Your ResMed sleep report, whether viewed on the myAir app or a printed summary from your provider, shows a handful of key numbers that tell you how well your therapy is working each night. Once you know what each metric means and what range to aim for, the report becomes a quick daily check-in rather than a confusing wall of data.
AHI: The Most Important Number
The AHI, or apnea-hypopnea index, is the single number that tells you whether your machine is doing its job. It counts the average number of times per hour that your breathing fully stops (apneas) or becomes dangerously shallow (hypopneas) during sleep. Your machine detects these breathing changes throughout the night and divides the total events by the number of hours you used it.
Here’s how to interpret the number:
- Below 5: Normal range. This is the target for effective therapy. Most sleep specialists consider anything under 5 well-controlled.
- 5 to 14: Mild. Your therapy is helping but could be optimized. A mask adjustment or pressure change may bring it lower.
- 15 to 29: Moderate. Something needs attention, whether that’s mask fit, pressure settings, or sleep position.
- 30 or above: Severe. This is worth discussing with your provider soon.
Keep in mind that your machine estimates AHI rather than measuring it the way a lab sleep study does. It’s accurate enough to track trends, but a single night with an AHI of 6 isn’t cause for alarm if your weekly average sits at 2 or 3. Look at the trend over days and weeks rather than fixating on any one night.
Event Types: What’s Causing Your AHI
Your report breaks down the AHI into specific event types, and understanding the difference matters because each one points to a different issue.
Obstructive apneas (OA) happen when your airway physically collapses or gets blocked, even though your body is still trying to breathe. These are the most common events in sleep apnea, and they’re the primary thing your machine’s air pressure is designed to prevent. If your OA count is high, it usually means your pressure needs to go up, or your mask is leaking enough that the machine can’t deliver effective pressure.
Central apneas (CA) are different. Your airway stays open, but your brain temporarily stops sending the signal to breathe. A few central apneas per night are normal, especially as you fall asleep. But if your CA count is consistently elevated (above 5 per hour on its own), that’s something your provider should evaluate, since central events don’t respond to more air pressure the way obstructive events do.
Hypopneas (H) are partial blockages where your breathing becomes shallow but doesn’t fully stop. They count toward your AHI just like full apneas do, because they still disrupt your oxygen levels and sleep quality.
Some ResMed reports also show clear airway apneas, which is another term for central apneas, and RERA (respiratory effort-related arousals), which are brief breathing disruptions that wake you slightly without meeting the full definition of an apnea or hypopnea. RERAs typically show up only in clinical reports your provider pulls from the machine’s detailed data, not in the myAir app.
Leak Rate: Your Mask Seal Quality
Leak rate measures how much air escapes from your mask during the night, reported in liters per minute. Every mask has some intentional leak built into the design (the exhaust port where you breathe out), so the number on your report reflects only the unintentional leak above that baseline.
ResMed uses a color-coded system to flag leak levels. Green means your leak is below the threshold and your seal is good. Yellow means your leak is elevated and may be affecting therapy. On the AirView system your provider uses, high leak nights get flagged automatically so they can spot patterns.
As a general target, keeping your unintentional leak below about 24 liters per minute means your machine can compensate and still deliver the right pressure. Above that, the machine struggles to maintain therapeutic pressure, your AHI climbs, and you’re more likely to wake up with a dry mouth or notice the machine ramping up loudly. If your report consistently shows high leak, the most common fixes are adjusting your headgear straps, trying a different mask size, or changing your pillow so it doesn’t push the mask off your face during the night.
Usage Hours: What Counts as Compliant
Your report tracks how many hours you wore your mask each night. This number matters for two reasons: your health and your insurance coverage.
For health, more hours generally means better results. Using your machine for only three hours means it’s protecting you during early sleep but not during the REM-heavy second half of the night, which is when apneas tend to be worst. Aim for the full night whenever possible.
For insurance, CMS (the agency behind Medicare and most insurance compliance standards) requires a minimum of 4 hours per night on at least 70% of nights within a consecutive 30-day window. In practical terms, that’s 21 out of 30 nights at 4 or more hours. You have the first 90 days after getting your equipment to hit this threshold. If you don’t meet it, your insurance may stop covering the machine or supplies. Your ResMed report tracks this automatically, and your provider can pull the data to submit for compliance.
Pressure Data
If your machine is set to auto-adjusting mode (APAP), your report shows the pressure range it used during the night, typically displayed as a minimum, maximum, and either a median or 95th percentile pressure. The 95th percentile number tells you the pressure level your machine stayed at or below for 95% of the night, which gives a better picture than the max alone since the max might reflect a single brief spike.
You don’t need to memorize these numbers, but they’re useful for spotting trends. If your 95th percentile pressure has been creeping up over weeks or months, it could mean weight gain, seasonal allergies, or sleeping on your back more often is increasing your airway resistance. If the pressure seems too high and you’re having trouble exhaling against it, that’s worth mentioning to your provider, who can adjust your comfort settings or pressure range.
MyAir App vs. Clinical Data
The myAir app gives you a simplified daily score out of 100, factoring in usage hours, mask seal, events per hour, and how many times you took the mask off. It’s designed to be motivational and easy to scan. The score is useful for day-to-day tracking, but it compresses a lot of detail into a single number, so a score of 80 one night and 85 the next doesn’t necessarily mean anything changed meaningfully.
Your provider has access to a much more detailed clinical report through ResMed’s AirView platform. This includes the full event breakdown by type, detailed pressure graphs showing how your machine responded throughout the night, leak data plotted over time, and metrics like RERA that the app doesn’t display. If your AHI looks fine on the app but you still feel exhausted, the clinical data often reveals what the app summary misses, like clusters of events during REM sleep or leak spikes in the early morning hours.
What Good Numbers Actually Look Like
A well-controlled night on a ResMed report typically looks like this: AHI under 5 (ideally under 2), usage of 7 or more hours, leak in the green zone, and pressure staying within a stable range without large swings. Not every night will look perfect. Alcohol, sleeping position, nasal congestion, and even how tired you are can shift your numbers on any given night.
The most useful habit is checking your report a few times per week and watching for patterns rather than reacting to individual nights. If your AHI spikes every time you sleep on your back, that’s actionable information. If your leak climbs after a few months, your mask cushion may need replacing. The report is a tool for noticing trends and having informed conversations with your provider, not a daily exam to pass or fail.