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Tech for PTSD

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Freddyt

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I got an email from Garmin the other day that really started me thinking. The have a feature called "body battery" that uses measured heart rate, blood oxygen, respiration, and stress, along with sleep and other factors to figure out what your energy level is like and when the best time to exercise and rest are.
There are built in alerts for stress level and a mindful breathing app as well as a safety app that can send text/email to your contacts if it thinks you have been in an accident.

All this stuff makes me think that someone somewhere could build an affordable (under $200) wearable device for people with anxiety disorders to help with day to day life.

Are there other devices that do this that are not $600 smartwatches?

If you could, what features would you add?
 
I use Oura Ring. It's simple and effective. It uses the same info you mentioned Garmin does as far as the "body battery." I think I paid $299 for it. I don't need or want all the other features a smartwatch has. I did want something to help me understand where I was at physically, as mentioned in another thread, I push myself hard and needed something external to guide me to make healthier decisions.

It was really validating for me. I'm not making up or exaggerating how poorly I sleep. It has been insightful too. I've learned quite a bit from the data and it's helped me connect a few dots.
 
That's really cool. What I have now is motion based so its good for some things but it doesn't do heart rate.

I originally bought mine because it does Golf GPS and with one eye I need all the help I can get with distance judgment. I have been finding more and more that tracking trends like sleep and activity is really useful, not just for me but for my health support people as well.

But the idea of something that can say "stop, your stressing" and can then coach mitigation is very intriguing. Mostly because I get in that single focus "get home mode" without realizing it sometimes and then things go off the rails.

The other one I have seen is the Apple watch, which I see as quite expensive. I have seen claims that it has a "stop nightmares" app that can supposedly disturb sleep enough to stop the nightmare but not wake you but I haven't found anything on its effectiveness.
 
The other one I have seen is the Apple watch, which I see as quite expensive. I have seen claims that it has a "stop nightmares" app that can supposedly disturb sleep enough to stop the nightmare but not wake you but I haven't found anything on its effectiveness.

I haven’t seen anything either. It seemed interesting. I’ll keep a eye out for it.
 
I use fitbit -- it keeps track of stress, exercise, sleep, reminders for meditation, blah blah blah

I also have the PTSD and Act Happiness companion apps

Gotta love technology!
 
I use fitbit -- it keeps track of stress, exercise, sleep, reminders for meditation, blah blah blah
Reminders is a huge thing for me too. I have been forgetting my maintenance meds at breakfast and dinner. The cortisone acetate I take is hard on your stomach when taken without food and has a huge effect shall we say on what happens after.

@Freida, does it tell you when you your stress is rising to allow you to mitigate if possible?

Total side not but the battery in mine has been losing capacity and where it went 2 weeks it now it barely makes the week. Got a hold of Garmin and thy are replacing the battery undr warranty. Sweet...
 
@Freida, does it tell you when you your stress is rising to allow you to mitigate if possible?
It has a stress "number" that shows how you are doing but not sure if it can be set to alert if it changes.
I'll have to look it up because that's a really good idea
 
My thought's are that, done right, someone could build a device to help out people with anxiety based disorders, available at a price people on disability could afford. The tech to do this has been around long enough I think a sub $200 price tag would be do able.
If it could be "tailored" to your situation (much like adding Activities to my watch) and help with dealing with day to day anxiety as well as providing useful information for your doctors and T as well.

One of the biggest problems I run into is the "everyday unexpected". You don't recognize how much it affects you until you are "over the line". It would be nice to have something trigger to say "hey, your stress is rising quickly" and be able to flip to breathing exercises, grounding, or whatever your T has you doing. Not just tell you but to be able to coach you as well. It would also help with pattern recognition, which isn't something I'm good at and point out things that I don't recognize as adding stress.

For the driven people, it may help to focus on things that affect you and give you goals that help you deal with PTSD better.
 
I guess I might want to throw the idea out to my T. and see what they think. I would see different apps to help coach specific problems like dysregulation, panic attacks, etc. Make modules to support different kinds of therapy. Last but not least - in the phone/computer app add crisis, help, and emergency phone numbers by location, ie: the closest help.
 
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