to measure how much you breathe in and out. The majority of these electrodes are taped to the skin using hypoallergenic tape and those on the scalp and beards are kept in place using a water-soluble paste.
Flexible, stretchy belts are placed around your chest and abdomen in order to monitor your breathing. The level of oxygen in you blood and your heart rate are monitored by a device which clips onto your finger.
Most patients have no trouble sleeping in the Sleep Lab despite wearing the recording equipment. The electrodes are gathered together in a kind of “ponytail” behind your head so that you will be able to roll over, change positions, and get up to use the bathroom.
Please inform the sleep technologist upon arrival at the sleep laboratory if you have any allergies to certain tape or to latex.
After the study, you will complete a questionnaire regarding how well you slept before going home. Your recording is “staged” for sleep by examining the 6-7 hours of the recording in 30 second windows and is scored for breathing events, limb movements, or other features of sleep disorders by a sleep technologist. The record and report is then reviewed and interpreted by the sleep physician. Treatment recommendations will be made if evidence of a sleep disorder is found. The sleep physician may recommend you have another test in the sleep lab if additional procedures are needed to establish a diagnosis or evaluate a treatment. You will have a follow-up with your family physician to receive your results.
OSA is characterized by repetitive episodes of upper airway obstruction that occur during sleep, usually associated with a reduction in blood oxygen saturation (or an arousal). Patients often complain of excessive daytime sleepiness or daytime fatigue. Along with the frequent episodes of obstructed breathing that occur during sleep, there may be loud snoring, morning headaches and a dry mouth upon awakening. Most of the patient’s we see are referred for snoring and/or suspected OSA.
The noisy sounds of snoring occur when there is an obstruction to the free flow of air through the passages at the back of the mouth and nose. This area is the collapsible part of the airway where the tongue and upper throat meet the soft palate and uvula. Snoring occurs when these structures strike each other and vibrate during breathing. Forty-five percent of normal adults snore at least occasionally, and 25 percent are habitual snorers. Problem snoring is more frequent in males and overweight persons, and it usually grows worse with age.
People who snore may suffer from:
Poor muscle tone in the tongue and throat. When muscles are too relaxed, either from alcohol or medication that cause sleepiness, the tongue falls backwards into the airway or the throat muscles draw in from the sides into the airway. This can also happen during deep sleep.
Excessive bulkiness of throat tissue. Children with large tonsils and adenoids often snore. Overweight people have bulky neck tissue, too. Cysts or tumors can also cause bulk, but they are rare.
Long soft palate and/or uvula. A long palate narrows the opening from the nose into the throat. As it dangles, it acts as a noisy flutter valve during relaxed breathing. A long uvula makes matters even worse.
Obstructed nasal airways. A stuffy or blocked nose requires extra effort to pull air through it. This creates an exaggerated vacuum in the throat, and pulls together the floppy tissues of the throat, and snoring results. So, snoring often occurs only during the hay fever season or with a cold or sinus infection. Also, deformities of the nose or nasal septum, such as a deviated septum (a deformity of the wall that separates one nostril from the other) can cause such an obstruction.
Is Snoring Serious?
Socially, yes! It can be, when it makes the snorer an object of ridicule and causes others sleepless nights and resentfulness.
Medically, yes! It disturbs sleeping patterns and deprives the snorer of appropriate rest. When snoring is severe, it can cause serious, long-term health problems, including obstructive sleep apnea.
If you are found to have breathing problems, the technologist may connect you to a machine that helps you breathe. This machine is called a continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP). In the sleep lab, for a therapeutic study, you will be fitted with a mask that fits comfortably over your nose and is attached to the CPAP machine, which is on a bedside cabinet. This machine is connected to a remote control unit and the computers collecting your sleep data. While you sleep, the technologist will gradually adjust your pressure to a level that will prevent the closing of your airway.
Sleep Study Requisition
Patient Package PDF
Sleep Clinic Questionnaire PDF
If this is your first sleep study download this form:
CPAP Follow-Up Questionnaire PDF
If you are currently using CPAP:
Video Tour of a Sleep Study
What is Sleep Apnea?
What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
The Dangers of Snoring and How to Take Action
The Canadian Sleep Society
Step-by-step Directions
Parking: Main
Park in the Main parking lot, beside Rotary Place and across from RVH’s Main entrance.
Entrance: Main
Enter RVH’s Main building entrance and register at Imaging Services, on your right just past Café Royale. Once registered, FOLLOW the Blue Navigation Line to the Atrium (Orange) elevators.
Elevator: Atrium (Orange)
Take the Atrium (Orange) elevators to LEVEL 1.
Department: Cardiorespiratory Diagnostics
From the elevator TURN RIGHT. The Sleep Lab is located inside Cardiorespiratory Diagnostics.