3 ms·
From the article: "Sleep researchers discovered the "first-night effect" decades ago, when they began studying people in sleep labs. The first night in a lab,
by tomhoward 6y ago
From the article:
"Sleep researchers discovered the "first-night effect" decades ago, when they began studying people in sleep labs. The first night in a lab, a person's sleep is usually so bad that researchers simply toss out any data they collect."
- loceng 6y agoSo my questions stems from that I had trouble sleeping as an early teenager and did a sleep study - and it was only one night. Are other sleep labs to check for sleep apnea or other problems generally multiple nights then? It sounds like they'd need to be to get accurate data.
- Pyramus 6y agoI've interacted with a number of different sleep labs (Germany and UK). All physicians I've spoken to are well aware of the fact, however, the effect size of what they are typically looking for is greater than this 1st night effect. E.g. if you have sleep apnea it will (very likely) show up on the first night already. If your condition is more subtle (e.g. sleepwalking) they will already book you for two nights. In addition, there is a counter-effect where people are struggling for years with their condition and being in a sleep lab brings some form of 'being taken serious'.