[HN Gopher] NightWare helps disrupt nightmares for those with PTSD
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NightWare helps disrupt nightmares for those with PTSD
 
Author : grogu88
Score  : 217 points
Date   : 2022-11-08 18:44 UTC (4 hours ago)
 
web link (www.apple.com)
w3m dump (www.apple.com)
 
| emadabdulrahim wrote:
| I'm not a veteran (though I went through 1.5 year of mandatory
| service back in my country) but I constantly have nightmares for
| as long as I could remember. There are nights where I don't want
| to go to sleep because the night before I had a particularly
| disturbing nightmare. Remarkably scary dreams.
| 
| I'm healthy, exercise nearly ever day. I avoid eating several
| hours before bedtime.
| 
| I was diagnosed with GAD (general anxiety disorder) but I don't
| take any meds. I'm slowly coming to the realization that my
| baseline anxiety level is way higher than of the average person.
| For no apparent reason.
| 
| It's frustrating but I'm trying my best to figure out a long term
| solution.
| 
| edit: grammar
 
  | heavyset_go wrote:
  | Prazosin is the one drug on the market approved for PTSD-
  | related nightmares, I've heard that it works well, but it's a
  | blood pressure medication, so it might not be well tolerated
  | based on conditions or other medications taken.
 
  | nonameiguess wrote:
  | For what it's worth, though you're clearly not eligible for
  | American VA benefits if you served in a non-American military,
  | the legal definition of a "veteran" in the US is anyone who
  | performed any active-duty military service at all. You don't
  | need to see combat to be considered a veteran. You're obviously
  | less likely to end up with PTSD if you don't see combat, though
  | you'd be surprised. Training can be rough and a fairly high
  | number of people end up being assaulted and/or raped while in
  | garrison, and of course several US military installations have
  | also been the site of mass-shooting events.
  | 
  | Anyway, if this has happened your entire life, I wonder if
  | there is really anything you can do about it. That seems
  | distinct from trauma-induced. This seems to describe my sister.
  | From as early as I can remember, so at least when she was as
  | young as 3, she was waking up in cold sweats pretty regularly
  | having dreams the entire family except her was murdered in the
  | middle of the night. Myself, I can't remember ever having a
  | single nightmare my entire life, and I served in the Army
  | during Iraq and Afghanistan and even outside of the military
  | had a few near-death encounters. Some people are just a lot
  | more predisposed to worry than others. It's not necessarily a
  | bad trait, either. I'm reasonably sure the high number of near-
  | death experiences for me is because I'm way too prone to
  | idiotic risks because I never believe anything bad will happen.
  | And always surviving just reinforces that even though I know
  | rationally I just got lucky. Humanity exists right now because
  | my ancestors were mostly a lot more anxious than I am.
 
  | cbtacy wrote:
  | That sounds very frustrating and difficult. I'm really sorry.
  | Do you have good professional care? Are you in a safe place?
 
  | givemeethekeys wrote:
  | I suffered for a couple of decades: anxiety, random panic. I
  | was able to address them by following the following:
  | 
  | 1. Have things to look forward to.
  | 
  | 2. Pay attention to nutrition, health, rest, breathing,
  | exercise.
  | 
  | 3. Meditate. Socialize.
  | 
  | 4. Occasionally when anxiety grows, breathe, visualize yourself
  | performing a repetitive yet fun activity (like swimming laps,
  | chopping vegetables.. whatever takes focus). Your heart rate
  | will drop and things will calm down.
  | 
  | Sometimes when your heart is racing, it's possible you just
  | have pent up energy and you need to crank out some pushups and
  | squats at 3am. Such is life.
 
  | lake_vincent wrote:
  | If I may suggest something unorthodox - have you tried
  | psychedelic therapy? And I don't mean just _taking_ a
  | psychedelic, I mean working with a therapist to go on an
  | intentional healing journey.
  | 
  | Might be worth a trip to Oregon :)
 
    | fudgefactorfive wrote:
    | I admit, although not medically prescribed or supervised,
    | doing mushrooms has been one of the most rewarding
    | experiences of my life.
    | 
    | Although I still have persistent nightmares it changed my
    | understanding of other people and their perspectives to the
    | point my anxiety in a lot of situations has vanished.
    | 
    | I don't think people should go nuts with them but I do think
    | it's a good idea for some people with anxiety to find a clean
    | pleasant care-free place to try them. Even if it just allows
    | them to spend a few hours immersing themselves in completely
    | different thought patterns and potentially gain something
    | from them.
 
  | dimator wrote:
  | I have many friends that use marijuana in the evening, which
  | helps them relax and sleep. Edibles are very effective these
  | days.
 
    | gedy wrote:
    | Pot triggers panic attacks in some people though.
 
      | freedomben wrote:
      | Particularly if you take too high a dose. If it happens, I
      | recommend reducing the intake.
 
      | TaylorAlexander wrote:
      | I quit marijuana, but I did use it daily for years. An
      | under appreciated aspect of pot and anxiety is the strain
      | consumed. Broadly speaking pot is put in to two categories:
      | indica and sativa. More indica leaning strains will produce
      | more of a body depressing feeling of relaxation and
      | tiredness. Sativas are more associated with alertness, and
      | as I used pot while doing other things I only consumed pure
      | sativas. However some strains of pure sativa are
      | particularly prone to increasing anxiety. When I
      | encountered those strains I had to stop consuming them and
      | look for something else. Dosage is also very important. I
      | consumed only roughly a pea-sized amount of ground flour in
      | a sitting. High doses of sativa are much more likely to
      | highten anxiety. I think it's common for people to take a
      | big rip of pot and suffer negative side effects. Very small
      | doses are under appreciated I believe.
      | 
      | That said I quit marijuana early this year. I think overall
      | my anxiety has decreased. I believe I may have been masking
      | emotional problems, and quitting marijuana made it easier
      | for me to process them. However if someone is having
      | nightmares, they may consider smoking indica before bed. It
      | may always depend on the strain, but I believe indica is
      | unlikely to trigger panic attacks.
 
    | jakear wrote:
    | As relevant here, it blocks REM sleep and thus dreams. This
    | can have downsides.
 
      | eurasiantiger wrote:
      | It can also have significant upsides.
 
      | yamazakiwi wrote:
      | That is only in high THC strains. Many people use
      | cannabinoids before bed as a supplement to encourage REM
      | sleep.
 
  | schoen wrote:
  | There are lots of therapies available for anxiety disorders --
  | medication, CBT, talk therapy, biofeedback. Some of the
  | psychedelic therapies that are getting official trials now also
  | show promise for anxiety. I hope you'll find something that
  | works well for you!
 
    | n0tth3dro1ds wrote:
    | >medication, CBT, talk therapy, biofeedback
    | 
    | A list of (expensive) pseudo-science.
 
      | gffrd wrote:
      | What other approaches do you propose?
 
      | skyyler wrote:
      | CBT is backed by clinical evidence. What makes you think
      | it's pseudo-scientific?
 
        | contravariant wrote:
        | They're dismissing 'medicine' as pseudo-science, I think
        | we can ignore their claims.
 
        | n0tth3dro1ds wrote:
        | Clinical means nothing. I can open a chiropractic clinic
        | and create "clinical" evidence all day long. It's still
        | pseudo-science if the results aren't replicable.
        | 
        | Studies surrounding CBT (and the field of psychology as a
        | whole) are not replicable. They are, almost always, based
        | on converting qualitative metrics (how you feel) and
        | filtering them through a designed survey in order to
        | convert these qualitative, subjective abstractions into
        | something that resembles something quantitative and
        | scientific. The result is a field has with a ~40%
        | replicability rate in it's most "prestigious" journals.
        | So, yes, the "professionals" have PhDs and use the doctor
        | salutation. They're not scientists. They're just
        | pretending.
        | 
        | Want to know what you almost never see in the studies
        | investigating the effectiveness of these "therapies"?
        | Life outcome investigations. "Do patients doing CBT
        | actually recover from their depression, as measured by
        | educational attainment/employment/regaining employment?"
        | Good luck finding a study indicating that any significant
        | subset of "depressed" people got over their issues as a
        | result of the CBT itself with a HARD LIFE OUTCOME as the
        | point of investigation. It's all subjective feelings
        | filtered through qualitative 1 thru 10 surveys. Patients
        | never improve. They stay on the $200/session revenue
        | stream forever and get a lifetime prescription to go with
        | it, often for a nebulous "condition" that is basically
        | synonymous with descriptions of the normal human
        | condition. "I feel anxious" gets you a script. Outside of
        | panic attacks, it's a normal feeling. "I have trouble
        | focusing" gets you an amphetamine script. It's a normal
        | feeling. "I lack motivation and purpose" gets you an
        | SSRI, with nary a blood test or a scan of the brain.
        | Again, a perfectly normal part of being a human.
        | Psychotropic intervention in this field is barbaric and
        | pseudoscientific. If there is any justice in this world,
        | it will be held in the same esteem as lobotomy in the
        | future.
 
