Sleep deprivation in the name of science
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It seemed like a reasonable enough request that I had initially received from Helen. Within the email there were a couple of apparently innocent questions including ‘would you mind wearing a made to measure physiology vest so we can assess your heart rate, ecg and breathing rate whilst you climb up to Everest Base Camp? Oh and by the way, we would like to do some sleep studies as well’.
After a long flight from the UK to Nepal, with an even longer stopover in Doha, I had finally arrived in Kathmandu, but had only managed an hour or two of sleep on the entire journey. We are taking part in the 10th Anniversary Xtreme Everest medical research expedition, heading back to EBC to continue the research but also to celebrate the tenth anniversary of our 2007 expedition. There are 45 like-minded individuals from both side of the Atlantic from diverse backgrounds but all with a love of being in the mountains. I am sure the details of the research will be covered in more depth in time, but its wide ranging and varies from looking at the microbiome at altitude to altitude echo-cardiology.
In terms of sleep, or lack of it, I managed to keep going for a second day, thinking this was probably the best way to adjust to the new time zone. And just before I crashed at about 9.00 pm, I put on my pulse oximetry logger on and fell almost instantly in a deep and much overdue sleep. Within 20 minutes I was awakened by an alarm. Initially I thought my oxygen saturations were too low, but they seemed ok and I drifted off to sleep only to be repeatedly awakened by the alarm. In my sleep deprived state and my mind struggling to get to grips with the situation I began to come up with more complex and esoteric explanations. For instance, it seemed the alarm was more likely to go off when my arm was above my head- and as a vascular surgeon, I wondered if I had some previously undiagnosed thoracic outlet syndrome. The night wore on and the alarms continued to ensure I never settled. Dan, with whom I share a room, was also woken on numerous occasions. He worked out that the alarm was actually caused by my pulse rate falling below 50! Interestingly neither of us contemplated switching the probe off either because of sleep deprivation or because of our dedication the science.
Worse still, with my addled brain, I had forgotten to put on the vest itself, so none of the data is of any value and will have to be repeated tonight this time wearing both the vest and the probe but with the alarms silenced!
Lukla tomorrow!
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| By: Elizabeth Cumpstey | When: 24th Apr 2017 11:23 | How this article made me laugh....the joys of the pulse oximeter on that first night. I am yet to miss wearing it!! |
