In the early 1970s some of the sleep disorder clinics started to use respiratory and cardiac sensors on a regular basis in all of their overnight sleep studies. This gave way to new possibilities for the way we study sleep and sleep disorders, and since then, the overnight diagnostic tests have become known as polysomnography. Polysomnography tests record many things like the brain activity, a person’s heart rate, in addition to breathing patterns, as well as movements of various parts of the human body. The use of polysomnography is now …show more content…
This pause is caused by the collapse or narrowing of the upper airway. The result of this collapse reduces the amount of oxygen being produced and absorbed by the bloodstream, which in turn makes it hard for the person's heart to work at a safe level. In addition to the low oxygen levels, it also causes a person's natural sleep cycle to be disturbed or interrupted. When the sleep cycles are interrupted or disturbed, it can make a person feel poorly or like they have not received enough rest despite having slept for the whole night. People with (OSA) can have as little as 30 or up to as much as 300 events per night. An event would be described as when the person's breathing stops or