        | skyyler wrote:
        | This could be interesting reading for you:
        | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3584580/
        | 
        | I'm still not sure what is pseudoscientific about "People
        | with psychological problems can learn ways of coping with
        | the problems, thereby relieving their symptoms."
        | 
        | That's what CBT is...
 
        | n0tth3dro1ds wrote:
        | The assessment of their psychological "problem" (often
        | too broad to even be considered a condition) is
        | pseudoscientific: a qualitative evaluation.
        | 
        | The assessment of the success of CBT is also
        | pseudoscientific: a qualitative evaluation.
        | 
        | The result is a field with 40% replicability of journal
        | results.
        | 
        | And you share a meta analysis of these pseudo-scientific
        | "studies". Add another layer of abstraction to the
        | nonsense.
 
        | skyyler wrote:
        | Ahhhhh, all psychology is pseudoscience to you. That
        | makes sense now.
        | 
        | That's completely fair, and I don't want to interact with
        | that at all.
        | 
        | Have a nice day!
 
        | anna_hope wrote:
        | "Want to know what you almost never see in the studies
        | investigating the effectiveness of these "therapies"?
        | Life outcome investigations. "Do patients doing CBT
        | actually recover from their depression, as measured by
        | educational attainment/employment/regaining employment?"
        | 
        | That's actually exactly how they measure the efficacy of
        | many psychological and psychiatric interventions for
        | chronic mental health conditions, to the point of it
        | being almost laughable, like if you managed to get a job
        | or get better grades, that must mean you are doing
        | better, everything else be damned. But I suppose that's
        | the most objective metric there is.
        | 
        | "They stay on the $200/session revenue stream forever and
        | get a lifetime prescription to go with it"
        | 
        | This is anecdotal, but every psychiatrist I've been to
        | has attempted to titrate down the dose or remove a
        | medication from my regimen if I've been on it a while,
        | and observe if the improvements from those can be
        | maintained.
        | 
        | Similarly, most of the therapists I have worked with
        | proactively suggested reducing the frequency of sessions
        | once they've observed improvement.
        | 
        | "often for a nebulous "condition" that is basically
        | synonymous with descriptions of the normal human
        | condition. "I feel anxious" gets you a script. Outside of
        | panic attacks, it's a normal feeling. "I have trouble
        | focusing" gets you an amphetamine script. It's a normal
        | feeling. "I lack motivation and purpose" gets you an
        | SSRI, with nary a blood test or a scan of the brain.
        | Again, a perfectly normal part of being a human."
        | 
        | It's attitudes like these that contributed to me failing
        | to seek the proper mental health treatment until later in
        | my life, until my very real, very observable, non-
        | nebulous conditions reached a life-threatening degree.
        | 
        | Something that is "normal" for some people some of the
        | time can be disabling or life-threatening if experienced
        | by someone most of the time. Most people experience
        | physical pain at some points in their lives, but if you
        | are in serious pain nearly every day, you would be right
        | to seek treatment -- and no, we don't have perfect tests
        | for all kinds of pain either.
        | 
        | The fields of psychiatry and psychology have many
        | problems, but being a pseudoscience is not one of them.
 
        | n0tth3dro1ds wrote:
        | >being a pseudoscience is not one of them.
        | 
        | Replicability is the measure. You don't get to opinion
        | your way out of this.
        | 
        | 40% replicability = not science.
 
    | Rimintil wrote:
    | Another therapy is a ganglion nerve block.
 
      | intelVISA wrote:
      | I need this for dealing with undocumented Win32 APIs
 
  | mtalantikite wrote:
  | I used to have night terrors as a kid and I can relate to that
  | feeling of not wanting to go to bed. I'm not sure if they're
  | genetic or not -- my father grew up during the Algerian
  | revolution, so it's hard to tell if his nightmares are just an
  | artifact of being terrorized by French colonists.
  | 
  | I also had a period of getting panic attacks in my early 20s.
  | One thing that was/has been super helpful for my anxiety and
  | general well being was starting a daily meditation practice.
  | The Tibetan teacher Mingyur Rinpoche also had an anxiety
  | disorder and had panic attacks as a child, and is a very clear
  | teacher, if you're ever looking for someone to explore that
  | with. I had had a lot of meditation experience before starting
  | it, but I found his `Joy of Living` course to be very good (if
  | a little basic at first). [1][2]
  | 
  | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m38SwUKZZJw
  | 
  | [2] https://joy.tergar.org/
 
    | rpastuszak wrote:
    | > [...] my father grew up during the Algerian revolution, so
    | it's hard to tell if his nightmares are just an artifact of
    | being terrorized by French colonists.
    | 
    | Epigenetics in the wild:
    | https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-parents-
    | rsquo...
 
  | lisper wrote:
  | You are not alone. My earliest memories (like from age 3-4) are
  | of very specific nightmares, and they have continued to dog me
  | my entire life. (Also in 1991 I surprised a burglar in my home
  | who took a pot-shot at me with a .38 on his way out the window,
  | and that didn't help.)
  | 
  | FWIW:
  | 
  | 1. I think it's genetic. Anxiety seems to run in my family. We
  | are descended from Holocaust survivors. I think it is plausible
  | that that one event produced strong evolutionary selection
  | pressure in favor of paranoia and anxiety.
  | 
  | 2. It gets better as you get older (at least it has for me).
  | 
  | 3. Anxiety is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you're afraid of
  | being anxious, that makes you more anxious. Meditation helps.
  | Quiet and/or white noise too.
  | 
  | Good luck.
 
    | shagie wrote:
    | > 1. I think it's genetic. Anxiety seems to run in my family.
    | We are descended from Holocaust survivors. I think it is
    | plausible that that one event produced strong evolutionary
    | selection pressure in favor of paranoia and anxiety.
    | 
    | It's... interesting genetics.
    | 
    | https://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2011/sep.
    | ..
    | 
    | > How might the traumatic experiences of a pregnant woman be
    | transmitted to her unborn children? Research published over
    | the past 10 years or so suggests that this probably occurs by
    | epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetics is the study of heritable
    | changes in gene activity that are not due to changes in DNA
    | sequence. Epigenetics reveals how genes interact with
    | environmental factors, and has been implicated in many normal
    | and abnormal brain functions.
    | 
    | > A key study in this emerging field, published in 2004,
    | showed that the quality of a rat mother's care significantly
    | affects how its offspring behave in adulthood. Michael Meaney
    | of McGill University and his colleagues found that rat pups
    | that had been repeatedly groomed and licked by their mothers
    | during the first week of life were subsequently better at
    | coping with stressful and fearful situations than pups who
    | received little or no contact.
    | 
    | > They further showed that these effects are mediated by
    | epigenetic mechanisms that alter expression of the
    | glucocorticoid receptor, which plays a key role in the body's
    | response to stress. Analysis of the pups' brains at one week
    | old revealed differences in DNA methylation, a process by
    | which DNA is chemically modified. Methylation involves the
    | addition of small molecules called methyl groups, consisting
    | of one carbon and three hydrogen atoms, to specific sites in
    | the DNA sequence encoding a gene.
    | 
    | ---
    | 
    | Grandmaternal stress during pregnancy and DNA methylation of
    | the third generation: an epigenome-wide association study -
    | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5611722/
    | 
    | > Stress during pregnancy may impact subsequent generations,
    | which is demonstrated by an increased susceptibility to
    | childhood and adulthood health problems in the children and
    | grandchildren. Although the importance of the prenatal
    | environment is well reported with regards to future physical
    | and emotional outcomes, little is known about the molecular
    | mechanisms that mediate the long-term consequences of early
    | stress across generations. Recent studies have identified DNA
    | methylation as a possible mediator of the impact of prenatal
    | stress in the offspring. Whether psychosocial stress during
    | pregnancy also affects DNA methylation of the grandchildren
    | is still not known. In the present study we examined the
    | multigenerational hypothesis, that is, grandmaternal exposure
    | to psychosocial stress during pregnancy affecting DNA
    | methylation of the grandchildren. We determined the genome-
    | wide DNA methylation profile in 121 children (65 females and
    | 56 males) and tested for associations with exposure to
    | grandmaternal interpersonal violence during pregnancy. We
    | observed methylation variations of five CpG sites
    | significantly (FDR<0.05) associated with the grandmother's
    | report of exposure to violence while pregnant with the
    | mothers of the children. The results revealed differential
    | methylation of genes previously shown to be involved in
    | circulatory system processes (FDR<0.05). This study provides
    | support for DNA methylation as a biological mechanism
    | involved in the transmission of stress across generations and
    | motivates further investigations to examine prenatal-
    | dependent DNA methylation as a potential biomarker for health
    | problems.
    | 
    | ---
    | 
    | Intergenerational effects of maternal post-traumatic stress
    | disorder on offspring epigenetic patterns and cortisol levels
    | - https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2217/epi-2021-0015
    | 
    | > Aim: To investigate the association between maternal post-
    | traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during pregnancy and
    | offspring DNA methylation and cortisol levels. Materials &
    | methods: Blood genome-wide DNA methylation and cortisol was
    | measured in the youngest child of 117 women who experienced
    | sexual violence/torture during the Kosovo war. Results:
    | Seventy-two percent of women had PTSD symptoms during
    | pregnancy. Their children had higher cortisol levels and
    | differential methylation at candidate genes (NR3C1, HTR3A and
    | BNDF). No methylation differences reached epigenome-wide
    | corrected significance levels. Conclusion: Identifying the
    | biological processes whereby the negative effects of trauma
    | are passed across generations and defining groups at high
    | risk is a key step to breaking the intergenerational
    | transmission of the effects of mental disorders
    | 
    | ---
    | 
    | And specifically about Holocaust survivors - Study finds
    | epigenetic changes in children of Holocaust survivors
    | https://www.research.va.gov/currents/1016-3.cfm
    | 
    | > The researchers focused on FKBP5, a stress gene linked to
    | PTSD, depression, and mood and anxiety disorders. The results
    | suggest that Holocaust exposure had an effect on FKBP5
    | methylation--a mechanism that controls the gene's expression
    | --that was observed in parents exposed to the horrors of the
    | concentration camps, as well as their offspring, many of whom
    | showed signs of depression and anxiety.
    | 
    | > ...
    | 
    | > She says the researchers pursued this study because
    | offspring of Holocaust survivors "said to us in clinic, 'we
    | are casualties of the Holocaust and need treatment.'" Her
    | team tested blood samples of 32 Holocaust survivors and 22 of
    | their adult children for methylation of intron 7, an area in
    | the FKBP5 gene. For a control group, they analyzed Jewish
    | parents who lived outside of Europe during World War II--most
    | were U.S.- or Canadian-born--and their offspring.
    | 
    | > Interestingly, Holocaust survivors and their children
    | showed epigenetic changes at the same site of FKBP5 intron 7
    | but in the opposite direction. Survivors had a 10 percent
    | higher methylation than the control parents, while the
    | Holocaust children had a 7.7 percent lower methylation than
    | the control children.
 
