MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis startup hopes their app will soon help people struggling with the effects of PTSD.
NightWare is an app designed for the Apple Watch. It's intended to help people with nightmare disorder, a condition associated with PTSD in which a person has debilitating nightmares.
"Imagine not sleeping for ten years, and more so, within that sleep you're re-living the worst experience of your life," said NightWare CEO, Grady Hannah, describing nightmare disorder.
The app tracks a person's heart rate and movement during sleep. Based on those readings, it can detect when a person is having a nightmare. When they are, the app vibrates enough to wake them out of the nightmare, but not wake them entirely.
"We intervene at a lower level and then we gradually increase it until we see them come out of the nightmare," Hannah said.
The app started with an idea in 2015, from then Macalester college student, Tyler Skluzacek, who witnessed his veteran dad struggle with nightmares.
"I tried to create something to help him sleep better. I mean, that's what it's all about," Skluzacek said in an interview with KARE 11 in 2015.
Skluzacek came onto Hannah's radar, who is a entrepreneur with experience in Silicon Valley, after Hannah saw news coverage of Skluzacek's idea.
"He was a senior at Macalester at the time and I graduated from Macalester, so I reached out to him," Hannah said.
Hannah says Tyler is no longer with the company, as he focuses on getting his PhD. Meanwhile, the idea he had during his undergraduate studies is now a full-fledged startup, with $1 million in backing and on the way to FDA approval.
The app is undergoing clinical trials. The next round will be held at the VA in Minneapolis and the VA in St. Cloud.
Hannah says veterans who are interested in participating should contact the VA for more information.
Hannah says the hope is to launch NightWare by Veterans Day 2020.