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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
AS IT IS 2016-08-30 Young Programmer’s App Helps War Veteran Father Sleep Better 年轻程序员的APP帮助退伍军人更快更好入睡
Tyler Skluzacek’s father, Patrick, could not sleep through the night.
It was 2007, and Patrick had just returned from a year in Iraq, where he was a convoy1 commander in the U.S. Army.
Patrick Skluzacek was energetic and happy when he left for Iraq, Tyler says. But when he returned, he was unhappy and drinking alcohol too much.
“I didn’t like it,” Tyler says. “I really did not know what was going on.”
It turned out Patrick Skluzacek was suffering from sleep panic attacks. The nighttime panic attacks are a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder2.
Patrick would wake up every night around 3 a.m. as if someone had shocked him with a jolt3 of electricity. His heart would beat too fast. He would sweat. He would be so awake that it would be hard to get back to sleep.
The nighttime panic attacks prevented Patrick from feeling good the next day. He did not do well at work, because he was so tired.
“It was a bad, bad phase in my life. Really bad,” Patrick said.
Almost 10 years later, Tyler was in a position to help his father.
He was about to graduate from a college in Minnesota. Tyler was studying math and computer science. He thought he could make a computer program that might help his father.
So he entered a competition in Washington, D.C.
He and three other students worked together to solve the problem Tyler’s father, and other U.S. war veterans, were having. People called them “night terrors.”
The students had 36 hours to come up with a program. They called it myBivy. That name comes from bivouac, a military term for a safe place to sleep.
The application uses a smart watch and a smart phone together.
The watch tracks the wearer’s heartbeat. It sends the data to the program on the smart phone.
Research shows that a person’s heart rate will increase right before a night terror. So if the wearer’s heartbeat started to rise, myBivy would respond. The smart watch would vibrate and gently wake up the sleeping person. That was enough to prevent a night terror from happening.
Patrick did not know that he was his son’s test subject.
He wore the watch for two weeks to get used to it. Then, without telling his father, Tyler turned on the application.
On the first night, the vibrations4 from the watch prevented 10 nightmares6.
Patrick said he had not slept that well in many years, but he did not know why. It turned out that it was because of the app.
Tyler and his team won the contest in Washington, D.C. The prize was $1,500. Then the group tried to raise more money from investors7, and they were surprised when they took in over $25,000 using the online site Kickstarter.
They entered another competition and won that one, too.
By the spring of 2016, Tyler and his team were testing the app with volunteers, and hoped to make it available to the public soon.
Words in This Story
convoy – n. a group of vehicles or ships that are traveling together usually for protection
commander – n. a person who is in charge of a group of people
panic – n. a state or feeling of extreme fear that makes someone unable to act or think normally
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - n. a mental condition that can affect a person who has had a very shocking or difficult experience (such as fighting in a war) and that is usually characterized8 by depression or anxiety
phase – n. a short period of time during which a person behaves in a particular way or likes a particular thing
veteran – n. someone who fought in a war as a soldier, sailor, etc.
vibrate – v. to move back and forth9 or from side to side with very short, quick movements
nightmare5 – n. a dream that frightens a sleeping person : a very bad dream
1 convoy | |
vt.护送,护卫,护航;n.护送;护送队 | |
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2 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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3 jolt | |
v.(使)摇动,(使)震动,(使)颠簸 | |
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4 vibrations | |
n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 );震动;感受;(偏离平衡位置的)一次性往复振动 | |
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5 nightmare | |
n.恶梦,可怕的事物,无法摆脱的恐惧 | |
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6 nightmares | |
n.噩梦( nightmare的名词复数 );可怕的事情,无法摆脱的恐惧 | |
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7 investors | |
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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8 characterized | |
adj.[医]具有特征的v.是…的特征( characterize的过去式和过去分词 );以…为特征;描述(人或物)的特性;使…具有特点(或最引人注目的特征) | |
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9 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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