Recent studies have shown that up to 90% of people who suffer from sleep apnea don't know they have it. In fact, a majority of Americans don't test for apnea.
Whereas many apnea conditions are not considered life-threatening, there are other conditions that can put your life in grave danger. That is why it is highly recommended that you test apnea if you suspect that you are suffering from any sleep-related condition.
There are quite a few ways you can test apnea, and many individuals who suffer have a number of symptoms or may possibly even have the condition itself. You might have sleep apnea if you are rapidly gaining weight, always tired, and feeling mentally exhausted.
If you already have symptoms of the condition, then your next step is to test for apnea. There are many ways of doing this, ranging from answering simple questions to doing home diagnostics tests. Overall, there are four popular methods:
1. Apnea Online Test
This is one of the quickest ways you can use to test apnea. You simply do an online test by answering a series of questions related to common apnea symptoms. Questions may revolve around your experiences while sleeping, whether or not you snore, and your levels of mental concentration and fatigue during the day. These tests only take a couple of minutes to complete, and can be found on the Internet by doing a search using the words "online sleep apnea test" in Google or another search engine.
Apnea home test
There are two kinds of tests you can choose when using this method: disposable sleep apnea screeners, and at-home diagnostic tests.
2. Disposable sleep apnea screeners:
A disposable screener measures the frequency and duration of your apnea episodes, and can be done from home using a small plastic device placed between your mouth and nose. This device is inexpensive, and is a simple way to test for apnea. To do the test, you simply wear the screener at night while sleeping. When you wake up in the morning the device will show whether or not it's likely that you have sleep apnea.
3. Apnea sleep study
In an apnea sleep study, you go to a sleep clinic, and usually sleep the whole night there. A sleep study is a comprehensive test - all data regarding the different aspects of your sleep and body are analyzed. The apnea sleep study collects and analyses data on eye movement, brain activity, chin movement, body position, heart rate and air flow.
These are the four main ways to test for apnea. For the sake of your health and peace of mind, if you suspect you have sleep apnea it's recommended you follow one of these four apnea tests.
4.
At-home diagnostic test:
This home-administered apnea test comes in two forms: the first consists of a bedside monitoring device that is attached to sensors for the chest, breath, and finger. While you sleep, the device monitors various aspects of your physiology, and stores this information. The other at-home diagnostic test is called oximetry. This test involves attaching a clamp to your finger to measure your blood oxygen levels. It also collects bodily information while you sleep, and gives you a result in the morning.
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