      | eurasiantiger wrote:
      | If only there was a way to demethylate our DNA!
      | 
      | Of course, more relevant is to keep from methylating new
      | DNA, and there we can actually make choices that matter.
 
        | shagie wrote:
        | Editing DNA Methylation in the Mammalian Genome -
        | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27662091/
        | 
        | And from there, the related cites and papers.
        | 
        | This is something that is active research as other
        | diseases are also "turned on" by incorrect methylation.
        | DNA methylation in human diseases -
        | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6147084/
 
  | blamazon wrote:
  | I can relate to the description. I don't wish to take meds on a
  | regular basis, but I was prescribed a small dose of clonazepam
  | to take occasionally to help dispel the worst panic attacks. I
  | take perhaps 1-10 doses a month. Really helps for the I can't
  | sleep nights. I find that just having that option available to
  | me helps calm my baseline in general. Between this and therapy
  | I feel much less anxious overall.
 
  | more_corn wrote:
  | You sound like the perfect candidate for nightware. You should
  | check it out and report back. I'd like to believe the
  | marketing, but it sounds too good to be true.
 
  | irthomasthomas wrote:
  | Try sleeping on your side only, or try a snore alarm or
  | breathing aids like nasal strips or decongestant. I find my
  | nightmares and sleep paralysis are linked to snoring. When you
  | snore you are not getting enough oxygen and your heart rate
  | increases to compensate. Then for some weird reason your brain
  | invents dream scenarios to match your racing heart.
 
  | SXX wrote:
  | I'm not actual doctor and there can be better ways to threat
  | your problem, but here are two things that helped me greatly
  | with quality of sleep.
  | 
  | First of all buy yourself high-quality CO2 meter for ~$100 and
  | make sure that CO2 not going over 1000 PPM while you sleeping.
  | Every single time I sleep in closed room with bad ventilation
  | where CO2 getting over 1200-1500 PPM I will wake up in terror.
  | You can't imagine how many people I knew had terrible quality
  | of sleep due to bad ventilaton and never realise it.
  | 
  | Second thing if nothing else works. Try strictly-scientific
  | lucid dreaming practices: record as much of dreams is possible
  | in a diary for several months, do deep breathing before sleep,
  | etc. Looking at your hands every now and then is required and
  | slightly weird, but it totally worth it. Once you get lucid in
  | a dream once and preserve memory of it will become much easier
  | to deal with nightmares.
  | 
  | Lucid dreaming cost nothing even though some REM sleep tracker
  | like one in Apple Watch is useful. Though beware of bullshit.
 
  | phyzix5761 wrote:
  | Meditation definitely helps. A combination of Metta,
  | Anapanasati, and Vipassana mediation really helped me.
 
  | aantix wrote:
  | Have you ever had a hair tissue mineral analysis done?
 
  | cm2012 wrote:
  | My wife had horrible, hours long life-disrupting nightmares
  | every day. Prazosin, a medicine your doctor can prescribe,
  | solved them within a week, they are much less common and much
  | less intense now. Highly recommend to try.
 
    | eurasiantiger wrote:
    | Highly not recommended for men! Prazosin decreases
    | luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
    | and ultimately testosterone levels.
 
      | blacksmith_tb wrote:
      | Sleep deprivation also lowers testosterone levels[1], and
      | Prazosin is commonly prescribed to men with benign prostate
      | enlargement, so pick your battles?
      | 
      | 1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4445839/
 
  | anonymouswacker wrote:
  | Have you tried seeing a psychoanalyst, or otherwise delving
  | into the meaning of dreams/nightmares? "What you resist
  | persists."
 
| howmayiannoyyou wrote:
| Could be very helpful for those of us who suffer from Central
| Sleep Apneas if the data is there to support that use. Would be
| nice to have the watch wake me if I'm having a CSA episode.
 
| factsarelolz wrote:
| Great. Vets will lose their VA rating for PTSD and just have an
| app pushed on them. Fucking perfect.
 
  | yamazakiwi wrote:
  | What do you mean they will lose their VA rating?
 
| ohiovr wrote:
| People should talk about their nightmares to their peers more
| often. There are wise symbols in dreams. We must not make so many
| serious mistakes and we must confront evil.
 
  | tgv wrote:
  | There is no meaning in dreams. For many people, it (seems to)
  | repeat memories, and not in a consistent or logical manner. It
  | doesn't tell anything about the future, and doesn't include
  | wise lessons about the past. It's an almost random side effect
  | of the brain.
  | 
  | > We must not make so many serious mistakes and we must
  | confront evil.
  | 
  | True, but healthy sleep is needed to make sound judgement, and
  | I find this application pretty impressive.
 
    | hulitu wrote:
    | > There is no meaning in dreams. For many people, it (seems
    | to) repeat memories, and not in a consistent or logical
    | manner. It doesn't tell anything about the future, and
    | doesn't include wise lessons about the past. It's an almost
    | random side effect of the brain.
    | 
    | Joseph Smith and Jesus would like to have a word with you. /s
 
    | crazygringo wrote:
    | A large number of pyschologists would disagree with you.
    | 
    | You're right in that there's repetition, inconsistency, and
    | it certainly doesn't predict the future, and there's nothing
    | especially wise.
    | 
    | But if you regularly log your dream content, they do tend to
    | consistently indicate areas of anxiety and conflict that your
    | conscious self is often unaware of. Together with techniques
    | like free association, free journaling, and so on, they
    | provide important clues for therapists to uncover patterns of
    | what underlying source issues are that can then be addressed
    | therapeutically in order to bring about healing.
    | 
    | So to say there is "no" meaning in dreams is just as untrue
    | as to say they can tell the future.
 
