Twenty-one year old Tyler Skluzacek created a smartwatch and smartphone app called myBivy (short for my bivouac, which is a military encampment with tents or shelter in which to rest) to help soldiers suffering from night terrors, a major symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Tyler’s father was suffering from night terrors and Tyler wanted to help find a solution. In September 2015, his team and others (programmers, clinicians, and veterans) gathered together in Washington D.C. for a 36-hour coding competition to find a solution. MyBivy, which won the competition, tracks heart rate and movement. Currently, the team is “teaching myBivy to identify pre-terror symptoms in veterans” and at the onset of the symptoms for night terrors, the app will vibrate the device or make a sound that brings the person out of a night terror but still allows the individual to remain asleep. “Data received from sensors on the smartwatch can be viewed by the veteran on his or her smartphone and sent to his or her doctor.” The app will go through clinical trials in the early part of 2016 and the target release date for the Pebble, Android, and iPhone apps will be May 2016. Please visit the myBivy.org website or their Facebook site for more information.
