I had a sleep study last night. I very nearly had two at two different centers, but we got that straightened out and I only had to be in one place at a time.
I arrived at 7:30pm, and was shown to world’s most boring and utilitarian hotel room. It had a TV with basic cable, but no WiFi, so StackOverflow was deprived of my brilliance for the night. Around 9:30 the technician came in and started drawing on my head and attaching electrodes. As well as ones around my head, there were ones under my eyes to measure eye movement, ones on my legs to measure “restless leg syndrome”, ones under my chin to measure teeth grinding, a couple of straps around my chest to measure breathing, and others on my chest for the ECG. The wiring bundle was about a 2 or 3 centimeters in diameter. And then, just to make sure I couldn’t sleep, they hooked up a nasal cannula with another tube that sat on my upper lip to measure my breathing, and a pulse-oximeter for my finger.
With all that on, it was time to try to sleep. And believe me, I tried. Besides the wires that pulled every time I moved, and the hoses in my nose, I also had to contend with a narrow single bed and a not very comfortable mattress. I was actually surprised when I woke up one time during the night because I had thought I wouldn’t sleep at all. Turns out I did, just not well or long.
They kicked me out of bed at 6am, and here it is 7:08 and I’m using the WiFi at Panera to try to catch up, but what I really want to do is go home and sleep. Unstudied.