Sleep well. Live better.

Four out of every ten Australians don’t get adequate sleep, and it’s a national problem.

Sleep is now considered one of the three pillars of good health, alongside nutrition and physical activity.

A/Prof Denise O’Driscoll, Chief Sleep Scientist is the manager of the Eastern Health Sleep Laboratory.  Here they conduct weekly sleep tests with members of the community who are suffering from poor sleep quality. Denise and the team analyse data to identify what could be the underlying cause and assist clinicians in their care.

“There are more than 80 defined sleep disorders, and having good sleep is connected to a lot of positive health outcomes.” She said.

Sleep disorders can be common, such as sleep apnoea, but the Sleep Lab also studies rare disorders such as narcolepsy or parasomnia.

In a sleep study, a patient comes to the laboratory to stay overnight. Staff will run through initial measurements such as blood pressure, height and weight, and then get the patient wired-up for the study.

Though it may sound daunting, Denise reassures patients that there won’t be any pain throughout the process.

“It might feel a little bit uncomfortable or odd to sleep with wires on your skin, but nothing hurts.” she said.

The patient will have their own room, and overnight the scientist will monitor their sleep from another room, through a computer and video camera.

Catherine Falla, Senior Scientist, explains what happens behind the scenes in a sleep laboratory.

“We’re looking at their brain activity. The EEG (electroencephalogram) tells us what stage of sleep they’re in. We can see how you move in and out of the stages of sleep and how often you wake up.

We also look at respiratory signals, so how you’re breathing when you’re asleep, and heart rhythms and leg movements.”

After the study concludes, staff will perform detailed analysis and send the report to the physician.

“For us, identifying sleep disorders and being able to treat them, is really important.

We’re the advocates for good sleep. It’s important for people to increase their sleep time so that they can function at their best, during the day.” Denise said.