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 || October's Subscriber Giveaway THIS FRIDAY! Monster Cuff banishes the things that go bump in the night

The Snuggly Monster Cuff by BabyHoot, an adorable way to help kids feel safe so they can fall asleep.

SHC is proud to offer this fantastic solution for helping kids to fall asleep at night: 

THE SNUGGLY MONSTER CUFF! It scares away the monsters while you sleep! The cuff offered here is made from limited edition, blue and orange monster fabric!

From the maker, BabyHoot--Handmade Things for Baby: "Does your child have trouble sleeping with monsters under the bed? Or maybe they live in the closet...

These super comfy, monster cuff bracelets are designed to make bedtime a breeze. Wear them on your wrist while you sleep to keep those monsters under your bed away so your little one can sleep through the night! (and so can you!)

Cuffs are double snap closure, made from the softest cotton blends to make them extra snuggly to sleep in. We make them to fit most kids, ages 2-100! (**Most Monster Cuff's fit ages 1-10, we have two snaps on each bracelet to adjust to a comfy fit.)

To see more sleep-promoting products from BabyHoot, click here.

SUBSCRIBE NOW TO QUALIFY TO WIN THIS ADORABLE SLEEP AID!

HOW TO WIN: Subscribe to the SHC free opt-in monthly newsletter to become eligible to win monthly giveaways! The monthly newsletter offers subscribers free sleep product giveaways; the very latest in sleep news; links to monthly sleep health polls; connections to public sleep health opportunities; and access to sleep health awareness campaigns. Also, this is an easy way to engage with the curator directly!

HOW THE MONTHLY GIVEAWAY WORKS: The winner will be selected randomly from the full subscription list as it exists as of 11:59pm on the last day of every month. One winner picked monthly. Each monthly winner will be contacted through email; winner must reply to email and provide mailing address in order to win. Each winner announced in the next month's newsletter.

MONSTERS OF SLEEP || October's Subscriber Giveaway banishes the things that go bump in the night

The Snuggly Monster Cuff by BabyHoot, an adorable way to help kids feel safe so they can fall asleep.

SHC is proud to offer this fantastic solution for helping kids to fall asleep at night: 

THE SNUGGLY MONSTER CUFF! It scares away the monsters while you sleep! The cuff offered here is made from limited edition, blue and orange monster fabric!

From the maker, BabyHoot--Handmade Things for Baby: "Does your child have trouble sleeping with monsters under the bed? Or maybe they live in the closet...

These super comfy, monster cuff bracelets are designed to make bedtime a breeze. Wear them on your wrist while you sleep to keep those monsters under your bed away so your little one can sleep through the night! (and so can you!)

Cuffs are double snap closure, made from the softest cotton blends to make them extra snuggly to sleep in. We make them to fit most kids, ages 2-100! (**Most Monster Cuff's fit ages 1-10, we have two snaps on each bracelet to adjust to a comfy fit.)

To see more sleep-promoting products from BabyHoot, click here.

SUBSCRIBE NOW TO QUALIFY TO WIN THIS ADORABLE SLEEP AID!

HOW TO WIN: Subscribe to the SHC free opt-in monthly newsletter to become eligible to win monthly giveaways! The monthly newsletter offers subscribers free sleep product giveaways; the very latest in sleep news; links to monthly sleep health polls; connections to public sleep health opportunities; and access to sleep health awareness campaigns. Also, this is an easy way to engage with the curator directly!

HOW THE MONTHLY GIVEAWAY WORKS: The winner will be selected randomly from the full subscription list as it exists as of 11:59pm on the last day of every month. One winner picked monthly. Each monthly winner will be contacted through email; winner must reply to email and provide mailing address in order to win. Each winner announced in the next month's newsletter.

MONSTERS OF SLEEP || October's Subscriber Giveaway banishes the things that go bump in the night

The Snuggly Monster Cuff by BabyHoot, an adorable way to help kids feel safe so they can fall asleep.

SHC is proud to offer this fantastic solution for helping kids to fall asleep at night: 

THE SNUGGLY MONSTER CUFF! It scares away the monsters while you sleep! The cuff offered here is made from limited edition, blue and orange monster fabric!

From the maker, BabyHoot--Handmade Things for Baby: "Does your child have trouble sleeping with monsters under the bed? Or maybe they live in the closet...

These super comfy, monster cuff bracelets are designed to make bedtime a breeze. Wear them on your wrist while you sleep to keep those monsters under your bed away so your little one can sleep through the night! (and so can you!)

