MWT: Maintenance of Wakefulness Test

The Gold Standard for testing the patient’s ability to stay awake in a quiet, calm, and subdued environment.  This test is used in the Airline and Transportation Industry.  An overnight Polysomnography may or may not be ordered prior to the MWT.  The patient is asked to dress in street clothes, sit quietly in a recliner in a dimly lit room.  Television, radio, and cell phones are not allowed in use while testing. The tests are offered in a series of four 40 minute opportunities, with two hour intervals.

Purpose: the patient must remain awake in each opportunity to pass the test and be released back to work.