• Your primary care physician refers you to the sleep lab.

• You check into the hospital and begin your test about 7 p.m.

• You are accommodated in a nicely appointed, hotel-style room with a comfortable bed and plenty of homey touches (patchwork quilt, pictures on the walls.)

• When you drop off to sleep, a sleep technician monitors roughly 15 of your bodily functions, including blood oxygen, heart rate, brain wave activity, and the rate of airflow to your nose and mouth.

• Sensors are attached to your body, but according to Al Cady, the specially designed sleep rooms are so comfortable, quiet and dark that most people fall asleep fairly easily.

• The sleep technician remains in a separate control room that is completely self-contained to allow for uninterrupted monitoring.

• In many cases, around midnight, the technician has reached a diagnosis, and by morning, he or she may be able to determine the exact treatment for a complete cure. Sometimes a second test is required to fine-tune the proposed treatment.

• After treatment, you begin to sleep better and feel more rested. Most importantly, a dangerous breathing pattern that you suffered from is gone, along with all of the damaging effects it had on your overall health and well-being.