On Veteran's Day, SleepyHeadCENTRAL wishes only sweet dreams for the many returned home with PTSD

PTSD IS A VERY REAL PROBLEM AND WE OWE IT TO OUR VETS 

TO FIND REAL SOLUTIONS FOR DIAGNOSING AND TREATING IT

• Sleep disturbances (e.g. insomnia, daytime sleepiness, vivid nightmares) are hallmark features of PTSD (source: International Review of Psychiatry)
• Nearly 70 percent of veterans who self-report PTSD symptoms have been found to also be at high risk for sleep apnea in a recent study conducted by the San Diego VA.
• From The Atlantic: "Soldiers returning home from duty often experience vivid dreams, night sweats, and other symptoms commonly classified as PTSD, but some argue that a newly named condition—trauma-associated sleep disorder—may be more accurate."
• A RAND Corporation study has shown that helping service members to improve their sleep health post-deployment could help reduce depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other health problems.
• New efforts are being made all the time to help clinicians diagnose and treat PTSD and its related sleep problems, including this app from John Hopkins and this recent invention (still in Kickstarter phase) from the son of a veteran.
• The United States Department of Veteran Affairs offers a great resource, MyHealtheVet, where veterans can learn more about their PTSD-related sleep problems and seek solutions; the site includes links in both English and Spanish.

Go to the National Center for PTSD to learn more. 

WHERE TO GET HELP.

MONSTERS OF SLEEP || Guest post: Ken Scholes on sleeping and PTSD

All the Little Monsters:  PTSD, Sleep and Me

by Ken Scholes 

“I've always envied people who sleep easily. Their brains must be cleaner, the floorboards of the skull well swept, all the little monsters closed up in a steamer trunk at the foot of the bed.”  ― David Benioff, City of Thieves

These words from David Benioff ring true for me and, if they’re tipped over on their side, I think they become self-fulfilling prophecy. Getting a good night’s sleep gives us what we need to scrub our brains, sweep clean the skull and deal with all the little monsters. Whether it’s a stressful day or a pesky bug, a solid night of sleep is the Great Restorer.

Of course, as it goes in life, those very things that sleep could help us with can also get in the way. I had my first significant brush with insomnia back in my mid-twenties. It showed up with my first significant brush with depression. At the time, I didn’t realize that what I was really dealing with was a complex form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder–and that sleep disruption and depression were common symptoms.

Now, over twenty years later, I’ve experienced quite a bit of those sleep disruptions off and on.  Racing thoughts that keep me from falling asleep. Waking up too early from anxiety playing out in my sleep. Going through the day sluggish and fatigued despite what seemed a full night’s rest.

My first indicator that my PTSD symptoms are resurging is my sleep. Once I start waking up around 2am with a wet pillow or wet sheets, I know my fight or flight is kicking into gear probably from night terrors or unremembered nightmares. All the little monsters coming out of the trunk kept back there in my amygdala. At its worst, I’d wake up with a strong sense of agitation and foreboding, still exhausted despite the sleep I had, ready to run away or kick ass and take names.

Some of the ways I’ve learned to cope are no brainers. Avoid caffeine at night and avoid over-caffeinating in general. Get regular exercise. Get medical help not just for the PTSD but also the sleep. And pay attention to the rest of your body, not just your PTSD symptoms. Because sometimes, more than one thing is costing you sleep. Combine PTSD with untreated sleep apnea, for instance, and you’re really set up to fail. And possibly cut your life short by twenty years.

But there are other tricks that I’ve picked up along the way. Crazy home remedies that have worked more than once. For example, if I can’t get back to sleep a really cold glass of water–or a spoonful of orange sherbet–can sometimes get me back to sleep. Or if I’m struggling to fall asleep, doing some easy mindfulness exercises like picking out every sound I hear and recounting it to myself–the car on the highway, the creak of the floorboard, the hum of my CPAP machine. Or picking out each physical sensation that I feel–the coldness of the sheet on my left foot, the feeling of the pillow against my ear. All while breathing deep and slow. It’s worked much better for me than counting sheep. And sometimes, there’s nothing like a cup of warm milk and a Hart to Hart rerun to knock me out. 

Probably my best trick–which really only works at home–is to have a fresh bed ready elsewhere that I can crawl into. I read somewhere that Winston Churchill kept several beds nearby and moved to a new bed as needed to combat his insomnia. I tried it back in the days of my first brush with insomnia and sure enough, it worked for me, too. Sometimes you just have to start over, especially if your sheets and pillow are soaked through.

Whatever it is that keeps you from sleep, steer into it and solve it. Learn to take naps when you need to. Pay attention to how rested you feel. If you know your sleep is being disrupted but don’t know why, talk to a doctor. You may need to go in for a sleep study. Trust me, you won’t regret it. Especially if it leads to you getting the rest that you need.  Good, regular sleep is an amazing ally 

when it comes to our well-being.

Hey...I think it’s nap time now.

Sleep well and sweet dreams to you all. 

Author and PTSD sufferer
Ken Scholes

   --------

   Ken Scholes is the critically acclaimed author of four novels and 
   over forty short stories.  His fantasy series, The Psalms of Isaak, is
   published in the US by Tor Books.  Ken is also an outspoken patient
   advocate for people with PTSD as a result of early childhood trauma.  

