I have seen pictures of those sleep studies where the subject is observed while actually sleeping, but mine was not like that. All they did was give me this thing to take home with me and wear overnight. It consisted of a small computer-like device with two wires coming out of it. One wire connected to a thing that slipped over my finger, and the other one connected to a sticky pad that mounted on my chest. The device somehow senses and records the amount of oxygen in your blood and your heart rate (pulse).
With sleep apnea, you periodically stop breathing for a second or two, which causes your blood oxygen level to drop dramatically. This wakes you up, although you are not conscious of it, which starts you breathing again. Even though you may think you are sleeping straight through, you are not getting "quality sleep". This causes you to become sleepy during the day, and subject to drifting off at inopportune times, like while you are talking to somebody or driving down the road.
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