Sleep at Home and in the Sleep Laboratory: Disturbance by Recording Procedures

Abstract Nineteen healthy men, aged 20 to 55 yr, who did not suffer from insomnia had their sleep recorded by EEG and EOG in the laboratory for 3 to 12 nights each over periods of 1 to 4 weeks. They also gave subjective reports each day which proved to be valid although not always very accurate assessments of their sleep latency, the number of mid-night awakenings and the times of sleeping in the laboratory. There was some ' adaptation ' to the laboratory over the first 2 nights, but awakenings during the night continued for up to 12 nights to be reported more than twice as frequently in the laboratory than at home. They were apparently often caused by intermittent traction of electrodes on the face and scalp as the subjects turned over in bed From the point of view of mid-night awakenings, EEG/EOG recordings are unlikely to give an accurate assessment of the subject's usual sleep, even after several ‘ adaptation ’ nights.