Monday, May 05, 2008

Sleep Study Reults

The results are in and they are surprising! You have 5 stages of sleep Stage 1 and 2 is your light sleep, stage 3 and 4 your deep sleep and then REM(rapid eye movement sleep)this is the stage when most dreams occur.

So they say Cameran stays in the light sleep and then the other 30% of the time she is in the dream sleep. Said that she awoke 21-22 times per HOUR....That is crazy, is she getting any sleep? That's per hour not whole sleeping night!

They tested her for sleep apnea said that above 1 is abnormal and hers was 2.1 BUT that was only during her dream stage which does not worry them. Her EKG looked good and no seizures where found so that is great news!!!!

They are putting her on a seizure sleeping med I don't know the name if it yet but I will let you know as soon as I get it which will be today! They are starting her out on 50mg a night then will increase it in 2 weeks time to 100mg if needed. They will only keep her on this med for a few months just trying to get her use to a deep sleep and then they will pull her off of it in hopes that she remains getting the sleep she needs without the med. Said the only side effect to the med is sleepiness which is what she needs...well at night that is!

So that is it so glad to finally have that over with. Now I hope my baby girl can get some much needed sleep and mommy and daddy too!!!! I'll keep you all updated on how it goes.

Heres some more info on the sleeping stages:
Stages of Sleep
Usually sleepers pass through five stages: 1, 2, 3, 4 and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. These stages progress cyclically from 1 through REM then begin again with stage 1. A complete sleep cycle takes an average of 90 to 110 minutes. The first sleep cycles each night have relatively short REM sleeps and long periods of deep sleep but later in the night, REM periods lengthen and deep sleep time decreases.

Stage 1 is light sleep where you drift in and out of sleep and can be awakened easily. In this stage, the eyes move slowly and muscle activity slows. During this stage, many people experience sudden muscle contractions preceded by a sensation of falling.

In stage 2, eye movement stops and brain waves become slower with only an occasional burst of rapid brain waves. When a person enters stage 3, extremely slow brain waves called delta waves are interspersed with smaller, faster waves. In stage 4, the brain produces delta waves almost exclusively. Stages 3 and 4 are referred to as deep sleep, and it is very difficult to wake someone from them. In deep sleep, there is no eye movement or muscle activity. This is when some children experience bedwetting, sleepwalking or night terrors.

In the REM period, breathing becomes more rapid, irregular and shallow, eyes jerk rapidly and limb muscles are temporarily paralyzed. Brain waves during this stage increase to levels experienced when a person is awake. Also, heart rate increases, blood pressure rises and the body loses some of the ability to regulate its temperature. This is the time when most dreams occur, and, if awoken during REM sleep, a person can remember the dreams. Most people experience three to five intervals of REM sleep each night.

Infants spend almost 50% of their time in REM sleep. Adults spend nearly half of sleep time in stage 2, about 20% in REM and the other 30% is divided between the other three stages. Older adults spend progressively less time in REM sleep.



As sleep research is still a relatively young field, scientists did not discover REM sleep until 1953 when new machines were developed to monitor brain activity. Before this discovery it was believed that most brain activity ceased during sleep. Since then, scientists have also disproved the idea that deprivation of REM sleep can lead to insanity and have found that lack of REM sleep can alleviate clinical depression although they do not know why. Recent theories link REM sleep to learning and memory.

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