    | ok_dad wrote:
    | > There is no meaning in dreams. For many people, it (seems
    | to) repeat memories, and not in a consistent or logical
    | manner. It doesn't tell anything about the future, and
    | doesn't include wise lessons about the past. It's an almost
    | random side effect of the brain.
    | 
    | We don't know what the heck dreams are for yet, or really
    | where they come from, and you are likely correct that they
    | are random signals that occur while your body cleans out your
    | brain at night, or something like that, but you still
    | shouldn't just state that as fact.
    | 
    | Something many people don't understand about drugs, religious
    | experiences, dream interpretation, or anything like that, is
    | that it doesn't matter if anything "real" or "magic" is
    | actually happening, it only matters that it perturbs your
    | mind-scape for a bit to make you look at your life and your
    | problems from a different direction, even if it turns out to
    | be a strange take or totally useless. Often, it helps you to
    | see opportunities or create new stories or ideas that are
    | somewhat useful. Mysticism isn't for everyone, but it is a
    | useful tool for some people.
 
      | SketchySeaBeast wrote:
      | If you find comfort in trying to make sense of chaos go
      | hard, but it seems like apophenia to me. The only dreams I
      | could consistently remember growing up were when I was
      | being chased by Velociraptors or a T-Rex. I got 99
      | problems, but a T-Rex ain't one.
 
      | dghlsakjg wrote:
      | This is the same as placebo effect. It is still an effect!
      | 
      | If taking a sugar pill improves the actual condition, then
      | take the sugar pill.
 
      | simion314 wrote:
      | For me the bad nightmares involve someone I love get killed
      | by something(electricity, bad people, dawning). This are
      | rare and there is no new perspective to look at things.
      | From my experience I think this nightmares have an actual
      | physical effect like releasing bad hormones in my blood
      | because I feel horible the entire day. So I do not need
      | dream book to tell me that yeah, i fear and would hate
      | losing someone I love. The dreams where I am in danger are
      | not even 1% as distrubing, it is like getting chased or
      | killed in a video game.
 
| jurschreuder wrote:
| Terrible how people are used like this by those in power.
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | camdenlock wrote:
  | Yeah, it couldn't be possible that a person is capable of
  | making and owning decisions for their own life...
 
| elil17 wrote:
| Seems like it would be possible (perhaps even easy depending on
| how complex their algorithm is) to make an free or open source
| version of this a give it away. It's essentially a zero risk
| intervention so I imagine it would be possible to test it on
| oneself if one had these nightmares.
 
  | Someone1234 wrote:
  | Nightware would likely come after you for patent
  | infringement[0][1]. In 18-years, if this is effective,
  | hopefully it becomes a common feature, and won't even require a
  | doctor's prescription.
  | 
  | [0] https://patents.justia.com/patent/10765831
  | 
  | [1] https://patents.justia.com/assignee/nightware-inc
 
    | elil17 wrote:
    | I think it would be trivial to replace evade their patents.
    | They've phrased all of their claims around using averages
    | (over time windows) of different sensor values.
    | 
    | I can describe the following inventions which would not
    | infringe upon "Traumatic nightmare detection and
    | intervention" (Patent 10765831).
    | 
    | . A method of detecting and intervening in traumatic
    | nightmares, the method comprising:
    | monitoring a user by collecting data from at least one of an
    | accelerometer, a gyroscope, or a heartrate sensor of at least
    | one device worn by the user;              determining the sum
    | of the data values for each of the at least one of the
    | accelerometer, gyroscope, or heartrate sensor over a first
    | period of time and detecting traumatic nightmares or
    | precursors thereof based on a combination of the summed
    | values; and              causing an intervention based upon
    | detection of a traumatic nightmare or precursor thereof;
    | wherein detecting traumatic nightmares or precursors thereof
    | based on a combination of the summed values comprises summing
    | combinations of the summed values over a second period of
    | time greater than the first period of time; and
    | wherein summed values for each of the at least one of the
    | accelerometer, gyroscope, or heartrate sensor are determined
    | over a plurality of first periods of time, and the summed
    | values corresponding to the plurality of first periods of
    | time are summed over the second period of time.
    | 
    | A sum cannot be considered an average because it is not
    | representative of the numbers in a list - it is in fact far
    | greater than any number in the list.
    | 
    | Yet, for time windows containing a constant number of values,
    | this should work just as well as the Nightware algorithm.
    | There are plenty of other work-arounds for those patents.
 
      | xavxav wrote:
      | I don't a judge will care much about your argument that a
      | sum is different from an average for patent infringement
      | considerations.
 
      | burkaman wrote:
      | Easy to avoid the letter of the patent, but not easy to
      | avoid getting sued anyway and having to defend yourself.
 
    | vore wrote:
    | Presumably though if you built a version in Europe they
    | wouldn't have jurisdiction or grounds to sue?
 
| jacooper wrote:
| I hope they gibe this to the person the US army electrified in
| Iraq.
 
| renewiltord wrote:
| > _NightWare is a digital therapeutic system that works in
| conjunction with Apple Watch and iPhone to disrupt nightmares
| related to post-traumatic stress disorder.1 Available by
| prescription only, it's also the first and only digital
| therapeutic developed specifically to treat nightmares that is
| cleared by the FDA.2 NightWare uses information from the Apple
| Watch heart rate sensor, accelerometer, and gyroscope to detect a
| nightmare and then disrupt it through haptic feedback, generating
| gentle pulses on the wrist that gradually increase until the user
| is roused from the nightmare, but not from sleep._
| 
| This needs to be protected by prescription so that people don't
| have vibrating wrists? WTF
 
  | blobbers wrote:
  | My guess is they want to charge an outrageous amount of money
  | for the app, and having it 'prescribed' is part of that.
  | They'll charge insurance companies.
 
  | TecoAndJix wrote:
  | From their FAQ [1]:
  | 
  | If I have an Apple Watch(r) and iPhone(r), can I bring them to
  | my doctor to download NightWare apps?
  | 
  | No. NightWare is not an app. When your doctor writes a
  | prescription for NightWare, you will receive an all-inclusive
  | kit including everything you need to receive the digital
  | therapy, including a preprogrammed Apple Watch(r) and
  | preprogrammed iPhone.(r)
  | 
  | I'm going to take a wild guess and say the markup charged to
  | insurance companies for these devices are probably insane
  | 
  | [1] https://nightware.com/patient-faq/ edit: added link
 
    | gwill wrote:
    | if it isn't an app, then is apple giving them OS level
    | permissions or is this a fork of iOS? then would this be
    | getting slower update releases than iOS?
    | 
    | i don't see why they couldn't just do this with an app aside
    | from trying to make more money selling devices w it already
    | installed.
    | 
    | side note: using the term "virbotactile" gives me snake oil
    | salesman vibes(no pun intended).
 
      | yamtaddle wrote:
      | > if it isn't an app, then is apple giving them OS level
      | permissions or is this a fork of iOS?
      | 
      | Gonna guess it's corporate distribution certs (whatever
      | they're called, I haven't had to mess with that in years--
      | the ones that let you sign & distribute apps outside the
      | app store, mostly intended for letting companies distribute
      | internal apps that wouldn't be suitable for general use on
      | the app store) and you're technically leasing the device.
      | Or something along those lines, maybe Apple has a special
      | program that's very similar for medical device use. Not a
      | custom build of the OS, nor special permissions.
 
      | callahad wrote:
      | The footer specifically says this is provided as "a
      | dedicated closed-system specially provisioned Apple Watch
      | and iPhone. In this configuration, iPhone and Apple Watch
      | functionality is limited to running the NightWare app."
 
    | flotzam wrote:
    | I wonder if it's possible to extract the totally-not-an-app
 
| areoform wrote:
| > Available by prescription only, it's also the first and only
| digital therapeutic developed specifically to treat nightmares
| that is cleared by the FDA
| 
| Why is this prescription only? I am surprised to see that
| something as unobtrusive and harmless like this should be locked
| behind a prescription.
| 
| As they're making specific health claims, these claims should be
| investigated and demonstrated with evidence, but I fail to see
| why something this important and good would be locked behind a
| doctor's visit.
 
  | joelthelion wrote:
  | Sounds like it would be reasonably easy for someone else to
  | reimplement? Are those sensors available to third-party app
  | developers?
 
  | throw33away wrote:
  | Simply because an Health Plan is willing to pay 10x - 100x more
  | than a consumer is willing to pay.
 
  | Someone1234 wrote:
  | If it is prescription they can charge medicare and or the VA,
  | if it was just a gadget or licensable piece of technology the
  | profit margins are likely lower.
  | 
  | PS - Not justifying, just explaining the business model.
 
    | blowski wrote:
    | Exactly. If you can pay $10 for a subscription, they can't
    | charge $500 to a healthcare provider.
 
