Average arousal index for normal sleepers without SDB

I recently came across a very interesting research paper published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine regarding sleep arousals. It turns out that the average person without any type of SDB or sleep apnea experiences 10 to 22 spontaneous EEG arousals PER HOUR of sleep depending on age. To me, this came as a surprise since I thought that a person without SDB would sleep soundly throughout the night. I was wrong.

Here is the link to the paper:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... po=46.0526

Hope you guys find this as interesting as I do.

Thanks for posting, tl.
Arousals are one of the things many people on the board are concerned about. It is important to realize that some arousals, and some which could result in awakenings, are normal. For some people, a problem develops when concern results in worry and obsession.

Thanks for posting this.

Many of my friends, family members and acquaintances report frequent awakenings at night.

I often ask "how did you sleep last night?" (because since my diagnosis of OSA I'm very interested in sleep!) and the invariable reply is "not so well".

Actually, it surprised me because I didn't realise just how many people wake up frequently during the night among those without SDB. It also made me aware that just because OSA is treated doesn't guarantee perfect blissful uninterrupted sleep, that there are other things going on that don't have a thing to do with breathing.

I suppose one thing that I realized is that even people without SDB have off days where they wake up feeling like crap too.

Many of our problems here on this board seem to be self induced either from obsession or anxiety over our AHI, leaks, etc.

tl424 wrote:Many of our problems here on this board seem to be self induced either from obsession or anxiety over our AHI, leaks, etc.

+1

Arlene1963 wrote:Many of my friends, family members and acquaintances report frequent awakenings at night.
...
Actually, it surprised me because I didn't realise just how many people wake up frequently during the night among those without SDB. It also made me aware that just because OSA is treated doesn't guarantee perfect blissful uninterrupted sleep, that there are other things going on that don't have a thing to do with breathing.

The issue is not how often we wake, but how quickly we get back to sleep. Our normal REM cycle last roughly 2 hours, going through several stages with REM sleep (often accompanied by vivid dreams) be the last. After REM we wake - often we just roll over, go back to sleep and never remember it. But for many this is a time to go to the bathroom, etc., and some then have difficulty getting back to sleep. If we didn't have REM cycles, we would not get fulfilling sleep.

As I've gotten older I more frequently go to the bathroom, but in fact that has been reduced a bit since using the CPAP. And as I've learned more about REM cycles and positional apnea, I've had less trouble getting back to sleep.

CapnLoki wrote:

Arlene1963 wrote: As I've gotten older I more frequently go to the bathroom, but in fact that has been reduced a bit since using the CPAP. And as I've learned more about REM cycles and positional apnea, I've had less trouble getting back to sleep.

Get your blood sugar checked. If you feel you've resolved most of your problems with your xpap and are still getting up at night more than once, it could be that you have excess stuff in your blood and your body is trying to remove it. Higher blood sugar is the most common, but I'm sure there are other variables.

tl424 wrote:It turns out that the average person without any type of SDB or sleep apnea experiences 10 to 22 spontaneous EEG arousals PER HOUR of sleep depending on age.

Do note that all subjects were sleeping in the strange environment of a sleep lab with sensors hooked to their heads and sundry other parts of their bodies.

The results might be different for subjects sleeping in the comfort of their own bed at home with no sensors connected.

And cuddling Teddy.

ChicagoGranny wrote:

tl424 wrote:It turns out that the average person without any type of SDB or sleep apnea experiences 10 to 22 spontaneous EEG arousals PER HOUR of sleep depending on age.

Do note that all subjects were sleeping in the strange environment of a sleep lab with sensors hooked to their heads and sundry other parts of their bodies.

The results might be different for subjects sleeping in the comfort of their own bed at home with no sensors connected.

And cuddling Teddy.

is this telling us that one can "get bumped out of lower sleep stages" *WITHOUT AUTO CPAP PRESSURE CHANGES???????? blasphemy!