Sleep study

[kerravonsen]

Well, last night I had my third sleep study, to see if I needed a pressure change; to get more data about how I was actually sleeping now that I was used to the paraphinalia.

Unfortunately, the weather was hot, and then I made the mistake of thinking that the room wasn't too hot, so when asked, I didn't request that the air conditioning be turned on -- but then I hadn't accounted for how hot the bedclothes would be, so though I fell asleep, I woke up not too long after, being too hot. So I pulled the doona off, but I was still too hot, so I pressed the call button, and Brett came in and turned the aircon on for me, and then I fell asleep again, and woke up too cold! So I pulled the doona on again, and then I fell asleep again... I think I woke up again at least once...

So, well, they got to see how I didn't sleep...

But, anyway, the preliminary data suggests that (a) my CPAP pressure doesn't need increasing and (b) that my mask does fit and I'm not inadvertantly breathing through my mouth when I'm asleep. Which is sort of good news, except that it kind of leaves me stumped as to the most obvious ways to improve my sleep quality. Though it also demonstrates that getting air-conditioning is definitely something to put on the list, at least for summertime sleep-quality improvement.

I've also gained weight again (sigh).

Comments

Sleep quality

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Suggestions from a programme I was watching recently.

Do *not* read or watch TV before going to bed. Try relaxing with one of those CDs of relaxing music/natural sounds.

Room temperature is important.

I sometimes find that five-ten mins meditation helps to slow my mind down and helps me sleep better.

Re: Sleep quality

[kerravonsen]

Do *not* read or watch TV before going to bed. Try relaxing with one of those CDs of relaxing music/natural sounds.

Well, I do tend to play a classical music CD while I'm trying to fall asleep.
And while I used to read in bed before I got the CPAP machine, it isn't worth trying to now, what with all the mask and stuff.

Room temperature is important.

Yes, I'm noticing that. Not so much winter temperature, as our winters are mild in comparison to yours, but a too-hot night is really awful for sleep.

But I think the problem is more along the lines of sleep quality when I sleep, not difficulty-in-getting-to-sleep. From some things that the sleep technician said this morning, I seem to be having a certain number of incidents on the way down to deep-sleep which aren't reduced by increasing my CPAP pressure, but that once I do get to stable sleep, things tend to go okay. Which, on thinking over what I just said, maybe it is a getting-to-sleep thing after all.

I think... I'll just have to chip away at the problem, doing at least things which seem reasonably probable to assist in improving sleep quality by increasing my comfort-levels:
a) air-conditioning, eventually (because that would definitely increase comfort in summer
b) heated hose, to reduce rain-out (that is, condensation of water -- if you get water in your face, you'll surely wake up...)
c) some sort of cover for the hose, again to reduce rain-out (not sure which of (b) or (c) would be easier/quicker to achieve
d) full-face mask for when I get a cold
e) wait to discuss with my sleep specialist whether an auto-CPAP would help -- or to what degree it would help. I'm fairly certain it would help in the comfort department, but it may or may not help a lot; and I know that my sleep specialist wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the idea when I raised it before, mainly, I think, because of the additional expense of an auto-CPAP, which might not be value-for-money in the amount of improvement it might give.

Re: Sleep quality

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

I'll chime in on the room temp being critical; I get quite ill if it varies by more than a degree or two Fahrenheit. I wonder if there's something clever you can do, like hooking a thermostat up to a fan or something?

Re: Sleep quality

[kerravonsen]

If one is going to be messing around with thermostats, one might as well go the whole hog and get air conditioning. I know my parents have muttered things about helping, so it might no longer be classed under "impossible". (However, that probably won't be until after I've paid them back the loan for my soon-to-be-got new computer -- it overheated again today. Twice.) I get the impression that modern air-conditioning units can be quite smart, if one gets a good one.

I get quite ill if it varies by more than a degree or two Fahrenheit.

Ouch! So how is your climate? What do you do to cope with that?

Re: Sleep quality

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

I guess you're right, AC would be better if you can afford it. I was wondering what might be quick and cheap in the meantime. Never mind, my brain is sometimes odd.

Our climate is like England, with possibly a bit wider extremes. The heating system is a heat pump which in theory heats *and* cools, but in practice if the temperature is right in the parents' house, it's wrong in mine. I'm usually freezing all summer and baking all winter. Happily I had an overhead fan put in the bedroom when it was built, more for show than thinking I'd actually use it, but I wound up using it tons. I put the fan on low and use several layers of covers; that way my body stays warm but my head and neck don't get overheated. The only time there's a problem is if I don't think ahead about whether it's likely to become warm enough to need the fan.

Re: Sleep quality

[kerravonsen]

I was wondering what might be quick and cheap in the meantime.
Well, I survived last night, with what usually happens -- had a fan on, it cooled things down, I slept, then woke up in the early hours of the morning, too cold. Still, I did sleep.