Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT)

The MWT is a test meant to objectively measure your ability to stay awake, which can infer how sleepy you are. The test may be used to assess your response to treatment of various sleep disorders, including sleep apnea or narcolepsy.

Performing the MWT

The MWT typically begins 1 1/2 to 3 hours after you usually wake up.

Prior to the test, you will complete a questionnaire, which includes questions about whether your previous night’s sleep was of adequate quantity and quality, and whether you feel alert. You will then be placed in a dim room, with the only source of light slightly behind your head and out of your field of vision. You will usually be sitting upright in bed, with your back and head supported.

You will be instructed to stay awake as long as possible. During this time you will be monitored with the same measures that are used in a standard overnight sleep study called a polysomnogram.

The session will end if you fall asleep, or if you go 40 minutes without falling asleep. The sleep latency, or the time it takes you to fall asleep, will be recorded. This is repeated every two hours until four sessions have been completed.

How Is MWT Used?

In healthy people, the time it takes to fall asleep may be approximately 30 minutes on the test. More than 97% of people will take eight minutes or longer to fall asleep. Therefore, sleep latency that is less than eight minutes is considered to be abnormal. If you are able to stay awake during all four sessions, it is unlikely that you have difficulty maintaining wakefulness.