Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) rarely get a good night’s sleep because their narrow airways easily get obstructed at night, completely stopping their breathing. There isn’t much difference in the amount of REM sleep each of them received, but there is a big difference in how much deep, restorative sleep each of them had.ĭeep sleep is ‘sensitive’ and any disorder which causes frequent awakenings also ruins the healthy sleep architecture, allowing more time for light sleep and not enough for deep sleep. In Figure 2, the first hypnogram was obtained from a person who reported no frequent wakings, whereas the second one was obtained from a person who complained about sleep fragmentation. This is what the typical sleep of a relatively young, healthy adult looks like. Light sleep precedes and follows both deep and REM sleep. There are only a couple of awakenings, and they occur after REM sleep. In the first half of the night, there is plenty of deep sleep, whereas, in the second half, there’s more REM sleep and significantly less deep sleep. In Figure 1, we can see a series of normal sleep cycles. What do hypnograms look like? Normal vs disrupted sleep While one or more of these recordings are being made, a computer also takes information every 30 seconds to make a hypnogram. All of the three are electrical signals obtained by electrodes placed on the skin. How is a hypnogram obtained?Ī hypnogram is usually made at the same time as other recordings, like an electroencephalogram (EEGs – they are recordings of brain-wave activity), electrooculography (EOGs – they show eye-muscle movement) and electromyography (EMGs – they show the activity of skeletal muscles). Also, many people experience really short awakenings from REM sleep – some scientists even theorize that the purpose of REM sleep is to prepare the body for waking up. What used to be called Non-REM 3 and Non-REM 4 is today combined in Non-REM 3 ( deep sleep, or slow-wave sleep).Įven though REM (rapid eye movement) usually comes after sleep stage 2, it is placed higher on the graph because the brain activity is similar to that of wakefulness. Non-REM 1 is the lightest stage of sleep, Non-REM 2 is a deeper stage of light sleep, while, as the value goes down in the graph, it represents deeper sleep stages. In Figure 1, we can see the sleep stages during eight hours of sleep (the horizontal axis shows time and vertical sleep stages). Therefore, we see the macrostructure of our sleep, whereas the microstructure can be seen on other types of recordings, for example, on EEG (electroencephalogram), which clearly shows even the quickest brain waves. The reason behind it is that a hypnogram records activity every 30 seconds. When you look at a hypnogram, you’ll see a not too detailed sleep presentation. It’s used both, for research and for diagnostics in medicine. What is a hypnogram and how does it work? ExplainedĪ hypnogram is one of the ways in which sleep is recorded in the study of sleep (polysomnography). Hypnograms can show all sleep stages with waking periods, and we can draw some conclusions about sleep quality, as well as monitor sleep onset and total sleep time. Hypnograms can be used in sleep research as well as in sleep medicine, for patients who may have a sleep disorder. It is useful when a rough image is needed so that researchers can easily visualize what someone’s sleep looks like and compare it to that of other people. Apple Watch includes a robust suite of sleep-enhancing features including goal-setting, sleep stage tracking, a wind down function (to help with your pre-bedtime routine), and a soothing alarm to wake you.īuy: Apple Watch Series 6, $384.99+ from AmazonĪ hypnogram is simply a graph representation of one’s sleep cycle, as well as of nightly awakenings. Apple Watch Series 6– When Apple dropped the Series 6 version of their popular smartwatch, they mentioned that sleep tracking would be a major feature.
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