Your partner or roommate may be able to point out your sleep problems and get you checked out, but that may not be the case if you live alone.
“Sleep disorders are difficult to monitor for people who live alone,” he said. Dr. Thomas HammondBoard Certified Neurologist Marcus Neuroscience Institute Located in Boca Raton, Florida. “Sometimes the house is a mess, but it wasn’t like that before I went to bed, so it was easier to notice that something was going on.”
But most of the time, you feel that something is wrong with your sleep. For example, you may feel extremely tired or irritable during the day despite getting the recommended amount of sleep, but you may wake up the next day with no tangible evidence.
Introduce a sleep tracker. “There are many ways to track your sleep to understand the underlying symptoms you’re experiencing,” Johnston says. “These could include wearable devices, bedside devices, and bed sensors.”
Wearable devices can collect information about movement, heart rate, and breathing patterns. “Many of these devices are multipurpose, so users can also use them to track their eating and breathing patterns during the day,” Johnston said.
For example, if your usual sleep time has significantly decreased, you can assume that a symptom related to a health condition is to blame. By comparing and contrasting this information with your own sleep patterns, you can better understand what symptoms appear during sleep and why.
Bedside devices are placed next to your bed and can collect data about your breathing habits and body movements. “This information can help determine whether you are experiencing shortness of breath or excessive movement during sleep,” Johnston says. (The device may also store information about your bedroom environment, such as temperature, ambient noise, and light.)
Additionally, there are bed sensors that can be placed under your sheets or mattress. “These sensors collect information about movement and heart rate,” Johnston says. “Irregular heart rate may be related to health conditions such as hyperthyroidism or excessive stress.” (Some sensors also track temperature and humidity.)
Once you have two to three weeks worth of sleep data, you can bring it to your next doctor’s appointment. because Consumer devices are not tested or regulated For clinical diagnoses, the data cannot be used to make a formal diagnosis, but at least the data can be used to determine whether laboratory testing would be beneficial.
This article was first published HuffPost.
