Should I adjust time on my CPAP machine?

We've just switched to Daylight Savings Time here in the US and I wonder whether I should change the time on my AirSense 10?

I'm a techie and also have the clinical manual to the machine.

In a related question, should I change the time when I travel to a new time zone? I'll be several time zones away and wonder whether it confuses the machine more if I leave it the same or change it.

Thanks!

DHKaplan wrote: In a related question, should I change the time when I travel to a new time zone? I'll be several time zones away and wonder whether it confuses the machine more if I leave it the same or change it.

I wouldn't try changing for time zone changes. That opens up a whole new can of worms when you end up having to set the clock back where you live and if there is any data during that reporting period the machine won't let you do it.
And the only way to get the machine to let you do it is erase all the data on the machine.

Now as for the Daylight Savings Time change. That one isn't as problematic. Going ahead is easy.
Going back is the one that people seem to have problems with...ResMed machines won't let you do it unless there is no data within the reporting session.
New reporting sessions start at 12 PM/Noon on the machine's clock. I usually suggest that people wait until right before bed on the night they want to make the change. Don't try it in the AM and don't try it in the evening if you took a nap during the afternoon.

No matter what we do...change the clock for DST or not the change messes with the data and your report may be wacky. Will show a big blank hour for last night and in the fall it really messes because it can have double data sometimes. Every spring and summer DST messes with the data reported on the software.

Plus one of the main problems is often just the user..they make a change and accidentally change it wrong or end up changing the calendar by accident. Again going forward is always easy but going back is the potential troublemaker.

Your choice. Sometimes I go the entire DST time frame and never bother changing the clock. Sometimes I will make the change. I forgot last night...I haven't decided if I want to change tonight.
Hours slept is hours slept no matter what time the clock says and the data reported is the data reported even if the time it is reported to have happened is an hour off.

Just remember if you do make the change be real careful and make sure the calendar hasn't changed and remember in the fall that you can't go backwards if there is any data in the reporting session...usually it's best and less problematic to go backwards in the evening right before bed. Much less chance of any data being in the way.

My Dreamstation auto-adjusted to DST last night (well, at least Sleepyhead's interpretation of the data did), so it seems reasonably likely that the Resmed machine's do as well. Someone with one of those machines will chime in, I'm sure. I'll check my machine here in a bit, but I assume that the machine's clock changed automatically.

Pugs, my Dreamstation seemed to have handled the spring forward ok. There's no gap in the data in SH, the time just goes from 1:59 to 3:00 am seamlessly. Don't know what it does going off of DST, though. That's obviously more tricky since you'd have data with duplicate time stamps for an hour.

Thanks all. I think I'll just leave well enough alone. I'm not as concerned about my making a mistake, as with the machine being unhappy with the time changes.

As has been said, the data is all there, just looks as if I'm sleeping at weird times... then again in my past I did work 10P-7A on some days and 3:15P-12M on others in the same week, but that was in my youth, pre-CPAP!

Respironics has no clock the user can set...the DreamStation will apparently make the transition for you.

ResMed machines have a clock that the user can set and ResMed machines WILL NOT do the change for you.

linuxman wrote:Don't know what it does going off of DST, though. That's obviously more tricky since you'd have data with duplicate time stamps for an hour.

I don't know how the DreamStation will handle going back. I haven't seen a DreamStation report for the night of change.
I know what I have seen with both my old PR S1 and my ResMed machines...one hour of data with another hour of data on top of thing...double flagging in the one hour. Totally messed up.

linuxman wrote:My Dreamstation auto-adjusted to DST last night (well, at least Sleepyhead's interpretation of the data did), so it seems reasonably likely that the Resmed machine's do as well.

Nope..ResMed's new AirCurve and AirSense machines behave just like the previous models...we have to set the clock if we want to change the times.

linuxman wrote:My Dreamstation auto-adjusted to DST last night (well, at least Sleepyhead's interpretation of the data did), so it seems reasonably likely that the Resmed machine's do as well. Someone with one of those machines will chime in, I'm sure. I'll check my machine here in a bit, but I assume that the machine's clock changed automatically.

I did notice that the Sleepyhead profile includes a timezone setting. I think that the machine tracks everything using GMT, and Sleepyhead merely adjusts it.

D.H. wrote: I did notice that the Sleepyhead profile includes a timezone setting. I think that the machine tracks everything using GMT, and Sleepyhead merely adjusts it.

Respironics machines are the only ones that use GMT time as a starting point...
ResMed uses the machine clock and Noon the machine clock is the "new reporting time line". That's when the day breaks with a ResMed machine.

Near as I can tell the timezone thing in SH doesn't do anything. Not sure if it is working or not.
I have tried with and without the check mark and I get the same clock times on the reports no matter which way I go with the timezone thing.

Interesting though. Just looked at my report from last night and no big blank spot for the ghost hour like I have seen in the past. Sometimes it's the next night following a change that shows wacko data...so I will see what tonight brings.
I am not going to change the clock just yet. There's no rush since I don't care if the clock times are 100% accurate or not.

linuxman wrote:Pugs, my Dreamstation seemed to have handled the spring forward ok. There's no gap in the data in SH, the time just goes from 1:59 to 3:00 am seamlessly. Don't know what it does going off of DST, though. That's obviously more tricky since you'd have data with duplicate time stamps for an hour.

it's not your machine, it's sleepyhead that 'made the change'.

your machines time is in UTC set at the factory, and unsettable by you, it uses your timezone setting as a display offset....

just like unix does.

linuxman wrote:My Dreamstation auto-adjusted to DST last night (well, at least Sleepyhead's interpretation of the data did), so it seems reasonably likely that the Resmed machine's do as well. Someone with one of those machines will chime in, I'm sure. I'll check my machine here in a bit, but I assume that the machine's clock changed automatically.

resmeds have a settable clock, set to local time, and no concept of time zones, and hence, no concept of 'daylight savings time', which varies from location to location.

Pugsy wrote:

. wrote: I did notice that the Sleepyhead profile includes a timezone setting. I think that the machine tracks everything using GMT, and Sleepyhead merely adjusts it.

Respironics machines are the only ones that use GMT time as a starting point...
ResMed uses the machine clock and Noon the machine clock is the "new reporting time line". That's when the day breaks with a ResMed machine.

Near as I can tell the timezone thing in SH doesn't do anything. Not sure if it is working or not.
I have tried with and without the check mark and I get the same clock times on the reports no matter which way I go with the timezone thing.

you're quite right about that... *ALL* of the pages of stuff that SH asks you to fill out when you create a profile are used for nothing, including the time zone setting. it ignores it. (straight from the programmers fingertips came that information.) sleepyhead just uses the computers timezone info. I tried to get him to remove that minor time waster... but he didn't care.

I guess I should clarify that when I said time zone thing I meant the check mark in the box for DST.
I have tried with and without a check in the DST box and I can't tell it does anything.

Pugsy wrote:I guess I should clarify that when I said time zone thing I meant the check mark in the box for DST.
I have tried with and without a check in the DST box and I can't tell it does anything.

in sleepyhead? it does nothing, the ONLY thing in all the bits for creating a new profile that's used, at all, ever, is the name.

I put in a name and hammer on 'next'...

palerider wrote:in sleepyhead? it does nothing, the ONLY thing in all the bits for creating a new profile that's used, at all, ever, is the name.

Ahh...I knew there was a reason I didn't bother to put in all that other stuff besides my name...which I don't use either.

I updated the aircurve10 to the new time after I noticed double respiratory rate lines in SH for about a one hour period. No big deal I guess. I noticed the machine's clock is a little slow, too.