Sleep Study (Polysomnogram)

What is a Sleep Study?

A sleep study may take place in your home or at a sleep center, where you will spend the night. Sleep studies find out how often you stop breathing or have too little air flowing into your lungs during sleep. They also find out how much oxygen you have in your blood during sleep. You may have blood tests and X-rays.

Sleep studies are done to determine the cause of sleep problems. You may benefit from a sleep study if:

If you have any two of these symptoms, you may need to be tested for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).  OSA affects more than 20 million men and women in the U.S. and many have yet to be diagnosed and treated. Check with your primary care doctor to learn if a sleep study is right for you.

Sleep Medicine at Mercy

Mercy’s diagnostic professionals are specially trained and licensed to identify which sleep testing makes sense for you. We perform one-on-one testing on patients using standards adopted by the American Thoracic Society.  All sleep studies are interpreted by board-certified sleep medicine specialists. 

It’s important to remember that other health conditions can cause abnormal sleep too. These include restless legs syndrome, obesity, heart or respiratory diseases, hypothyroidism,  depression, and neuromuscular diseases (such as Parkinson's disease).

At Mercy, we provide the best possible care before and during your sleep study. After the sleep study, we’ll provide a plan of treatment to help you get the sleep you need. And we’ll coordinate care with your primary care doctor, so you can get back to your best life.   

Pediatric Sleep Studies

We also diagnose and treat sleep-related problems in infants and children. We use specialized equipment in our pediatric sleep center, providing us with unique diagnostic capabilities geared exclusively toward infants and children.

Children may also suffer from sleep apnea, causing them to wake up multiple times through the night gasping for breath. It’s no surprise kids with sleep apnea are tired, cranky and distracted during the day. And, they may develop physical problems as well. All testing is done under the supervision of a board-certified pediatric pulmonologist, while an in-house pediatrician provides immediate backup to our skilled technicians and respiratory therapists.

Pediatric sleep testing can help parents and children enjoy a more restful sleep.