Short Version
If you have an ESD Health Type II at-home sleep study coming up, the good news is the process is much simpler than most pilots expect. There is no lab visit, no wires taped all over your head and body, and no unfamiliar bed to sleep in. You sleep in your own bed, on your own schedule, and the device handles the rest. Preparation is mostly about setting yourself up for a clean, usable night of data so you do not have to redo the study.
The basics are straightforward. Get a normal night of sleep in the days leading up. Avoid alcohol and heavy caffeine the day of the study. Follow the device application instructions closely and give yourself 15 minutes before bed to set up. Sleep in your usual position, in a room that reflects your typical sleep environment. If something feels wrong overnight, most devices have quality checks and the ESD/Onera teams are available if you have questions before or after. In the morning, you remove the device, package it in the prepaid return shipping, and drop it off. That is it.
Full Version
If you have an ESD Health Type II at-home sleep study coming up, chances are you have some questions and maybe a little bit of anxiety about how the night will go. That is normal. The good news is that the process is much simpler than most pilots expect and the amount of preparation involved is minimal. This is a straightforward guide to walk you through it, from the moment your kit arrives to the morning after your study.
Before Your Kit Arrives
There is nothing formal you need to do to prepare before the kit shows up, but it helps to know what is coming. Most kits ship within a few business days of ordering. Once yours is on the way, plan for one night in the next week or two when you can sleep at home in your normal environment. Try not to schedule the study for a night when you know you will be traveling, sleeping somewhere unfamiliar, or under unusual stress. The idea is to capture a typical night of sleep, not an outlier.
If you have any concerns about the process ahead of time, this is a good moment to reach out. The ESD team is available to answer questions before you even open the box.
When the Kit Arrives
When the kit shows up, unbox it and take five minutes to review the instructions and the components. You do not have to set anything up yet. Just get familiar with what is in the kit and where each piece goes. The device is manufactured by Onera, our clinical partner, and is designed to be patch-based or wearable, meaning you can apply it yourself without any clinical assistance. There are no wires taped all over your head and body, no complicated setup, and no medical technician needed. If you can put on a smartwatch, you can apply this device.
Look through the instructions once or twice. If anything is unclear, we would rather answer your questions before the study than have you guess in the moment. A clear, confident setup is half the battle for a clean data collection.
The Day of the Study
Try to keep the day of the study close to a normal day. A few things worth paying attention to:
• Avoid alcohol for at least 24 hours before the study. Alcohol affects sleep architecture and can distort the results in ways that misrepresent your typical sleep.
• Keep caffeine intake to your normal daily amount and avoid it after early afternoon. A big afternoon coffee can fragment sleep in ways that are not clinically representative.
- Skip the daytime nap if you can. You want to be tired enough for a normal sleep onset.
- Eat a normal dinner, nothing unusually heavy or late.
- Avoid strenuous exercise close to bedtime.
The goal for the day of the study is a typical, unremarkable day so the data reflects your normal sleep, not a night affected by unusual factors.
The Night of the Study
Set aside about 15 minutes before bed to apply the device. Follow the instructions closely. The Onera device has visual guides showing exactly where each sensor or patch goes and how to secure it.
A few tips based on what pilots ask us most often:
- Sleep in your usual position. If you normally sleep on your side, sleep on your side. If you are typically a back sleeper, do that. The FAA reviewer wants to see how you sleep normally, not how you slept trying to be careful of the device.
- Keep the room at your usual temperature and light level. Same bed, same pillows, same everything if possible.
- If a sensor comes loose overnight, do not panic. The device has redundancy built in, and a small loss of data at some point in the night is usually not a problem. Just reapply it if you can and go back to sleep.
- Do not stay awake worrying about the study. Easier said than done, but the more normal your sleep is, the better the data.
If something goes seriously wrong, such as the device failing to turn on or fully disconnecting early in the night, note the time and reach out to us the next day. The ESD/Onera teams can send a replacement kit at no additional charge if needed.
The Morning After
When you wake up, remove the device following the instructions. This is usually quick and painless. Package everything in the prepaid return shipping that came with your kit and drop it at the shipping location on your way through your day. There is no rush, but the sooner it gets returned, the sooner your results are scored.
What to Expect Next
Once the device is returned, the data is uploaded and reviewed by a board-certified sleep physician. They score the study, assess the findings, and produce a comprehensive report. From device return to final report typically takes three to five business days.
Your report will include the clinical measures the FAA typically looks for: AHI, sleep staging, oxygen desaturation events, and clinical interpretation. It is delivered in a format the FAA’s medical reviewers recognize, so you can hand it to your AME or submit it directly without revisions.
If the results show something unexpected, the ESD team will walk you through what it means and what the next steps look like. Whether the results come back clean or reveal something that needs treatment, you will not be figuring out the path forward on your own.
How ESD Supports You Through It
The at-home study is only part of what we do. Dave and the ESD team have spent years walking pilots through this exact experience, from the questions before the box arrives to what to do after the results come back. Combined with Onera’s clinical-grade device technology, you get the best of both worlds: dependable, FAA-compliant testing and a team of real people you can pick up the phone and talk to.
The goal is to make what feels like a stressful medical process feel simple, supported, and well-managed. You handle the sleep, we handle the rest.