Negative pressure hospital room and sleep apnea
August 20, 2024 1:38 PM Subscribe
I’ve spent the last several nights in a hospital with one of my kids. Everything is on the road to being fine. However, despite the uncomfortable bed, I’ve slept really well. There are lots of potential reasons for this, but I have a question about one: I might have atypical (i.e., no snoring) undiagnosed sleep apnea and this is a negative pressure room. Is it possible that the negative pressure room is helping with the apnea?
From my understanding Negative pressure rooms are designed for an infection control standpoint to reduce germs from leaving. I don't actually think the air pressure difference is that large, atleast I haven't noticed when I've entered a Negative pressure room. Sleep apnea machines generally use positive pressure to help you sleep via force of air. However a more feasible explanation could be the removal of an allergen in the home by sleeping in a difference place, or if your sleeping at a different angle like a recliner.
posted by AlexiaSky at 1:51 PM on August 20 [7 favorites]
posted by AlexiaSky at 1:51 PM on August 20 [7 favorites]
The pressure difference produced by a CPAP machine is a difference in pressure between the inside of your airway and the outside of your body (i.e., higher pressure inside your airway). A negative pressure hospital room is not going to mimic that, because the air pressure inside your airway is going to be the same as the pressure on the outside of your body.
posted by heatherlogan at 2:08 PM on August 20 [9 favorites]
posted by heatherlogan at 2:08 PM on August 20 [9 favorites]
The negative pressure is just between the inside of the room and the outside of the room.
For the people inside of the room, the air pressure in your lungs is going to be the same as the air pressure in the room.
There is not any difference in pressure between the inside and outside of your body the way a sleep apnea machine works in this type of room.
posted by yohko at 2:09 PM on August 20 [1 favorite]
For the people inside of the room, the air pressure in your lungs is going to be the same as the air pressure in the room.
There is not any difference in pressure between the inside and outside of your body the way a sleep apnea machine works in this type of room.
posted by yohko at 2:09 PM on August 20 [1 favorite]
The negative pressure is just between the inside of the room and the outside of the room.
The important design feature here is that the air in the room is being drawn through the room into a filter or exhaust system rather than other rooms or common spaces. If this could ease sleap apnea symptoms, you could achieve the same at home by putting a box fan, oriented outward, into each of your bedroom's windows.
posted by pullayup at 2:30 PM on August 20 [2 favorites]
The important design feature here is that the air in the room is being drawn through the room into a filter or exhaust system rather than other rooms or common spaces. If this could ease sleap apnea symptoms, you could achieve the same at home by putting a box fan, oriented outward, into each of your bedroom's windows.
posted by pullayup at 2:30 PM on August 20 [2 favorites]
I'd think different sleep position, different lighting, absence of allergen, absence of sleeping partner (if you usually share a bed, the other person's movements may interrupt your sleep), but most of all: a child's extended hospital stay makes for stressful, exhausting days for their concerned parent, and you are just crashing at night despite the uncomfortable bed.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:34 PM on August 20 [3 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:34 PM on August 20 [3 favorites]
What's the noise situation like in the room? Are all the ventilation systems making a nice fluffy layer of white noise?
posted by JoeZydeco at 4:20 PM on August 20 [2 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 4:20 PM on August 20 [2 favorites]
To test further, you can check the weather report and see if you feel/ breathe/ sleep better when the pressure is lower. Ask around, somebody you know will have a barometer; being a weather nerd is super fun.
posted by theora55 at 7:03 PM on August 20
posted by theora55 at 7:03 PM on August 20
Very unlikely: I opine it is something else.
From your viewpoint, you can't tell a "negative pressure" room from a night spent at a slightly higher elevation than the room is actually at, unless you were in some kind of iron lung, where your head was outside the room and your body was inside the room with a nice gasket around your neck. Or the other way.
"Negative pressure rooms should be designed in healthcare for a minimum CFM of airflow for 12 air changes of exhaust per hour and maintain a minimum of 0.03- inch of water column."
The air is likely rather fresher, with lower CO2 concentration, from that 12 changes of air per hour. I feel way better at 430 PPM CO2 than at 1000 PPM CO2, so I could easily believe that you were responding to less CO2 in the hospital.
0.03 inches of water column negative pressure is like elevating the room aboujt 2.5 feet. 0.03 inches water column is about 0.00007813 atmosphere. One atmosphere is 1013 hectopascals. One hectopascal is about 30 feet of elevation difference at sea level.
Do you sleep better in an upstairs room, all other things being equal?
posted by the Real Dan at 9:50 PM on August 20 [3 favorites]
From your viewpoint, you can't tell a "negative pressure" room from a night spent at a slightly higher elevation than the room is actually at, unless you were in some kind of iron lung, where your head was outside the room and your body was inside the room with a nice gasket around your neck. Or the other way.
"Negative pressure rooms should be designed in healthcare for a minimum CFM of airflow for 12 air changes of exhaust per hour and maintain a minimum of 0.03- inch of water column."
The air is likely rather fresher, with lower CO2 concentration, from that 12 changes of air per hour. I feel way better at 430 PPM CO2 than at 1000 PPM CO2, so I could easily believe that you were responding to less CO2 in the hospital.
0.03 inches of water column negative pressure is like elevating the room aboujt 2.5 feet. 0.03 inches water column is about 0.00007813 atmosphere. One atmosphere is 1013 hectopascals. One hectopascal is about 30 feet of elevation difference at sea level.
Do you sleep better in an upstairs room, all other things being equal?
posted by the Real Dan at 9:50 PM on August 20 [3 favorites]
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posted by nat at 1:50 PM on August 20 [10 favorites]