To sleep, perchance to die.  Or kill.  

Sleep apnea kills people without it.  

This triptych depicts human physiologic signals during six minutes of healthy sleep (panel 1), sleep with severe sleep apnea (panel 2), and death (panel 3).  Panel 3 could be considered infinite.  It’s also interesting because it could represent death of the person with sleep apnea or someone they inadvertently kill due to their sleepiness.  

More details:  

Panel 1 shows healthy sleep brainwaves, normal even breathing during sleep, and stable high blood oxygenation.  Panel 2 shows the repeatedly stopped breathing, unstable blood oxygenation, and poor, interrupted sleep quality caused by sleep apnea.  Panel 3 shows the complete absence of physiologic signals that represents death.  

From the top, the bands of data represent:  

1 - 4:  brainwaves 11:  snoring

5 - 6:  eye movements  12:  respiratory airflow

7:  jaw muscle activity 13 - 14:  breathing movements

8:  heart electrical activity 15:  arterial oxygen saturation

9 - 10:  leg movements

Sleep apnea is a debilitating and potentially fatal disease.  It may kill afflicted patients during sleep, or by falling asleep during an activity such as driving.  Sleepiness while driving (from any cause) often kills not only the driver, but also others in their vehicle or others they hit.  

This calls to mind the macabre joke:  

“When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did  -  in his sleep.  

Not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car.”  

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31085749.  

Obstructive sleep apnea: personal, societal, public health, and legal implications.  Morsy et al.  Rev Environ Health. 34: 153-169, 2019. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29554902.  

Sleep deficiency and motor vehicle crash risk in the general population:  a prospective cohort study.  Gottlieb et al., BMC Med. 16(1): 44, 2018.