Minnesota Teens’ App Aims to Stop Night Terrors For Veterans [VIDEO]

Veterans face horrors that us civilians can only imagine, especially those who saw battle. Night terrors rob veterans of precious sleep, which will only exacerbate their already frail condition if they suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

A Minnesota teen's dad suffered from night terrors, and the teen took a technological approach to helping him.

Meet Tyler Skluzacek {skloo ZAH check}. His father Patrick is an Iraq War veteran with PTSD. Night terrors were a regular occurrence. Instead of watching his father fall apart, Tyler entered an annual coding contest called Hack DC with the goal of helping his father.

Tyler's team, "The Cure" (not the band), won the contest with their MyBivy app. "Bivy" is short for "bivouac", which is a place in the field where soldiers sleep. The app detects the onset of night terrors by monitoring heart rate and body movement. When physical benchmarks are reached, the app (installed on a Google watch) 'nudges' the wearer out of deep sleep, and thus prevents or cuts short the night terror, while the wearer still remains asleep.

Tyler's Kickstarter page had a goal of just under $1,200. It's currently over $14,000.

H/T: KARE 11