      | brookst wrote:
      | Absolutely true, but it also means the ability to pay per-
      | user liability insurance rates that a $10 subscription
      | would not cover. Being a medical product is not all upside.
 
| boredemployee wrote:
| for those with PTSD, I tried EMDR therapy and it worked out great
| for me. Expensive but great.
 
| FollowingTheDao wrote:
| I cannot wait to get my hands on this study to rip it apart:
| 
| 65 patients and NO statistically significant changes???? Both the
| sham and treated group did better???? But a "post-hoc" analysis
| said it works great!!!!
| 
| What a scam.
| 
| https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/epdf/10.5664/jcsm.10338
| 
| Results: Both groups demonstrated statistically significant
| within-person improvement on all measures. While the Active
| system was generally associated with stronger magnitude of
| improvement, none of the comparisons of individual measures
| across conditions reached statistical significance. However, a
| post hoc analysis excluding participants with low frequency usage
| demonstrated significantly better improvement in perceived sleep
| quality with the Active device than Sham.
| 
| More:
| 
| https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-perm...
| 
| Throughout the night, Apple Watch sensors monitor body movement
| and heart rate during sleep. These data are sent to the Nightware
| server and, using a proprietary algorithm, the device creates a
| unique sleep profile for the patient. When Nightware detects that
| a patient is experiencing a nightmare based on its analysis of
| heart rate and body movement, the device provides vibrations
| through the Apple Watch while the product is in use.
| 
| This device was studied in a 30-day randomized, sham-controlled
| trial of 70 patients. A sham therapy is an inactive treatment or
| procedure that is intended to mimic as closely as possible a
| therapy in a clinical trial. Patients in the sham group wore the
| device, but no vibratory stimulation was provided. Safety was
| assessed using validated measurements of suicidality and
| sleepiness, and there were no changes in either over the course
| of the study in either group. Sleep was assessed with two
| versions of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scale, the self-
| rated questionnaire for assessing sleep quality, including a
| version of that scale that is intended for patients with PTSD.
| Both the sham and active groups showed improvement on the sleep
| scales, with the active group showing greater improvement than
| sham. The evidence demonstrated the probable benefits outweighed
| the probable risks.
 
| anthk wrote:
| Tetris, too.
 
| nonrandomstring wrote:
| The nightmares are part of a (slow and painful) processing of
| PTSD events. Suppressing them may not be helpful and actually
| just kick the can down the road. The benefits of an interrupting
| device would only make sense in an extended longitudinal study
| crossed against a group who fully grieved, undertook guided
| introspection, had their stories heard, and received intimate
| talk-therapy or similar psychological support.
 
  | crazygringo wrote:
  | I'm unaware of any evidence for that. To the contrary, people
  | with PTSD can suffer chronic nightmares for the rest of their
  | lives and show no improvement at all.
  | 
  | Recovering from PTSD involves a lot of therapy of the kind
  | you're suggesting. But the idea that diminishing the
  | strength/duration of nightmares would somehow interfere either
  | with that therapeutic process or the self's own healing
  | processes seems entirely unsupported.
  | 
  | Obviously a device like this should be used _in conjunction
  | with_ healing therapy. But healing therapy can take a long
  | time, and continuing to suffer nightmares during that process
  | seems counterproductive.
 
    | nonrandomstring wrote:
    | The content of nightmares is the reporting that feeds into
    | the processes of reflection and therapeutic correction. No
    | dreams, no clue as to what specifically lies at the core of
    | an unresolved traumatic experience. Unpleasant as they are,
    | they are also useful indicative tools toward recovery.
 
      | crazygringo wrote:
      | First, it's one stream of reporting among many. Free
      | journaling, free association, recounting, there are so many
      | tools therapists use.
      | 
      | And second, you don't need 1,000 nightmares to gather that
      | reporting. Ten or twenty will be sufficient.
      | 
      | But the idea that nightmares need to be kept _ongoing_ has
      | absolutely no basis.
 
        | nonrandomstring wrote:
        | > you don't need 1,000 nightmares to gather that
        | reporting. Ten or twenty will be sufficient.
        | 
        | Glad we've established the principles and now we're just
        | arguing over the details :)
 
        | crazygringo wrote:
        | Well we're not. :)
        | 
        | Your point was that nightmares need to continue in order
        | to heal.
        | 
        | My point is that they don't. There is zero benefit to
        | that, only harm. The 10-20 nightmares I'm referring to
        | can be referenced from the past. They're not about
        | benefit from future ones.
        | 
        | And also you don't need the nightmares at all, because
        | there are plenty of other sources of material.
        | 
        | You're already misrepresenting the utility of nightmares
        | in therapy. Please don't misrepresent me as agreeing with
        | you as well.
 
        | nonrandomstring wrote:
        | Sorry I thought we had a glimmer of common ground there.
        | You seem so very sure of yourself. It doesn't hurt me for
        | you to continue with your beliefs if the only issue is
        | that we disagree. It's just the end of a promising
        | conversation.
 
        | heavenlyblue wrote:
        | I have grown up reading books by people of the opinion
        | you hold, making strong, very easy to believe claims
        | about human mind. None if that is true. All people I know
        | who followed these teachings never really struggled in
        | life but they have a heck of a ton to say about how
        | others should live their life.
        | 
        | Honestly I only think that those who hold opinions like
        | yours (without any factual support) are a cancer, but
        | besides the point: Can you please provide any peer
        | reviewed research to support your opinion?
 
      | brookst wrote:
      | Do you have any evidence for this viewpoint? Absent some
      | credible evidence, I'm going to file this in the same
      | bucket as "God just wants people to suffer, so if you are
      | suffering and try to improve your situation, you are
      | violating God's will and will burn in hell for eternity."
      | 
      | I'll admit I've only looked at PTSD a little bit, but I
      | haven't seen anything indicating that the severity declines
      | with more nightmares. Have you?
 
  | endisneigh wrote:
  | Is there any proof of this? This is also a strange comment as
  | the article says they're doing trials to prove efficacy.
  | 
  | > Currently, NightWare is prescribed to 400 patients in the US,
  | 98 percent of whom are active-duty military or veterans. A new
  | study in the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
  | shows that participants who used NightWare at least 50 percent
  | of the time had significantly better self-reported sleep
  | quality compared to participants not using NightWare. "The
  | results of our first published clinical trial demonstrate
  | NightWare's efficacy, and Apple technology is a critical part
  | of that," says Hannah, NightWare's CEO. "NightWare benefits
  | from so many of the singular features of the Apple ecosystem --
  | the hardware and design of Apple Watch, the quality control
  | standards, the ease of software integration and deployment --
  | it all comes together to create a system that is changing
  | lives."
 
    | akira2501 wrote:
    | In particular I find things based on "self-reported" results
    | to be highly suspect, particularly when the comparison is
    | between a relatively expensive technological therapy and
    | simply doing nothing.
    | 
    | There's no blinding and no placebo control and no comparison
    | of measurable results over a long period of study.
 
    | nonrandomstring wrote:
    | Proof of what?
 
      | smallnix wrote:
      | That "nightmares are part of a (slow and painful)
      | processing of PTSD events".
 
      | endisneigh wrote:
      | > The nightmares are part of a (slow and painful)
      | processing of PTSD events. Suppressing them may not be
      | helpful and actually just kick the can down the road.
 
        | nonrandomstring wrote:
        | Why do you think people have nightmares?
 
        | nonrandomstring wrote:
 
        | endisneigh wrote:
        | I'm not a psychologist. I'm sure it differs per person
        | depending on many variables.
 
        | nonrandomstring wrote:
        | Yes it's very much an individual experience with many
        | functions and variables. Here's some (see summary [1]);
        | 
        | Functional threat modelling for templating past events
        | onto avoiding future harms, Valli,Revonsuo et al (Centre
        | for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku)
        | 
        | "The threat simulation theory of dreaming (TST) () states
        | that dream consciousness is essentially an ancient
        | biological defence mechanism, evolutionarily selected for
        | its capacity to repeatedly simulate threatening events."
        | 
        | Integration and consolidation of past events. Physiology
        | and psychology of dreams, Alan S Eiser (Department of
        | Neurology, University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Center
        | Ann Arbor)                  "... direct and systematic
        | investigation could be made of such        topics as the
        | occurrence, qualities, recollection, and childhood
        | development of dreaming...neurobiological research,
        | including        lesion and brain imaging studies, have
        | established a clearer view        of the functional
        | neuroanatomy of REM sleep and dreaming."
        | 
        | Processing difficult, complicated, unsettling thoughts.
        | Affect integration in dreams and dreaming, Gary Grenell
        | (Faculty, Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute,
        | USA)                 "The processes by which dreaming
        | aids in the ongoing integration of        affects into
        | the mind are approached here from complementary
        | psychoanalytic and nonpsychoanalytic perspectives.  One
        | relevant        notion is that the dream provides a
        | psychological space wherein        overwhelming,
        | contradictory, or highly complex affects that under
        | waking conditions are subject to dissociation, splitting,
        | or        disavowal may be brought together for
        | observation by the dreaming        ego."
        | 
        | [1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sleep-
        | newzzz/201502/...
 
