Sleep Disorders Center Programs & Services

Often referred to as a sleep study, a polysomnogram is an overnight sleep test conducted in a lab with the purpose of monitoring your sleep and breathing.

A split night sleep study is a type of overnight sleep test conducted in two parts. During the first part of the test, we’ll monitor your breathing while you sleep and look for evidence of sleep apnea, a condition that results in decreased oxygenation levels due to airway obstruction.

If we detect high levels of sleep apnea during the first part of the night, we’ll ask you to wear a mask connected to a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine for the remainder of the study to support your breathing. CPAPs work by using pressurized air to keep the airway open while you sleep. They’re currently the most common form of treatment for sleep apnea.

The goal of a titration study is to determine the appropriate positive airway pressure (PAP) device and settings to best support your breathing while asleep. You’ll wear a PAP mask, a device used to treat sleep apnea and other breathing disorders, for the duration of the test.

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices, bilevel positive airway pressure (BIPAP) devices, adaptive servo-ventilator (ASV) devices, and nocturnal ventilators are some examples of PAP machines.

Like other sleep tests, a multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) is conducted in a lab and typically follows an overnight sleep study. The MSLT is comprised of a series of timed nap opportunities used to determine how quickly you can fall asleep.

We use this information to evaluate sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia. We ask that you keep sleep logs for 1-2 weeks prior to your MSLT test and provide your logs to your technician at the beginning of the study.

The maintenance of wakefulness test is conducted in a sleep lab and is used to measure your ability to stay awake during the day.

If you have a sleep apnea implant, such as Inspire or Remede, you may get your device activated in our Sleep Medicine Clinic. Following the initial implant and adjustments, we’ll evaluate the device’s success and optimize the settings to ensure your breathing issues are corrected.

Home sleep testing is used to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea. This type of test takes place at home and consists of wearing a small monitoring device around your chest while you sleep. The monitor records your breathing, respiratory effort, and oxygen levels which assist us in making a diagnosis.

Actigraphy uses a small watch-like device to measure your movements and record your activity patterns over the course of 1-2 weeks. The device is used to assist in the diagnosis of circadian rhythm disorders.

A melatonin profile uses salivary or urine melatonin to aid in diagnosis of circadian rhythm disorders.

Hypoglossal nerve stimulation involves implanting a pacemaker that stimulates the tongue to treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Eligibility is determined through the collaborative efforts of our Sleep Medicine and Otolaryngology teams. Otolaryngology is responsible for placing the implant and Sleep Medicine provides post-implant care.

Phrenic nerve stimulation involves implanting a pacemaker that stimulates the diaphragm to treat patients with central sleep apnea. Eligibility is determined through the collaborative efforts of our Sleep Medicine and Cardiology teams. Cardiology is responsible for placing the implant and Sleep Medicine provides post-implant care.

Our Sleep Center has unique expertise in evaluating and treating complicated circadian rhythm disorders. Our clinicians utilize specialized testing, such as salivary melatonin testing, actigraphy watches, an FDA-approved SleepImage ring to measure sleep quality and duration, as well as home blood pressure tracking devices to assist in diagnosis and treatment. We also offer in-lab sleep studies aligned to different sleep-wake schedules, allowing for personalized evaluation and optimization of sleep timing and quality.

Our Sleep Center has exceptionally strong clinical and research expertise in diagnosing and managing sleep-breathing disorders caused by abnormal breathing control. We use both FDA-approved and off-label techniques for diagnosis, therapy, and treatment tracking, so we can manage and provide individualized care for patients with complex sleep-disordered breathing.

Our Sleep Center has expertise in managing patients with severely compromised nocturnal breathing secondary to advanced neurologic disease, advanced lung disease, or severe obesity hypoventilation. Our Respiratory Failure Program provides advanced therapies and a personalized approach to support sleep breathing.

Patients with the most complicated sleep-related breathing disorders are scheduled for sleep studies performed under the direct supervision of our sleep physicians. Our sleep clinicians refer patients for MD-supervised sleep studies based on the complexity of their clinical history and prior sleep study experiences. During these MD-supervised sleep studies, patients are provided with the full range of advanced treatment options to identify optimal and individualized treatments for their sleep-related breathing disorders.

At our Sleep Center, we use innovative analytic techniques (including spectral analysis, cardiopulmonary coupling, and periodic breathing metrics) to analyze data collected during standard in-lab sleep studies. Our clinicians rely on these techniques to help them better understand the nature and cause of their patients’ underlying sleep disorders and help them optimize sleep health.

Our Sleep Center has exceptionally strong clinical and research expertise in patients with disorders of excessive daytime sleepiness, such as narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia syndrome. We provide patients with personalized evaluation and treatment to improve their sleep health and optimize daytime function.

The goal of this program is to accelerate the translation of best scientific research around normal and pathological states of sleep. The mission of the Institute of Personalized Sleep Health (IPSH) is to ensure that optimal sleep—a fundamental necessity for health and well-being—can be achieved by everyone. The IPSH is the research arm of the Beth Israel Sleep Disorders Center with a special focus on utilizing novel sleep research tools to improve sleep health in the clinic. The Institute aims to enhance clinical and translational research by fostering innovation, discovery, education, and collaborative networks among disciplines relevant to sleep science. Within the Sleep Disorders Center, the Institute utilizes a personalized "accelerated bench-to-bedside" approach to optimize sleep health. This Institute aims to provide personalized care for disorders of breathing control during sleep and stimulate the development of innovative technology, especially wearable devices, that allow for personalization of sleep health. Further, this Institute expands the concept of measuring and enabling "optimal sleep health," large scale data analytics, and genetic foundations of rare sleep disorders to meet its goal of achieving precision sleep medicine.

Director: Robert Thomas, MD