Doing a sleep study in a Japanese hospital

Last month I had the chance to do a sleep study at a hospital in Tokyo and would like to share my experience for anyone that is wondering how such a sleep study is conducted.

For a sleep study you have to spend a night at the hospital. I had to arrive until 3 PM and was introduced to my room and to the hospital ward after my arrival. After I unpacked I was asked some questions about my current medication and my blood pressure and temperature were measured.

I basically had free time then until dinner and could do whatever I wanted in my room. I recommend bringing something to read or downloading a few episodes of a TV show on a tablet. The hospital did have a TV but you had to buy a TV card to use it.

At 6 PM dinner was brought to my room. It was a typical Japanese hospital dinner.

After I was done changing into my pajamas, brushing my teeth, and getting ready for bed, a doctor came to hook me up to the devices. For a sleep study you get a lot of sensors put on several body parts. I got sensors on legs and arms, stomach, chest and on my head. It took about an hour until all sensors were placed and properly tested. I looked quite funny with all the cables on my head.

With the sensors on it is quite difficult to go to the toilet and you have to call a nurse every time, so you might want to cut down on drinking water.

I was told that once I was ready to sleep I just had to let the doctor know and they would start the test. I found it quite hard to sleep with all the sensors on me. It feels strange and you have to watch out not go get trapped in cable if you turn around. After a while it also got quite itchy.

In case you have a hard time falling asleep the hospital can provide sleeping pills for you. Once during the night the doctor came to my room because apparently some sensors had come loose. In the end I managed to fall asleep but it wasn’t a very refreshing sleep. When you wake up in the morning the doctor will come and take the sensors off you. You might want to take a shower as you will have some residue of the sticky substance they use to fix the sensors in your hair.

At around 8 in the morning I got breakfast and then once my bill was ready I could pay it and go home. A sleep study is quite expensive. I paid 22,000 yen for it, which is with reduced medical fees due to my disability pass. If you pay regular medical fees, it should cost about 50,000 yen.