Sleep

[TedSpaniel]

Have not been sleeping well for quite sometime now. So I decided to use the Apple Watch to monitor my sleep. It’s determined very regular sleep disturbances and Monday I told me I should see a doctor about Sleep Apnea. I seem to get up every morning feeling rubbish which settles for a while but by mid morning / lunchtime I am feeling done in. I have to battle sometime to stay awake once I am home and sat in front to the T.V. Anyone have any experience to the accuracy of Apple Watches and the sleep function?

[Fanfab1]

Hi can only share my experiences, can’t say it would be the same for you so….

yes very similar but t went to GP with low oxygen readings per Apple Watch as assumed all my tiredness was due to heart. Now on CPAP with confirmed mild apnea (14 abnormal breathing events per hour). They felt though mild worth me having CPAP machine.

Have been using CPAP for a few months, I can get a better nights sleep some times but sometimes it’s still disturbed but I’d say my continuing tiredness / fatigue feels more as result of my repeated angina episodes now but not entirely.

But either way the reduction in abnormal breathing events - down most nights to 5 or less sometimes only 1 per hour on a very good night - is most important to me as sleep apnea is said to raise risk of heart issues. And as I already have a heart issue it’s a no brainier to me to stick with the CPAP.

Definitely worth a discussion with GP based on what you experience.

👍

[TedSpaniel in reply to Fanfab1]

I just looked and I am getting around 20 on average disturbances per hour. Blood oxygen varies but over a month it was 94 average. Breathing when asleep as low as 9 and a high of 28 a minute.

[Fanfab1 in reply to TedSpaniel]

so definitely worth discussion with GP,

whatever the stats are, the epworth sleepiness scale and resultant score plus the results of a hospital based overnight sleep lab tests as the diagnostic tools they go by.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

[Alfie33]

I use a V shape pillow on top of my own pillow it helps with my breathing

[T666]

Apple marvellous, NHS amazing. C-pap machine incredible All have changed my life for the better

[Emmarandall24]

Hiya, hope you’re getting everything sorted. Just wanted to ask because my dad’s been suggested he has sleep apnea and doesn’t sleep at all, oxygen levels low readings, do you get headaches that last all day or is it the feeling tired and rubbish as trying to work out if that is linked to his sleep. He’ll get really dizzy too and he’ll go pale. Many thanks

[TedSpaniel in reply to Emmarandall24]

I do get headaches but they are weird ones, best way I can describe is it’s like having a tight hat on. I do rarely get dizzy spells too. I sleep but often wake up and feel totally rubbish. Hope he gets sorted, I can understand as well if he gets totally frustrated by it all.

[Emmarandall24 in reply to TedSpaniel]

Thank you very much for your reply means a lot. Yes GPs keep saying to us different things but main issue is his headaches, said they radiate from front to back of head like someone’s got him in a tight grip. And the dizzy spells. Just looking to see if it is related to sleep. Hopefully a better new year for you❤️

[Shabana1974]

Hi I was diagnosed with Sleep Apenia 1 year ago on the mild end of spectrum. But due to heart condition have been given a Cpap. I have not had a Migraine for nearly a year now and don't feel groggy in a morning anymore. I would definitely have a professional sleep study. And it generally take 4 to 6 weeks after diagnosis for a machine became available. On good days I have 2 episodes an hour on average on bad days can be up to 10 hour.

Hope this helps

[SweetMelody2]

I’m not a fan of “sleep medicine.” I think they’d have the whole world on CPAP machines if they could. CPAP’s are great for those truly suffering from sleep apnea and essential for their good health.

What I question is the diagnosis of “mild.” My diagnosis was on the lower end of the “mild” scale, but because I was at the time open to anything that would help my afib situation, I got a CPAP machine.

I noticed no difference in how I felt in the morning. I found the machine a nuisance. I found the Big Brother remote oversight and tut-tutting intrusive and irritating.

Yes, you may need a CPAP machine, but I’d suggest first that you get a sleep app that records your noises at night, simply tape your mouth shut at bedtime, and see if you can detect any irregular breathing on the app. The visual graph of my night noises plus audio tell me I do NOT have apnea, despite what “sleep medicine” says.

With tape, I do not snore (without it I can have periods of loud snoring).

I got the idea of taping my mouth from reading what others with afib have said, first person accounts. No practitioner ever suggested it. If I brought it up, I was greeted with a benign smile.

A sleep app is much better at analyzing sleep noises than an Apple Watch, at least for my purposes

While I’m on the subject of Apple Watches, I stopped paying attention to what my Watch said about how long I’d slept on any given night.

In the old days, I could go to sleep at 10:00pm, wake once for a bathroom break, go back to sleep and wake at 6:00am. I’d say to myself, “Good. I got around 8 hours of sleep.”

But then, same scenario with my Watch, my Watch would report I had slept 6hrs and 23 minutes. What? I’d look at the graph and see those orange peaks when I was “awake.” But I was NOT awake that I was aware of.

That is a totally new definition of “awake.” If I don’t know I’m awake, how can I be awake? Awake means not sleeping and traditionally that means one is aware one is not sleeping.

The Watch leads people to think they are getting less sleep than they would think by just looking at a clock. Just looking at a clock is where the “get a good 8 hours” advice originated. By the redefinition of “awake,” my Watch led me to believe I had a sleep deprivation that I actually do not have. I believe that can lead people to stress about their sleep hours totally unnecessarily (I did until I wised up) unless they are aware that Apple has redefined “awake.”

I pay my Watch no mind on sleep duration. I just look at the clock, the old way. I’m happier that way.