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I have the same situation and I also have the same question as you. I see my doctor next month and I was going to ask him.
I am sure that someone on the forum will have some good insight.
In general, respiration rates are slower during sleep than during the day. But I too find that my RR is a little lower when I'm lying in bed waiting to fall asleep. I don't know why that is, but I haven't worried about it. However, a RR of between 6 and 10 is quite low and deserves discussion with your doctor. Be sure to explain that the rate is higher during sleep.
TV stands for tidal volume. It is the volume of air that you move in one breath (inhale + exhale). In Oscar, what we see on the TV graph is a rolling average. Normal TV will be a little higher or lower depending on your build.
MV is minute ventilation, the volume of air you move in one minute. So it's a function of RR and TV. The units of measurement for TV and MV are different, just to keep things complicated.
It would be useful to see the graph of Minute Ventilation as well as the respiration rate and tidal volume.
Minute Ventilation measures how much you breathe in a minute, so we can see how much that changes between awake and asleep. It may be that greater tidal volume (one breathe) compensates for the slower respiration rate.
Apnea Board Monitors are members who help oversee the smooth functioning of the Board. They are also members of the Advisory Committee which helps shape Apnea Board's rules & policies. Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
As I expected, on average, you breathe the same amount of air awake or asleep. Which makes sense, I think, and is probably normal.
Now I have to go look at my own pattern.
Apnea Board Monitors are members who help oversee the smooth functioning of the Board. They are also members of the Advisory Committee which helps shape Apnea Board's rules & policies. Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
Good observation about relative constancy of MV -- thanks. One other little observation: it's common for RR to go up some during REM sleep. In the posted charts, I can see three stretches of higher RR whose timing is about right for REM in sleep cycles.
02-19-2022, 05:00 PM (This post was last modified: 02-19-2022, 05:01 PM by Geer1.)
RE: Breath Frequency
Your awake respiration rate is low, low enough to be considered bradypnea. Although you are taking fewer breaths than normal you are taking deeper breaths.
Your sleep respiration rate is more normal and you are taking smaller breaths.
As noted your ventilation stays the same whether awake or asleep as the change in tidal volume is accounted for by the change in respiration rate.
In your case I would say the abnormal part (if it is even considered abnormal) is how low your awake respiration rate is. I would be curious what your respiration rate is during normal relaxed breathing while awake and not wearing a CPAP machine. Also curious to see a full OSCAR screenshot (use F12 or view/take screenshot) so we can see what settings you are using, if you note your breathing is not as low without CPAP machine than perhaps an adjustment of settings would have an effect.
