Thundershirt

I wonder if this concept, http://www.thundershirt.com/ , might help humans with problems sleeping? Maybe easier to relax and tolerate CPAP?

Please no rants about it not being a substitute for CPAP. I know that.

No rants here. I don't know if it will help with handling sleep apnea, but swaddling babies is a known technique to help calm them:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/how-to ... by/MY01766

In fact, one research project found "Swaddling promotes more-sustained sleep and reduces the frequency of spontaneous awakenings, whereas induced cortical arousals are elicited by less-intense stimuli. These findings could indicate that, although swaddling favors sleep continuity, it is associated with increased responsiveness to environmental auditory stress."

For more details, see: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/c ... /1307.full

When I've had a long, hard day, I will personally tend to tuck myself into my blanket to have it fit snugly around me. So, even as an adult, I tend to prefer that "tight fight" during sleep.

Will it help adults adjust to use of CPAP and improve sleep? I don't think there's been any research done on that for adults. Anecdotally, I can say that it does tend to help me. But I don't know how others would respond.

Beware of side effects (May cause the urge to chase cars) Jim

What freaks me out is the fact that so many people can't see where modern human civilization is headed ... to a catastrophic collpase.

No amount of hugging will or thunder shirts will subdue that anxiety.

WAKE UP PEOPLE !!!

How many millions do we deceive each day?

I get up, I get down. I get up, I get down.

the purpose of this thing is to calm a dog that has thunderstorm anxiety. i did buy one in our local pet store and i'm telling you it does not work. period. when rocco gets all wound up during a storm the only thing that works is a dose of ace. there is no way something like this would would work on a person.

I think it's a legitimate and reasonable question. I'm a retired OT and I did not work with children, but OT's who work with children with sensory processing disorders often do use the human equivalents of thundershirts for kids that have difficulty regulating their responses to sensory stimuli. Weighted vests and actual swaddling techniques are used to good effect. A child with these issues will usually crave and love these techniques.

Those of us with OSA sleep bathed in cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones and that affects the nervous system. So it wouldn't be farfetched to try something like that if it helps you sleep.

Personally, I like to be wrapped pretty tightly in heavy blankets at night--I think that's accomplishing the same thing. During the summer when it's too hot for blankets I never sleep as well as I do in a cool room when I can really snuggle under the covers.

I think wet t-shirts have a greater hormonal effect on me

DreamStalker wrote:What freaks me out is the fact that so many people can't see where modern human civilization is headed ... to a catastrophic collpase.

No amount of hugging will or thunder shirts will subdue that anxiety.

WAKE UP PEOPLE !!!

How many millions do we deceive each day?

I get up, I get down. I get up, I get down.

DreamStalker wrote:I think wet t-shirts have a greater hormonal effect on me

Could someone please connect the dots for me?

BTW, we have a dog that gets freaked out from our cell phone beeps (especially text message sounds) and the smoke alarm (which goes off regularly because we have no vent over our stove/broiler). The thunder shirt is helping marginally at this point.

For it to work well, you have to use it consistently in NON-stress situations with lots of treats and praise to get the dog used to it, so it's not an additional stressor when the dog is alreay upset. We haven't been doing it that much, and she freaks at the sound of the velcro on the shirt, too. So it's not that helpful yet, but it may become useful with more training.

I did great training our dog to use a soft muzzle by using it as a "treatie chute"--She gets excited when we bring out the muzzle, puts her nose right in, and wears it happily because it means treats (she's a rescue dog and scared when we have guests, so she's a bite risk). So I know with some more work I can get her more comfortable in the thunder shirt too.

Janknitz wrote:BTW, we have a dog that gets freaked out from our cell phone beeps (especially text message sounds) and the smoke alarm (which goes off regularly because we have no vent over our stove/broiler). The thunder shirt is helping marginally at this point.

For it to work well, you have to use it consistently in NON-stress situations with lots of treats and praise to get the dog used to it, so it's not an additional stressor when the dog is alreay upset. We haven't been doing it that much, and she freaks at the sound of the velcro on the shirt, too. So it's not that helpful yet, but it may become useful with more training.

I did great training our dog to use a soft muzzle by using it as a "treatie chute"--She gets excited when we bring out the muzzle, puts her nose right in, and wears it happily because it means treats (she's a rescue dog and scared when we have guests, so she's a bite risk). So I know with some more work I can get her more comfortable in the thunder shirt too.

