Can someone shed some light on my sleep study results? I just got these numbers faxed over to me today. I also just got a CPAP yesterday at a setting of 11. I'm just curious as to what it all means.


Sleep Summary
--------------
Sleep Period Time    432 Min
Total Sleep Time    356 Min
Total Wake Time        102 Min
Sleep Efficiency:    77.5%
Sleep Maintenance Eff:    82.4%
Sleep Latency:        26.5
Latency to REM        280.5 Min


Sleep Stage Summary
-------------------
        Duration    %SPT    SPT Norm    Latency    Latency Norm
Stage:
WASO        78        17.6    1.68        12    221.54
Stage 1        43.5        10.1    4.94        25.5    7.8
Stage 2        240        55.6    55.33        28    6.73
Delta        0        0.0    12.23        -    -
Total NREM    283.5        65.6    -        -    -
REM        72.5        16.8    24.85        280.5    82        

%SPT
----
REM    - 16.8
WASO    - 17.8
Stage 1    - 10.1
Stage 2    - 55.8


Sleep Continuity
----------------

            NREM        REM        TOTAL
Source of Arousals    Arousels|Index    Arousals|Index    Arousals|Index
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Spontaneous        26:5.5        6|5.0        32|5.4
Apneas            0|0.0        0|0.0        0|0.0
Hypopneas        38|7.6        0|0.0        38|8.1    
Snoring            19|4.0        0|0.0        19|3.2
Desaturation        0|0.0        0|0.0        0|0.0
Limb Movement        16|3.4        2|1.7        18|8.0
PLMs            19|4.0        0|0.0        19|3.2    
RRLM            0|0.0        0|0.0        0|0.0
Total Arousals        118|24.5    8|8.8        124|20.9


Limb Movement Summary
----------------------
        # Events    Index
TOTAL # LMs    64        10.8
TOTAL # PLMs    112        18.9
TOTAL # RRLMs    14        2.4


TOTAL RDI = 8.6

Looks to me like you are kicking alot and this is keeping you from getting into deep sleep, but it doesn't look like the leg movements are related to breathing difficulties.  Do your legs bother you when you are awake, especially in the evening?  

Did the dr. mention medication for the leg movements?.

something is causing you to take shallow breaths though (the hypopneas).

you had no problems breathing, or kicking during REM, which is the stage that people with obstructive apnea tend to have the most problems in...

that's about all I know to say.....probably not much help....

Actually my legs are always moving. I'm constantly shaking them. lol. I've always had the issue with my legs as long as I can remember. My parents used to tell me when I was little that it was just "growing pains". Now that I'm an adult, I've just never gave it much a thought. I've always just thought of it as "getting older".  

I haven't really talked to my doctor since the sleep study. His nurse called me to tell me that the CPAP machine would help my sleeping issues though. That's all I've been told.

Leet me begin by saying that I am not a medical professional or a sleep professional.

It looks to me like your study shows that you did not get any delta sleep (also known as slow wave sleep or as stage 3 and stage 4 sleep - this is generally thought to be the stage of sleep that is most physically restorative to the body) and a little bit less than average REM sleep (the stage of sleep most important to the brain and nervous system). WASO is time you were awake (as measured by EEG) after you first fell asleep. These results suggest fragmented sleep that could be causing you to feel poorly.

Your results seem a little unusual to me in that the results are presented in terms of arousals (abrupt transitions from a deeper stage of sleep to a more shallow stage of sleep). You are having more of these than you should. The single greatest source of these arousals is hypopnea (periods lasting 10 seconds or longer where your intake of air to the lungs is significantly restricted) and snoring (which often represents an airflow restriction less significant than an apnea or hypopnea). CPAP will help with these factors and will hopefully make a significant difference in terms of how you feel. It would be interesting to look at the full results from your titration study (where they determined the CPAP pressure) to see what effects might have been noted on CPAP in terms of your delta and REM sleep while you were at your prescribed pressure.

You also had significant limb movements and what seems to me to be a moedstly higher than average number of spontaneous arousals (arousals that are not connected to leg movements or respiratory events). Relatively few of your leg movements seem to be periodic limb movements (which occur during sleep). I would wonder whether you are finding your leg movements are interfering with falling asleep or with falling back asleep. Your titration study might also show whether your spontaneous arousals and/or your leg movements diminished while you were at your prescribed pressure. So you might have 2 or more sleep problems. These would include sleep apnea/upper airway resistance syndrome and possibly restless legs syndrome (which can be treated with medication) and/or some other problem that is contributing to your spontaneous arousals.

The good news is that you do not seem to be having significant drops in your blood oxygen level, you do not seem to be having apneas (periods of 10 seconds or longer where there is no intake of air), and your REM sleep is freer from arousals of all sorts than the rest of sleep is. As embryopathy has pointed out we are used to seeing the AHI (apnea-hypopnea index, the number of apneas and hypopneas you recorded per hour of sleep) be higher during REM sleep than during non-REM sleep. However, hypopnea often seems to decrease during REM while apnea more generally seems to increase during REM. Anoter factor that is not discussed is your positioning (how many events were recorded while you were sleeping on your back and the number of epsiodes you had while sleeping on your side). It is not unusual to see results where the number of events while sleeping on the back is much greater than the number of events recorded while sleeping on the side. If a patient has REM sleep only when sleeping on their side, but where they had a significant number of episodes while sleeping on their back during non-REM sleep, then this can create a false impression about the true impact of REM sleep.

If you truly want the best possible understanding of your results, it would be a good idea to request full copies of your sleep study report(s) and go over them carefully first on your own (folks here can help you make sense of anythings that appear confusing) and then with your sleep doctor.

Hope this helps.
Do keep us posted on how things are going for you.

Best wishes,
Bill