A monitor recorder optimized for electrocardiography and respiratory data acquisition and processing is provided. The recorder includes a sealed housing and an electronic circuitry comprised within the sealed housing, which includes an electrocardiographic front end circuit electrically interfaced to an externally-powered micro-controller and operable to sense electrocardiographic signals through electrodes provided on the patch; the micro-controller interfaced to one or more respiratory sensors, the micro-controller operable to sample the electrocardiographic signals, to sample respiratory events detected by the one or more respiratory sensors upon receiving one or more signals from the one or more respiratory sensors, to buffer each of the respiratory event samples, to compress each of the buffered respiratory event samples, to buffer each of the compressed respiratory event samples, and to write the buffered compressed respiratory event samples and the samples of the electrocardiography signals into an externally-powered flash memory; and the memory interfaced with the micro-controller.