Multiple Sleep Latency Test


The mul­ti­ple sleep laten­cy test (MSLT) is a diag­nos­tic tool which tests for exces­sive day­time sleepi­ness. This test is used when med­ical providers are con­cerned with the amount of ade­quate and qual­i­ty sleep a patient is receiv­ing. Dur­ing this test you are giv­en 5 oppor­tu­ni­ties to nap every two hours dur­ing nor­mal wake times. You will then be mea­sured to see how fast you fall asleep in each nap (sleep laten­cy) and how quick­ly REM sleep begins. A pos­i­tive MSLT is obtained when you fall asleep with a mean sleep laten­cy below 8 min­utes and had at least no more than one nap where REM sleep was reached.