Initiating Innovation for Better Sleep
Many Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) experience chronic sleep disruption, including insomnia, fragmented sleep, and trauma-related nightmares. And for anyone – not just Veterans – poor sleep worsens memory processing and heightens emotional reactivity to everyday stressors. Insomnia has also been linked to elevated suicide risk—an urgent and ongoing concern.
Boot Campaign has provided individualized care for Veterans struggling with TBI and PTSD since 2016 through our Health & Wellness Program. However, it became clear that while overall sleep typically improves during and after participation in our Health and Wellness Program, it still presents enough of a challenge that impacts the quality of life for the individuals we serve. The need for an even more intensive and tailored approach was evident.
With that in mind, Health and Wellness Program director Dr. Jenny Howland assembled a team of military sleep and resiliency experts. Together, they created an individualized and comprehensive sleep protocol to address sleep disturbances for Veteran candidates.
“There is a critical need for targeted interventions that address both behavioral and physiological drivers of sleep disturbance,” said Dr. Jenny Howland. “The model we created incorporates resiliency and psychoeducation coaching based on principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi) with wearable technology for individualized treatment and monitoring. We look forward to seeing the results for Veterans in our care and are hopeful to see increased sleep quality and quality, resilience, emotional stability, reduced stress and ultimately, a better quality of life.”
Boot Campaign launched its 26-week Sleep & Autonomic Recovery Modality for Veterans with service-connected TBI and/or PTSD enrolled in our Health & Wellness Program. The outcomes of this care will be part of a research study conducted by an advanced student at Texas Christian University’s Burnett School of Medicine. Continuing to push boundaries, innovate and take holistic care of the Veterans we serve is the heart of what Boot Campaign does.