        | threatofrain wrote:
        | Does it matter? The question is looking for empiricism on
        | dreams and whether mediating nightmares causes more harm
        | down the line.
 
        | more_corn wrote:
        | It sounds like you have decided why people have
        | nightmares. I'm curious if you have any evidence to
        | support your conclusion or if you just made it up.
 
        | MikeTheGreat wrote:
        | Hi Eliza!
 
        | nonrandomstring wrote:
        | Tell me more about Eliza.
 
    | jorgesborges wrote:
    | I think the deeper point being made here is that while
    | stopping nightmares does effectively stop nightmares, it
    | might not address the trauma producing them -- and by
    | suppressing the nightmare you suppress a potential avenue of
    | healing.
    | 
    | I understand these treatments are necessary and let people
    | live when life might otherwise be intolerable. But there's
    | definitely a wider discussion to be had addressing the extent
    | to which our mental health apparatus is designed to suppress
    | symptoms rather than to become healthier.
 
      | endisneigh wrote:
      | Is it really a deeper point that treating symptoms isn't
      | the same as a cure?
 
      | nonrandomstring wrote:
      | Exactly. Though it's sad, to my mind, that this is dubbed
      | "the deeper point".
      | 
      | Is it not extraordinarily obvious that treating the
      | symptoms instead of the cause is bad medicine.
      | 
      | If there is a "deeper" point it is to question why shallow,
      | expedient, temporary symptomatic treatment is valued above
      | long-term root-cause change. I guess that's a question of
      | our age.
 
        | lotsofpulp wrote:
        | > Is it not extraordinarily obvious that treating the
        | symptoms instead of the cause is bad medicine.
        | 
        | What if there is no known way to treat the cause?
 
        | FollowingTheDao wrote:
        | There is a treatment, but they don't want to use it yet.
        | It is all about Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase and
        | Glutamate.
        | 
        | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-022-0621
        | 2-7
        | 
        | In fact, this may treat most neurological disorders.
        | Increasing nNOS as a treatment has been overlooked for
        | the last two decades.
        | 
        | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2413191/
        | 
        | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01
        | 664...
        | 
        | This is how I cured my Schizoaffective Bipolar Disorder: 
        | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gbb.1219
        | 3
 
  | more_corn wrote:
  | PTSD re-processing of events is probably more traumatic than
  | therapeutic. Most trauma treatment is focused on breaking the
  | cycle of repetition in order to move pst the traumatic events.
 
    | nonrandomstring wrote:
    | Correct. Reprocessing is almost always re-traumatising. That
    | is the nature of therapy. It gets worse before it gets
    | better. Breaking the cycle requires causal insight. Breaking
    | the cycle is not the same as suppressing it. One does not
    | move _past_ unprocessed trauma, one moves _through_ it.
 
      | dougmwne wrote:
      | Let me offer a different mental model. Instead of a queue
      | that needs to be processed to reach a productive
      | conclusion, what if we view PTSD like more of a stuck
      | process that just sits there taking up a core's resources
      | without doing anything valuable?
 
        | nonrandomstring wrote:
        | Thats a very interesting analogy that moves the
        | discussion beyond "Gods will", "cancerous opinions" and
        | endless bleating for "proof" that occupies some other
        | outbursts.
        | 
        | I think stuckness is a good metaphor. And yes I see where
        | you are going with that - persistent nightmares are
        | taxing, waking up feeling physically drained etc. There
        | seems a strong case for instrumental suppression, much as
        | anti-depressants can help set the necessary conditions
        | for long-term therapy.
        | 
        | But I'd take the metaphor further and suggest the
        | nightmares are processes that are signalling, but those
        | signals are not acted upon. We sometimes need help in
        | interpreting and verbalising those signals so that we can
        | hear them ourselves. My objection would be to blocking
        | those signals as a first recourse (and allowing that to
        | become a normalised response to intrusive reliving as
        | other self-medication is so often with veterans I've had
        | contact with).
 
| my_city wrote:
| Lets try to fix the horrors of capitalism and imperialism with
| techno-futurism, new toys and more consumption!
| 
| I sure love living in a capitalist dystopia, fueled and sustained
| with the blood and sweat of millions of poor people in the Third
| World that I actively participated to invade and bomb. Please
| sell me new toys to alienate myself, thank you Lord Apple.
 
| jl2718 wrote:
| There was a period of time during the COVID lockdown when I had
| dreams/nightmares about my time in or with the military every
| night: basic training, deployment, etc. I wish I still had them;
| my dreams of normal life today are probably too boring and
| insignificant to remember. Surely there are a lot who suffer from
| PTSD. I'm not sure, but maybe the same ones that took it over the
| top down range, or even in training. We were getting shelled on
| base one night when I was working late by the flight line, and
| took my time getting into the bunker. Was met with a rifle in my
| face, screaming, hyperventilating, single-chevron. Yeah, that
| dude. The 1SGT's experience in the article, that's pretty extreme
| too. For a lot of us though, it was the most significant thing
| we've ever done in the world, whether we agree morally with it or
| not, and the dreadful reality is that we'll never be there again,
| and even if we are, it won't be the same because we are not the
| same, now with forced introspection and greater context, no
| longer passive observers of ourselves in a third-party role. The
| movies are great when they visit me. I admit that I don't have
| nearly as much action or horror in the collection as some, but
| there is also comedy, drama, coming-of-age, etc.
| 
| Probably irrelevant/offensive/etc, but, whatever.
| 
| Oh yeah, one more stupid thing about dreams. In my last
| deployment, I left Stanford and a startup because I wanted to
| reclaim that feeling of being a warrior, and got assigned to
| special forces. One of my first nights on the SF base, I had one
| of my most vivid dreams ever, a childhood friend of mine whom I
| knew was no good but believed in him anyway, beat a pet cow to
| death right in front of me, screaming and begging and pleading
| for him to stop. This bothered me throughout the deployment. I
| could rationally accept that it was just random neurons firing,
| but something told me that I had to make sense of it in terms of
| why I was there and what I was supposed to get out of it. Maybe
| these things are supposed to torture us. This is the chaos monkey
| of our conscience and normal pattern of expectation and response,
| pointing out the weaknesses.
 
  | yonaguska wrote:
  | I used to have very vivid nightmares similar to the one you had
  | of your childhood friend. Extremely violent, extremely vivid
  | stuff, especially common when I was a child/teenager. I didn't
  | have an easy life, but nothing really violently traumatic ,
  | just the usual fights with my brothers, and the YMCA pickup
  | basketball fights.
  | 
  | I'm just glad I'm not the only one. The violent nightmares
  | actually started to resurface in my early 20s, when I was
  | actively training Muay Thai, but I was also binge drinking- I
  | cut both of those activities- Muay Thai due to headaches,
  | drinking alcohol, just because I stopped enjoying it. I suspect
  | that there's some aspect of physical head trauma that puts our
  | brain into a subconscious fight or flight mode when we dream.
 
| BiasRegularizer wrote:
| Apple Watch has so many health features, but the main hinderance
| for me is its relatively short battery life - I often forget to
| put it back on after charging it.
| 
| Has anyone tried having two apple watches so one can be worn
| while the other charges?
| 
| [edit] Charging it at night is kind of missing the point, as I
| would like to track both my daily activities and my sleep
 
  | nanidin wrote:
  | I get a notification on my phone when my watch is fully
  | charged. This is my reminder to put the watch back on.
 
  | blobbers wrote:
  | It now reminds you to charge before bed. My watch tells me
  | about 8pm.
  | 
  | Once you get in the habit of charging it then and always
  | sleeping with it, easy to form a habit.
 
  | jquery wrote:
  | I just got the Apple Watch 8, it's my first Apple Watch. The
  | battery life is excellent. Lasts for 3 days from a full charge.
  | Throwing it on the charger for a few minutes every day while I
  | wash dishes is enough to keep it charged indefinitely.
 