Cuffs are double snap closure, made from the softest cotton blends to make them extra snuggly to sleep in. We make them to fit most kids, ages 2-100! (**Most Monster Cuff's fit ages 1-10, we have two snaps on each bracelet to adjust to a comfy fit.)

To see more sleep-promoting products from BabyHoot, click here.

SUBSCRIBE NOW TO QUALIFY TO WIN THIS ADORABLE SLEEP AID!

HOW TO WIN: Subscribe to the SHC free opt-in monthly newsletter to become eligible to win monthly giveaways! The monthly newsletter offers subscribers free sleep product giveaways; the very latest in sleep news; links to monthly sleep health polls; connections to public sleep health opportunities; and access to sleep health awareness campaigns. Also, this is an easy way to engage with the curator directly!

HOW THE MONTHLY GIVEAWAY WORKS: The winner will be selected randomly from the full subscription list as it exists as of 11:59pm on the last day of every month. One winner picked monthly. Each monthly winner will be contacted through email; winner must reply to email and provide mailing address in order to win. Each winner announced in the next month's newsletter.

MONSTERS OF SLEEP || Sleep Disorders 101: Night Terrors

If you are the parent of a child who experiences night terrors, you know these are no ordinary nightmares. It will seem as if your child has suddenly become possessed! Your child, in the throes of a night terror, might suddenly bolt upright, shout and scream in defense and be utterly inconsolable regardless your efforts to calm them. Their breathing may be rapid, their heart pounding out of their chest, and they may be sweating, thrashing around for several minutes until they finally calm down and return to sleep. 

Night terrors can often leave parents nearly as traumatized as it seems their child is during an episode. Usually the child going through a night terror isn't even aware that you are trying to calm them down, and when you ask them the next day about their nightmares, you discover they have absolutely no memory of them.

That's because night terrors are not nightmares at all, but a disruption to sleep that occurs during transitional sleep between deep Stage 3 sleep and lighter REM or non-REM stages. 

Night terrors occur during the first three hours of the night. These passages between sleep stages are smooth, but they can lead to stress responses in the child. Children's bodies and brains are still developing, and changes in growth hormones and other brain chemistry might be at work at this time. Thus, this physical (not emotional) expression of fear, caused by the sudden release of stress hormones into the bloodstream, can panic the child, leading to a full-blown, dramatic episode of terror. 

Anyone who has witnessed a child in the middle of a night terror knows to put the emphasis on the word Terror, as this is an extremely accurate representation of what happens. 

Dreams and nightmares, on the other hand, are the fodder of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and never happen in deep Stage 3 sleep. Consider this: during REM sleep, the body is more or less paralyzed from the neck down as part of the brain's effort to keep one from acting out the compelling content of dreams. If your child is terrified in the night but does not move about, and the episode occurs later in the night, they might be having a nightmare. You also might have better luck consoling them, and they stand a good chance of remember the content of their bad dream in the morning because in REM sleep, visual imagery is processed and remembered. In stage 3 sleep there is no imagery for the brain to process.

The good news? Night terrors are actually normal and do not suggest any underlying medical condition. Kids grow out of them, thankfully, so parents can hope for more peaceful nights as their children age.

The Monsters of Sleep haunt October at SleepyHead CENTRAL

Think about it... many major sleep problems across the whole of humanity consist of some pretty monstrous symptoms...

People who are excessively sleepy during the day, even after a full night of sleep, may feel a bit like zombies as they sleepwalk from one task to the next... Insomniacs may eventually entertain the notion they are related to Count Dracula at around 2am every night, for nights on end... Children may fear the dark spaces under their bed or in the closet; meanwhile adults may have their own dark brand of haunted nightmares due to RBD or PTSD...

These are all serious sleep issues that need to be addressed, identified, diagnosed and treated.

To honor these sleep challenges, the emphasis of the posts at SHC in October will be on the following sleep problems:

• Hypersomnia
• Sleepwalking and REM Behavior Disorder
• Insomnia
• Nightmares and Night Terrors (including those caused by PTSD)

If you have problems with one or more of these disorders and have questions, please contact SHC here.

If you have a personal story you want to share regarding one or more of these disorders, please contact SHC here.

This month's giveaway will also cleave to this theme and will be announced later this week... stay tuned!

In the meantime, look for posts tagged "The Monsters of Sleep," including the graphic you see above, to navigate the posts which best address these serious, but treatable sleep challenges.