NYC Sleep Doctors: Overcoming Sleep Study Anxiety

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OK, you've been bothered by serious sleep problems for some time, and you've "done the right thing" and consulted a NYC sleep specialist like the experts at New York Sleep-Wake Center, and after a thorough examination they have recommended that you have a sleep study. But you're procrastinating…putting it off and putting it off, and failing to make a concrete appointment for the study.

We understand. MANY people experience anxiety when asked to undergo a sleep study. For many of them, going to sleep is something private that they do alone, or only in the company of their normal sleep partner, so the thought of having people you don't even know looking at you while you're asleep is scary. For others, based on how badly they sleep in strange locations when traveling, they're afraid that they'll schedule a sleep study and then be unable to sleep.

These fears are normal, but unnecessary

First, having some anxiety about having a sleep study is natural because so many sleep disorders are caused by anxiety that it's difficult to tell which came first – the sleep problem or the anxiety. That's one reason we do everything we can to make the environments in which we conduct our sleep studies as comfortable and as "normal-feeling" as possible. We have beds that look and feel like real beds (not hospital beds), and we have temperature and light controls in the room that allow us to adjust the environment to exactly the way you want it.

Second, although it's normal to worry that you won't be able to fall asleep in a strange location, our experience as one of the best sleep centers in NYC is that it almost never happens, and that most people actually report having little trouble falling asleep. Once they do, the non-intrusive equipment we use to perform our tests enable us to accurately diagnose potentially dangerous disorders like obstructive sleep apnea without interfering with your ability to sleep.

Third, as for being "watched" while you sleep, although it is important to track your movements and how often you toss and turn, this can be accomplished with video cameras, so no one needs to be present in the room with you.

Finally, and most important, if your NYC sleep apnea specialists feel that you really should have a sleep study but you still don't feel comfortable having one in our Manhattan sleep center, the studies can be performed with portable equipment that can be set up in your home.

What can a sleep study reveal that tests while awake can't?

Some phenomena – like sleep apnea – only really appear when you are asleep. We can make a strong, educated guess that you are suffering from the breath stoppages that constitute sleep apnea based on your reports of how you feel in activity during the day, but to be completely sure it really helps to track your actual sleep patterns. So our advice is that if your NYC sleep doctors recommend that you have a sleep study and you have strong reservations, talk to us about it. You won't be the first person to feel some anxiety about this, and we may have suggestions that will make the whole process much easier for you.