Posted on 12/09/2020 10:41:27 AM PST by Eddie01
A college student with a desire to alleviate his father's suffering has invented an app that helps people with PTSD stop having night terrors.
Tyler Skluzacek's father, Patrick, a US Army Commander with PTSD, was suffering from debilitating night terrors.
Patrick served in Iraq in 2007 and at night his dreams took him back to Fallujah. He could only fall asleep with the help of alcohol and pills -- and his life slowly fell apart.
"[I] pretty much lost everything," he told NPR, fighting back tears. "My house, everything, my job, everything went."
Tyler was a senior at Macalester College when he entered a "Hackathon" to figure out a way to help his dad.
During the event, he put together a team to program a smartwatch to detect the onset of night terrors based on the wearer's heart rate and movement.
The app creates enough stimulus via a vibration to "pull them out of the deep REM cycle and allow the sleep to continue unaffected."
Tyler tested the watch on his father, and through trial and error, he eventually perfected the algorithm.
"It was night and day when I put that watch on and it started working," Patrick said. The vibrations, he says, were "little miracles."
Now, more people will soon be able to benefit from Tyler's invention.
I’ve heard stories and read accounts of Fallujah. It was pure hell.
LOL! This AM I had The Wife, 1 Boxer (between US at Our feet) and 1 Cane Corso Italian Mastiff (on the Dog Beds on the floor at the foot of Our bed) ALL Snoring at the same time. I was up all night anyway. And All 3 of My Girls were Synced Up. Better than a Snoring Round.
THANK YOU, for a ray of sunshine in all this crap. Nice post.
What a great thing to invent. Hats off to this “kid”.
Or don’t CARE where it is. You are right.
I’ve made my living solving problems by suggesting things that get really bad looks from all those who are too smart to be challenged.
GOD BLESS THIS KID !!!
I was very impressed when I purchased my Garmin smart watch. It shows me awake, light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep, plus, movement overlays all through the night.
What typically happens with disruptive technologies like this is the corporations will buy the technology and do one of two things.
1) Market it if it compliments their other products
2) Bury it and keep selling “their” solution.
Either way, I hope it gets out there and the kid makes a ton of money for his ingenuity and helping PTSD suffers.
Kid doesn’t have to sell. He’s in the cat bird seat.
Yeah, it sure is.
Wonder if there are ramifications from having REM interrupted over an extended period?
Son helping father. Beautiful story.
Agree.
And, it made my screen blurry.
Tears of sadness, overcome by joy!
I picked up one of these for a family member with possible sleep apnea.
Similar function. These things work!
O2Ring Wearable Sleep Monitor - Bluetooth Health Tracker with Free APP & PC Report
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HDGBF7P/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_8Gt0FbR5R9471?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
~Easy
Do you get people explaining things to you in baby talk?
Or telling you why your idea won’t work when they clearly have no clue what your idea even is?
I think it’s awesome you’re able to make a living solving problems. I’d settle for just getting people to quit getting in my way when I’m working on solving a problem. It gets ridiculous sometimes.
What a great idea
Sometimes, yes. Depending on who they are, talking to me that way will get them sliced and diced, “politely”. My wife once told me that I could write a memo stabbing someone repeatedly, and they would thank me for it.
When I am in a new area, the “experts” do frequently tell me that I don’t understand, and why my idea won’t work, yes.
I then make it my mission to prove otherwise, with, or without their help. If they are at my level on the corporate ladder, I try very hard to include them, and often praise them to management for helping. After a couple of successes, and them getting partial credit, I usually have a long-term ally, and a reputation. One of my old bosses used to call me “the plumber” - When things got clogged up, they’d call me to fix it.
And yes - there are legion who just get in the way. I feel your pain.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.