  | alliao wrote:
  | charge during shower gets me through whole day no issues... and
  | random charging when i'm sitting down working when i noticed it
  | went too low ( < 20% )
 
  | thewataccount wrote:
  | > Has anyone tried having two apple watches so one can be worn
  | while the other charges?
  | 
  | It's terrible that it's come to this IMO. The Apple watch has
  | some great features and can't directly compare, but I can't
  | help compare it to Pebble watches almost 10 years ago - weeks
  | worth of battery life. Even when it "died" it would work for
  | days longer as a watch.
  | 
  | I know the Apple watch has different features, constant heart
  | rate and accelerometer monitoring, etc - but how are we
  | supposed to use it for sleep monitoring (my usecase) if we need
  | to charge it at night anyway? I find it's really, really good
  | at it and I want to use it so badly.
  | 
  | Surely this is a stupidly huge flaw if the battery life is so
  | low that people are considering a second watch just for
  | monitoring the second half of their day (sleeping)?
  | 
  | (I still own an apple watch, and I know there's still a large
  | community supporting them but I wish they were still
  | manufactured)
 
    | alwillis wrote:
    | The first thing I did was turn-off the always on display,
    | which save a lot of energy.
    | 
    | I also turned off the background processing of most apps,
    | which saves battery. Same thing with location if the app
    | doesn't require it to function properly.
 
    | jquery wrote:
    | This may be true for older Apple Watches, but it's not true
    | for the latest Apple Watch. I get 3 days of battery life on
    | regular usage, and a full charge only takes about an hour.
    | Throwing it on the charger while I take a shower or wash
    | dishes is enough to keep it topped off.
 
      | thedanbob wrote:
      | Even older ones are decent. I have a 4 and it's probably
      | got about 2 days of battery life. I put it on the charger
      | for an hour every morning as part of my routine.
 
      | thewataccount wrote:
      | Admittedly mine is a bit older and I haven't kept _super_
      | up to date with people's experiences.
      | 
      | Which model do you have? I'm pretty sure the real expensive
      | one (ultra?) has pretty good battery life, I'm not sure
      | about the others
 
        | nebula8804 wrote:
        | Here is an article that compares charging times on the
        | newest vs somewhat old apple watches:
        | https://www.androidauthority.com/how-long-does-apple-
        | watch-t...
        | 
        | Also Apple introduced a "Low Power Mode" on WatchOS 9
        | that allows you to potentially get 60 hrs on the Apple
        | watch ultra. This link discussed what is disabled in this
        | mode. Seems like it would work for your use case or at
        | the very least you run low power mode during the day and
        | turn it off at night for better sleep monitoring:
        | https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/enable-low-power-mode-
        | apple...
 
  | singingboyo wrote:
  | I usually charge my watch while sleeping and grab it in the
  | morning along with my phone, but I'd assume a second watch
  | would work? It's an expensive route with the watch, but it's a
  | solution in many other spaces. My wireless headset, for
  | example, has a replaceable, rechargeable battery.
  | 
  | For best results, you'd want to use a single charger, and to
  | always put the alternate on immediately.
  | 
  | That said, the watch can notify when charged, which might be a
  | better first step. The settings for that live in the sleep
  | settings, of all places, but might be worth a shot?
 
  | a2tech wrote:
  | My friends with the newer watches/chargers say that they throw
  | it on the charger when they get up to hit the shower in the
  | morning and its mostly charged by the time they're ready to
  | head out to work.
 
  | brian_herman wrote:
  | I've done that have two apple watches I used to have a series 7
  | and a se charge. But I've gotten an Ultra and I only have to
  | charge it for a couple minutes to get a whole night worth of
  | tracking.
 
| igammarays wrote:
| An example of capitalism gone wrong when you have to get a
| prescription and health insurance just to download a vibrator
| app.
 
  | parker_mountain wrote:
  | It's way more complicated than "just downloading an app".
  | Considering it's a medical treatment, they currently ship it as
  | an appliance (for various reasons).
  | 
  | You are not getting a prescription for an app, you are getting
  | an MDM'd device that ONLY runs the Nightmare application.
  | 
  | You would know this if you read the article.
 
    | olig15 wrote:
    | Which implies that this thing either has custom hardware for
    | the watch, or it's an app that anyone could install in theory
    | if they had access. I doubt it's the former.
    | 
    | On the face of it this sounds like a way to extract more
    | insurance money.
 
| carabiner wrote:
| I thought I had daymares, but it turned out waking life is a
| nightmare that never ends until I choose.
 
  | theCrowing wrote:
  | If you or someone you know if suicidal, call one of the numbers
  | below. If someone is in IMMEDIATE danger, please call your
  | local emergency number (e.g. 911 in the US).
  | 
  | United States: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: 988
  | 
  | Algeria: Emergency: 34342 and 43 Suicide Hotline: 0021 3983
  | 2000 58
  | 
  | Angola: Emergency: 113
  | 
  | Argentina: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: 135
  | 
  | Armenia: Emergency: 911 and 112 Suicide Hotline: (2) 538194
  | 
  | Australia: Emergency: 000 Suicide Hotline: 131114
  | 
  | Austria: Emergency: 112 Telefonseelsorge 24/7 : 142 Rat auf
  | Draht 24/7 : 147 (Youth)
  | 
  | Bahamas: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: (2) 322-2763
  | 
  | Bahrain: Emergency: 999
  | 
  | Bangladesh: Emergency: 999
  | 
  | Barbados: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: Samaritan Barbados
  | (246) 4299999
  | 
  | Belgium: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: Stichting
  | Zelfmoordlijn 1813
  | 
  | Bolivia: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: 3911270
  | 
  | Bosnia & Herzegovina: Suicide Hotline: 080 05 03 05
  | 
  | Botswana: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: +2673911270
  | 
  | Brazil: Emergency: 188
  | 
  | Bulgaria: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 0035 9249 17 223
  | 
  | Burkina Faso: Emergency: 17
  | 
  | Canada: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: 1 (833) 456 4566
  | 
  | Chad: Emergency: 2251-1237
  | 
  | China: Emergency: 110 Suicide Hotline: 800-810-1117
  | 
  | Colombia: 24/7 Helpline in Barranquilla: 1(00 57 5) 372 27 27
  | 24/7 Hotline Bogota: (57-1) 323 24 25
  | 
  | Congo: Emergency: 117
  | 
  | Croatia: Emergency: 112
  | 
  | Cyprus: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 8000 7773
  | 
  | Czech Republic: Emergency: 112
  | 
  | Denmark: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 4570201201
  | 
  | Egypt: Emergency: 122 Suicide Hotline: 131114
  | 
  | El Salvador: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: 126
  | 
  | Equatorial Guinea: Emergency: 114
  | 
  | Estonia: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 3726558088 ; in
  | Russian 3726555688
  | 
  | Ethiopia: Emergency: 911
  | 
  | Finland: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 010 195 202
  | 
  | France: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 0145394000
  | 
  | Germany: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 08001810771
  | 
  | Ghana: Emergency: 999 Suicide Hotline: 2332 444 71279
  | 
  | Greece: Emergency: 1018
  | 
  | Guinea: Emergency: 117
  | 
  | Guinea Bissau: Emergency: 117
  | 
  | Guyana: Emergency: 999 Suicide Hotline: 223-0001
  | 
  | Holland: Suicide Hotline: 09000767
  | 
  | Hong Kong: Emergency: 999 Suicide Hotline: 852 2382 0000
  | 
  | Hungary: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 116123
  | 
  | India: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 8888817666
  | 
  | Indonesia: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
  | 
  | Iran: Emergency: 110 Suicide Hotline: 1480
  | 
  | Ireland: Emergency: 116123 Suicide Hotline: +4408457909090
  | 
  | Israel: Emergency: 100 Suicide Hotline: 1201
  | 
  | Italy: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 800860022
  | 
  | Jamaica: Suicide Hotline: 1-888-429-KARE (5273)
  | 
  | Japan: Emergency: 110 Suicide Hotline: 810352869090
  | 
  | Jordan: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: 110
  | 
  | Kenya: Emergency: 999 Suicide Hotline: 722178177
  | 
  | Kuwait: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 94069304
  | 
  | Latvia: Emergency: 113 Suicide Hotline: 371 67222922
  | 
  | Lebanon: Suicide Hotline: 1564
  | 
  | Liberia: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: 6534308
  | 
  | Luxembourg: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 352 45 45 45
  | 
  | Madagascar : Emergency: 117
  | 
  | Malaysia: Emergency: 999 Suicide Hotline: (06) 2842500
  | 
  | Mali: Emergency: 8000-1115
  | 
  | Malta: Suicide Hotline: 179
  | 
  | Mauritius: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: +230 800 93 93
  | 
  | Mexico: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: 5255102550
  | 
  | Netherlands: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 900 0113 New
  | Zealand: Emergency: 111 Suicide Hotline: 1737
  | 
  | Niger: Emergency: 112
  | 
  | Nigeria: Suicide Hotline: 234 8092106493
  | 
  | Norway: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: +4781533300
  | 
  | Pakistan: Emergency: 115
  | 
  | Philippines: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: 028969191
  | 
  | Poland: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 5270000
  | 
  | Portugal: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 21 854 07 40 and 8 96
  | 898 21 50
  | 
  | Qatar: Emergency: 999
  | 
  | Romania: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 0800 801200
  | 
  | Russia: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 0078202577577
  | 
  | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Suicide Hotline: 9784 456
  | 1044
  | 
  | Saudi Arabia: Emergency: 112 Serbia: Suicide Hotline: (+381)
  | 21-6623-393
  | 
  | Senegal: Emergency: 17
  | 
  | Singapore: Emergency: 999 Suicide Hotline: 1 800 2214444
  | 
  | Spain: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 914590050
  | 
  | South Africa: Emergency: 10111 Suicide Hotline: 0514445691
  | South Korea: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: (02) 7158600 Sri
  | Lanka: Suicide Hotline: 011 057 2222662
  | 
  | Sudan: Suicide Hotline: (249) 11-555-253 Sweden: Emergency: 112
  | Suicide Hotline: 46317112400
  | 
  | Switzerland: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 143
  | 
  | Tanzania: Emergency: 112
  | 
  | Thailand: Suicide Hotline: (02) 713-6793
  | 
  | Tonga: Suicide Hotline: 23000
  | 
  | Trinidad and Tobago: Suicide Hotline: (868) 645 2800
  | 
  | Tunisia: Emergency: 197
  | 
  | Turkey: Emergency: 112
  | 
  | Uganda: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 0800 21 21 21
  | 
  | United Arab Emirates: Suicide Hotline: 800 46342
  | 
  | United Kingdom: Emergency: 112 Suicide Hotline: 0800 689 5652
  | 
  | United States: Emergency: 911 Suicide Hotline: 988 Zambia:
  | Emergency: 999 Suicide Hotline: +260960264040
  | 
  | Zimbabwe: Emergency: 999 Suicide Hotline: 080 12 333 333
 
