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1.1 Background<br />

Chapter 1 Introduction<br />

About one third of human being’s life is spent in sleeping. A good sleep can help people<br />

refresh from their awake-time tiredness physically, mentally and emotionally. It<br />

increases people’s energy level and reduces people’s feeling of depression [1].<br />

However, world widely, hundreds of millions of people are suffering from sleep<br />

disorder problems. These sleep disorders include sleep apnea, narcolepsy and various<br />

forms of insomnia [2].<br />

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which people repeatedly stop breathing during sleep.<br />

The stop may last for more than 10 seconds [3]. Sleep apnea can be categorized as<br />

central sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea and mixed apnea which is a combination of<br />

the two [2]. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by muscle relaxation during sleep<br />

(see Figure 1.1).<br />

Figure 1.1 Obstructive sleep apnea [4]<br />

1

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