   You can read more about Ken, his writing and his PTSD at
   www.kenscholes.com.     

    

      

SLEEP HYGIENE TIP OF THE WEEK || MONSTERS OF SLEEP || Safe sleeping with PTSD

People with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can experience continued psychological mayhem even while asleep. It can lead to anxiety, confusion, terror, even unintended violence to or by the sufferer.

Often forgotten in this are the loved ones who are the sleep partners of PTSD patients. They have additional challenges because they have to deal with safety issues, for both their loved one and themselves, every night.

The main thing that loved ones can do to help make nighttime sleep safer and sounder for everyone is to support the following sleep hygiene basics, which can really help the PTSD sufferer achieve more peaceful sleep. They include:

• Using the bedroom only for sleeping and sex. This means removing media from the room so as not to bring in stimulus-producing sources.
• Soundproofing your bedroom, or if you can't soundproof it, use white noise machines to help keep out external noise. If nothing else, encourage the use of earplugs.
• Keeping your bedroom dark in order to facilitate smooth transitions between sleep. Even nightlights and the tiny lights on electronics devices can interrupt sleep. Eye masks make good options.
• Turning down your thermostat. It is much better to have a cool room with multiple blankets that can be added and removed. Having too warm a room can mess with circadian rhythms.
• Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule and make sure everyone in the household can honor it. 
• Avoiding stressful, energizing or stimulating activities before bed so that the body can properly relax when it needs to.
• Encouraging relaxing bedtime activities like warm baths, soft music, herbal tea or light reading to aid the brain in calming down for the night.
• Practicing meditation and/or yogic breathing to help induce relaxation. 
• Writing down worries and anxieties in a diary before bed so that your brain can "let them go" until the morning.
• Avoiding stimulating foods containing caffeine before bedtime (chocolate, cocoa, tea, coffee, soda)
• Avoiding alcohol at bedtime; despite its ability to relax the body, alcohol alters sleep architecture and can compromise quality deep sleep.
• Avoiding nicotine at bedtime as it can both stimulate and relax the brain.
• Asking your doctor and pharmacist to review your prescriptions to determine if any of them, by themselves or in interaction with others, may have a negative impact on sleep. 

Following these instructions may be difficult for some PTSD sufferers, so support for them from their loved ones and sleep mates really makes a difference. Any or all of these suggestions may not only improve the sleeping experience for the PTSD sufferer but for their sleep partners as well.

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Information for this post was compiled from the Sleep and PTSD page at the National Center for PSTD, US Department of Veterans Affairs website.

MONSTERS OF SLEEP: The very real fear factor of PTSD-troubled sleep following heart attacks

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can occur if you go through a traumatic event that seems to keep haunting you later. Soldiers in combat can experience PTSD, so do victims of abuse and terrorism and those who have suffered through serious accidents or disasters. What’s more, you can develop PTSD after having a serious medical event like a heart attack.

PTSD can leave you feeling afraid for your life or fearing for others’ lives. You may feel like you have lost control of your life. One of the ways that PTSD shows up is through the process of sleep. Sudden problems with getting to sleep or staying asleep can take root, and often, people with PTSD often have terrible nightmares that replay the episodes of their trauma repeatedly. Without quality sleep, both physical health and mental health problems like PTSD can only get worse. 

Doctors have long wondered about the relationship between sleep health, heart health and PTSD. The National Sleep Foundation recently reported on studies from Columbia University Medical Center. They examined how common it was for heart attack victims to suffer from symptoms of PTSD afterward. They found that 1 in 8 survivors of heart attacks do indeed suffer from PTSD; their risk for having another cardiac event, or even dying within 3 years after the vent, doubled when compared to survivors of heart attacks who did not develop PTSD.

A separate study at Columbia’s Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health supports this finding and even suggests that poor sleep may be to blame for those who suffer from PTSD after a heart attack. 

It’s fairly simple: the worse symptoms the PTSD sufferers had, the worse their own reports of sleep quality following the heart attack. Sleep quality, in this case, means shorter sleep time, more disturbances while asleep, the need for sleep aids to achieve sleep, and poor daytime work performance due to poor overall sleep quality the night before.

Interestingly, the study showed that the most likely people to suffer from poor sleep following a heart attack are women, obese patients and those with depression.

Doctors are now theorizing that it is not enough to say that PTSD causes poor sleep, or that poor sleep worsens PTSD. Both disrupted sleep and PTSD have nervous system problems in common which need to be addressed. They believe, instead, that these are two underlying conditions, following major cardiac events, must be treated simultaneously.

Further research is needed, but here’s the bottom line: If you or a loved one have had a heart attack and develop PTSD afterward, a mindful approach to reclaiming quality sleep could be a real lifesaver in the long term.

Sources

What is PTSD? (also available in Spanish: ¿Qué es el TEPT? | Ver todos)
National Center for PTSD || http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/what-is-ptsd.asp

Poor Sleep Linked to PTSD After Heart Attack
National Sleep Foundation || http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/poor-sleep-linked-ptsd-after-heart-attack