a silly thought about increased AHI

[araminta]

Has anybody noticed that after a day when you're alone and not talking, that over the nite you've had more apneas?

Yesterday, I was by myself most of the day, doing research -- reading and writing -- for a project. Didn't talk to hardly anyone all day. Then this morning, my AHI shot up like crazy.

2 unrelated events? or maybe it helps tone up the muscle of the throat to talk more during the day?
What d'ya think?

[BleepingBeauty]

Has anybody noticed that after a day when you're alone and not talking, that over the nite you've had more apneas?

Yesterday, I was by myself most of the day, doing research -- reading and writing -- for a project. Didn't talk to hardly anyone all day. Then this morning, my AHI shot up like crazy.

2 unrelated events? or maybe it helps tone up the muscle of the throat to talk more during the day?
What d'ya think?

IMO, yes. Toning up the throat muscles can't hurt, but I don't think talking (or not talking) has any impact on how well (or not) your therapy will go that night. There are many other factors that impact our sleep in a negative way. I think you just had a bad night. (Sorry. I hate when that happens.)

[jnk]

Two other theories:

1. The day alone was stressful, causing restless sleep.

or

2. The day alone was relaxing, allowing for particularly relaxed, deep sleep and a lot of REM, which may have caused more than usual "events" to show.

Oddly enough, I often find that the day after a particularly "bad" night, according to the numbers anyway, I feel my best.

YMMV

jeff

[araminta]

Thanks BB for the commiseration re. a bad nite. Such a bummer.

jeff- I'm curious to hear more about your thoughts on the: after a bad nite, you might have a good day nonetheless.
Are talking about the difference between oxygen levels and AHI here?

[jnk]

Thanks BB for the commiseration re. a bad nite. Such a bummer.

jeff- I'm curious to hear more about your thoughts on the: after a bad nite, you might have a good day nonetheless.
Are talking about the difference between oxygen levels and AHI here?

Home-machine AHI is just one measurement of many possible measurements of the quality of sleep. And even when it comes to AHI, some "events," as measured by a home machine, might not have been counted as events during a real PSG. So, in my opinion based on my experience, it is possible to have nights when the machine has high AHI numbers but I feel very rested in the morning, and it is possible for me to have nights with low AHI numbers but I feel unrested in the morning.

I do think it is important for us to remember that a home-machine estimated AHI is just that--an estimate based only on how the machine interpreted your breathing. The machine can't use electical signals or pulse or O2 in figuring out whether those breathing changes affected your actual quality of sleep.

Some think it can do more harm than good to look at your numbers every morning. One brand of machine makes it difficult even to see nightly numbers. Seeing those numbers can, for some of us, become a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts about we feel that day. Those numbers should not become a numerology/horoscope kind of thing. The numbers are useful for trending purposes to judge effective pressure levels over time. But the numbers may not mean as much as we want them to mean as far as the night-to-night variations that occur.

That is only my opinion based on some things I've read and my personal experience as a patient, and a relatively new one, at that, in comparison to the veteran posters here. So please keep that in mind in evaluating my take on such things.

jeff

[roster]

Oddly enough, I often find that the day after a particularly "bad" night, according to the numbers anyway, I feel my best.

YMMV

jeff

Most tweak. Does Jeff untweak?

[jnk]

Oddly enough, I often find that the day after a particularly "bad" night, according to the numbers anyway, I feel my best.

YMMV

jeff

Most tweak. Does Jeff untweak?

I week-tweak, or two-week-tweak.

[roster]

I week-tweak, or two-week-tweak.

Daily is better.
That's just too meek
to seek a two-week tweak.
A data geek would take a peak
at beak leak
and would freak and shriek
at therapy that is bleak
until his breathe would reek
like eating a raw leek.

[araminta]

Thanks, Jeff, for your thoughtful comments.

[El Pap]

So, in my opinion based on my experience, it is possible to have nights when the machine has high AHI numbers but I feel very rested in the morning, and it is possible for me to have nights with low AHI numbers but I feel unrested in the morning.

I do think it is important for us to remember that a home-machine estimated AHI is just that--an estimate based only on how the machine interpreted your breathing. The machine can't use electical signals or pulse or O2 in figuring out whether those breathing changes affected your actual quality of sleep.

I've noticed the same thing, but I don't think it has anything to do with the machine getting it wrong. Instead, I believe it is because we have the most SDB events in the most restorative sleep stages.

My hypothesis is that on those nights where you feel great but your numbers are bad, you spent a relatively high proportion of time in REM and deep (stages 3 and 4) slow wave sleep. On those nights when you feel less rested but have great numbers, you spent more time in the lighter sleep stages and less in deep and REM sleep.