When I got Jenny, she was a 4 year old dog, kept outdoor only, and abused (she was severely terrified of younger boys, people's feet, and airborne objects). She was also afraid of linoleum floors, doorways, stairs, and many sounds. If you dropped a kleenex, she would run terrified from the room. If you put her on a stairway, one stair from the end, she would stiffen up and tremble. She could not take that one step to freedom. It took months of carrying her up and down the stairs, in and out of the door, etc until you couldn't feel her heart race and her muscles stiffen up. With time, she got over most of it. She didn't get over sirens and fireworks until she lost her hearing though. I used to leave for work on 4th of July with my CD player set to replay an instrumental CD all day loudly. I had her for 12 years, and she was an awesome dog.

We had another rescue dog who wasn't afraid of as many things, but was abused longer (puppy mill breeder dog), so she didn't get as close to normal as Jenny did. She had a variety of things that caused anxiety, and for her, having a kennel available was very helpful. We set one up in the living room with the door removed so that she could go in there any time. If we had company, she would go in her kennel, and that seemed to calm her.

I've never tried a thundershirt, but several years ago, I discovered that a nice harness (material type, not the leash type) would calm my hunter cat down. His name was Chase, and that is what he liked to do. But without anything to hunt, he would chase the other cats and attack them. But not while wearing his harness. He would still run and play, but he never chased or attacked while wearing it. The other cats knew they were safe while Chase was wearing his harness.

greatunclebill wrote:the purpose of this thing is to calm a dog that has thunderstorm anxiety. i did buy one in our local pet store and i'm telling you it does not work. period. when rocco gets all wound up during a storm the only thing that works is a dose of ace. there is no way something like this would would work on a person.

Looking for the magic cure? You should take some tips from Janknitz:

Janknitz wrote:BTW, we have a dog that gets freaked out from our cell phone beeps (especially text message sounds) and the smoke alarm (which goes off regularly because we have no vent over our stove/broiler). The thunder shirt is helping marginally at this point.

For it to work well, you have to use it consistently in NON-stress situations with lots of treats and praise to get the dog used to it, so it's not an additional stressor when the dog is alreay upset. We haven't been doing it that much, and she freaks at the sound of the velcro on the shirt, too. So it's not that helpful yet, but it may become useful with more training.

I did great training our dog to use a soft muzzle by using it as a "treatie chute"--She gets excited when we bring out the muzzle, puts her nose right in, and wears it happily because it means treats (she's a rescue dog and scared when we have guests, so she's a bite risk). So I know with some more work I can get her more comfortable in the thunder shirt too.

We used to raise hunting dogs. Occasionally we would get one that was gun shy (run and cower at the sound of a gunshot).

At feeding time we would fire a starter gun twice. After the dog would start eating we would fire it twice again. It usually took less than a week to have the dog cured.

Wives, husbands are like this. Feed them well and they will put up with a lot.

The Choker wrote:

We used to raise hunting dogs. Occasionally we would get one that was gun shy (run and cower at the sound of a gunshot).

At feeding time we would fire a starter gun twice. After the dog would start eating we would fire it twice again. It usually took less than a week to have the dog cured.

I will use a combination of advice from you and Joe Biden. Every night when I put my mask on, I will go out on the back patio and fire both barrels of my shotgun.

I will let you know if I start sleeping better.

As I understand it, the concept was introduced by an autistic woman as a way to calm cattle going to slaughter. She also pioneered the concept of using gently curving chutes as that was not as upsetting to the cattle as turning sharp corners. She deviced a device to use on people to give them a nice hug and tried it on her college roommates with good results. The Thundershirt comes with a great guarantee so it's worth a try on your dog. I personally like the covers to be loose when I sleep. I do appreciate a nice, warm hug though.

jdm2857 wrote:

DreamStalker wrote:What freaks me out is the fact that so many people can't see where modern human civilization is headed ... to a catastrophic collpase.

No amount of hugging will or thunder shirts will subdue that anxiety.

WAKE UP PEOPLE !!!

How many millions do we deceive each day?

I get up, I get down. I get up, I get down.

DreamStalker wrote:I think wet t-shirts have a greater hormonal effect on me

Could someone please connect the dots for me?

Connecting two dots always creates a straight line.

Tommy (our long-haired Chihuahua) is used to coal trains going by less than half a block away.
Around the 4th of July, random fireworks scare the heck out of him; so I take him for his "walkies"
while a train is coming through. It drowns out the fireworks, and he's a happy doggie.
The trains are almost like white noise for all of us.
When we installed the insulated, high-E windows, it muffled the trains so much, it felt weird!