Tomorrow night I am undergoing a sleep study at the Sleep~Wake Center run by the U of U hospital, which happens to be in the same building where I work. For my new patient appointment, I walked two doors down from my office. The total distance was about par with the 50 yard dash from elementary school.

I’ve got sleep apnea, and the level of tiredness in my daily life has reached the point where I must do something about it. This sleep study will be a new experience for me, but I know two people who have done it before. One of those people is my wife, who tells me that when I end up on my back I stop breathing momentarily.

I’m ambivalent about what’s going to happen. It’s an overdue and necessary step on the way to improving my life, but it promises to be a very uncomfortable night. They’re going to take a bunch of time hooking up and removing all sorts of monitoring equipment to my body. I’ve been told that the adhesives they use for the various equipment are pretty nasty, especially the “toothpaste” they put in your hair for the EEG. Hopefully it will be interesting enough to write about. Wish me luck!