Sleep disorders have recently become the focus of a growing number of physicians. Sleep disorders include obstructive sleep apnea, central sleep apnea, complex sleep apnea, snoring, restless leg syndrome (RLS), periodic limb movement (PLM), sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and related neurological and physiological events or conditions occurring during sleep. Many hospitals and clinics have established sleep laboratories (sleep labs) to diagnose and treat sleep disorders. In the sleep laboratories, practitioners use instrumentation to monitor and record a patient's sleep states, stages and behaviors during sleep. Practitioners rely on these recordings to diagnose patients and prescribe proper therapies.
A goal of addressing sleeping disorders is to help a person sleep better. Another goal of addressing sleeping disorders is to help a person live longer. It is well known that various undesirable behaviors often occur during sleep such as snoring, apnea episodes, abnormal breathing episodes, Bruxism (teeth clenching and grinding) and the like. It is further known that these disorders and other undesirable behaviors can not only lead to insufficient amounts of sleep or fatigue but are also linked to co-morbidities such as obesity, diabetes, cardiac diseases, stroke and SIDS, all of which lead to a premature death. Serious efforts are being made to reduce or eliminate these undesirable disorders and behaviors in part because of these co-morbidity concerns.