    | carabiner wrote:
    | Please don't. Posting the suicide hotline does not make you a
    | hero. Also your list is missing numerous countries, including
    | Afghanistan, Malawi, Ukraine. Some countries like South Korea
    | are confusingly listed on the same line. Very poor UX, this
    | list.
 
      | theCrowing wrote:
      | Nothing less expected.
 
| [deleted]
 
| eql5 wrote:
| My personal favorite: healing music!! Here a link to the most
| harmonic/healing music you could ever find on this planet:
| 
| https://iasos.bandcamp.com/
 
  | alliao wrote:
  | bit of jacob collier does it for me as well..
 
| hulitu wrote:
| > Veterans find relief from nightmares with NightWare and Apple
| Watch
| 
| ... nightmares caused by the price of Apple hardware. /s
 
| smilebot wrote:
| Would be incredible if they integrated with 8sleep.
 
| breezedream wrote:
| Curious why it seems restricted to veterans, considering
| nightmares (and night terrors) affect many with PTSD across
| causal groups. Maybe it's a regulatory thing right now.
 
  | not-my-account wrote:
  | Yea - could someone shed some light on this? What would the FDA
  | have to do with an app like this? What risk to the public could
  | an app like this pose?                   "We had to get an
  | independent security audit and submit it for FDA clearance"
  | 
  | Security audit is probably a good thing. Maybe they need FDA
  | clearance for doctors to prescribe the usage of an app? That
  | just seems ridiculous to me, but also right up the FDA's alley.
 
    | tgv wrote:
    | What if it would have worsened it? Or had unwanted side
    | effects? That you call it an "app" doesn't mean it cannot
    | affect your health, to state the obvious. And that's
    | regulated territory, and with good reason.
 
    | eropple wrote:
    | Why is it ridiculous for a medical device to be reviewed by
    | the governmental agency whose remit includes reviewing
    | medical devices?
 
      | pc86 wrote:
      | Because it's not a medical device, it's a vibrating watch.
 
        | eropple wrote:
        | This comment is whatever middlebrow dismissal would be,
        | but for basic facts of U.S. law. As per the Food, Drug,
        | and Cosmetics act of 1938, we have 21 U.S. Code SS321[1]:
        | 
        |  _(1) The term "device" (except when used in paragraph
        | (n) of this section and in sections 331(i), 343(f),
        | 352(c), and 362(c) of this title) means an instrument,
        | apparatus, implement, machine, contrivance, implant, in
        | vitro reagent, or other similar or related article,
        | including any component, part, or accessory, which is_
        | 
        |  _> (A) recognized in the official National Formulary, or
        | the United States Pharmacopeia, or any supplement to
        | them,_
        | 
        |  _> (B) intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or
        | other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment,
        | or prevention of disease, in man or other animals, or_
        | 
        |  _> (C) intended to affect the structure or any function
        | of the body of man or other animals, and which does not
        | achieve its primary intended purposes through chemical
        | action within or on the body of man or other animals and
        | which is not dependent upon being metabolized for the
        | achievement of its primary intended purposes. The term
        | "device" does not include software functions excluded
        | pursuant to section 360j(o) of this title._
        | 
        | The developer of the _device_ themselves clearly
        | understands that this  "vibrating watch" qualifies as a
        | medical device.
        | 
        | [1] - https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/21/321
 
  | sneak wrote:
  | Veterans have lots of social credit, and this is a marketing
  | piece from Apple.
  | 
  | Much of their target market will feel goodwill toward the Apple
  | brand as a result of Apple developing products that provide
  | help for a group the person so targeted holds in high esteem.
  | 
  | Of course it helps everyone with PTSD, but I assume thay the
  | demographic Apple is targeting with this bit of marketing is
  | more moved by the mention of military veterans than a mention
  | of mental illness in general.
  | 
  | The subheading of the article does say that it is for PTSD
  | without further qualification.
 
  | burkaman wrote:
  | I don't think it's restricted to veterans, the website says
  | it's approved for adults 22 or older with a nightmare disorder
  | or nightmares caused by PTSD. You need a prescription, but you
  | don't need to be a veteran.
 
  | ok_dad wrote:
  | I see it's being prescribed, and to a small-ish number of
  | people (400), so perhaps it's in a trial phase? FDA has 5
  | phases for medical device development (googled below):
  | Step 1: Device Discovery and Concept.         Step 2:
  | Preclinical Research-Prototype.         Step 3: Pathway to
  | Approval.         Step 4: FDA Device Review.         Step 5:
  | FDA Post-Market Device Safety Monitoring.
  | 
  | They could be on step 3, where they do clinical trials. Maybe
  | working with the VA, or perhaps they advertised at VA hospitals
  | or veteran's groups. I would imagine that's the easiest group
  | to find and recruit into your trial.
 
| thr0wawayf00 wrote:
| I love a lot of the innovation going on in the healthcare digital
| space wrt apps, but this NightWare service reminds me of
| Sleep.io, which has become a nightmare to try to procure.
| 
| I've been trying for months to get on Sleep.io as I suffer from
| chronic insomnia, and it has been one of the most frustrating
| journeys I've endeavored upon. They only provide their app to
| insurance customers that partner with them, there is no option to
| buy a subscription directly. Despite their marketing and outward
| "shoot us a message and we'll help you out" virtue-signaling, you
| quickly realize that you're just sending messages into the void.
| I tried so hard and offered to pay a subscription rate to try the
| service. Didn't even get a response.
| 
| It's the absolute worst of all worlds: being prevented from being
| able to use an app that I shouldn't need to talk to a doctor
| about or have the correct insurance for is unbelievably
| frustrating. Stuff like this terrifies me for our future.
 
  | jacooper wrote:
  | Just pirate it ?
 
  | ugh123 wrote:
  | blast them on twitter/fb/whatever
 
| blobbers wrote:
| What an amazing innovation using a simple trigger!
 
| altairprime wrote:
| I've been waking up my partner from PTSD nightmares for the last
| three months whenever they make nightmare noises, which I'm used
| to doing so I don't remember doing it most of the time, and they
| don't remember waking up either.
| 
| But when I leave town for a week they start remembering
| nightmares again, and then when I get back I remember prodding
| them out of them for a couple nights, and then both of us stop
| remembering.
| 
| I still don't know whether or how _often_ I'm bothering them out
| of nightmares at night, but clearly I _am_ doing so, and it'd be
| nice to have something doing that for them so that they aren't
| dependent on someone else for it. I don't mind at all being
| helpful, but this still sounds like a huge quality of life
| improvement for them!
 
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