The sleep clinic provides a holistic service from initial consultation and diagnostics to therapy. The initial consultation is thorough and may involve the patient or family providing a sleep diary.  Sleep questionnaires often assist diagnosis. The consultation will indicate which, if any, special investigations should be done.  The referring physician remains responsible for the patient and treatment.

Diagnostics

The Solent sleep clinic offers sophisticated sleep assessment using a technique called polysomnography. This involves an overnight stay in a 'sleep laboratory'. The sleep study measures numerous body signals, which tell us both what is happening in the brain during sleep and how well a person is maintaining their important vital functions such as breathing and heart rate. This helps us understand for example whether snoring and breathing difficulties in sleep need treatment and can help diagnose unusual behaviours in sleep.

The comprehensive monitoring includes:

EEG (4 channels) - brain wave electrodes fixed to the scalp
Chin EMG - measures muscle activity
Eye movement - helps to identify dream sleep
Leg EMG - detects leg movements which may be abnormal when people have restless legs in the day
Pulse oximetry - a finger probe, which measure blood oxygen levels
Chest and abdomen belts - these measure breathing effort
Audio monitor for snoring
Airflow at the nose to detect breathing difficulties
Video monitoring for movement
(some or all of these may be indicated)

For most patients a single night will suffice. For children a bed is provided in the same room for a parent to sleep alongside.