Biofeedback

Just What is Biofeedback?

By Jeff Labno

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So, Just What is Biofeedback?

Biofeedback is a process that renders unconsciousness body signals such as brainwaves, heart patterns, sweat gland activity, skin temperature, and muscle tension perceptible to the senses using visual or audio feedback.

Learning biofeedback is an effective way to control stress, achieve deep relaxation, and increase productivity. Biofeedback is clinically used to help people control stress-related symptoms due to anxiety, road rage, etc. In the home, biofeedback helps one to relax after a stressful day, helps with meditation, and is a useful tool to learn about one's reactions to the world around them.

Biofeedback acts like an electronic therapist, letting you know what makes you uptight, and what works to soothe this tension to protect your personal health.

“Machines don't lie. Biofeedback gives you instant information on what's happening inside your body.”

The Late Dr. Bob Beck, D.Sc.

Biofeedback originated in Germany during the early 1900's, where it was called autogenic training. The term biofeedback came about in the late 1960's where it was used to help patients self-regulate internal bodily functions such as brainwaves, heart rate, skin temperature, muscle stress, and emotions.

There are several different kinds of biofeedback training, each used for succinctly different purposes. Each type of biofeedback contains its own treasure trove of benefits.

Skin Resistance (GSR – galvanic skin response)

This is the most commonly used biofeedback, because it directly cues you to be aware of just how stressed you are.

Technically, GSR measures skin resistance, or the activation of sweat gland activity. Have you ever heard the terms, “sweaty palms”, or “my skin feels like its crawling”? This relates to GSR and skin tension, so the purpose of GSR biofeedback is to learn to stay relaxed in the face of tension.

All you do is hook up using a finger or palm sensor and a tone tells you whether or not you are relaxing. That's all there is to it. Now what you do is listen to a tone which increases in pitch when you are tensing up, or decreases when relaxing. Some GSR systems use visual feedback occurring in the form of numeric values, colors, or charts.

Benefits of GSR are learning to stay calm when angry at your boss, friends, traffic conditions or neighbors. The stress otherwise caused is a “poison” to your system which menaces your health. Staying calm in the “eye of a storm” also allows you to deal with about any situation with a level head.

I challenge anyone to go through your phone book while hooked up to GSR, looking at each entry. You might be surprised at how some entries elicit an incredible stress reaction, while others cause you to relax.

Skin Temperature Biofeedback

Skin temperature is a digital thermometer that tells you whether the temperature of your skin is rising or falling. You place the sensor (electrode) on a finger, palm, forehead or other body part.

The purpose of skin temperature is to let you know if there is greater blood flow in the area where you placed the sensor. When blood flow increases, this means this area is relaxing.

This type of biofeedback is typically used to diminish overall emotional stress. Some healthcare practitioners use it to alleviate migraines.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

Heart Rate Variability biofeedback measures how your heart responds to emotional, mental, and physical stresses, and its ability to bounce back to a relaxed and better functioning state. It helps for general relaxation, and cardio vascular distress.

HRV is not like monitoring your heartbeat, where you measure the pulses per minute. Instead, HRV is measure in the variations between the individual beats, whether or not it is smooth or erratic.

You wear a sensor, and a computer interface allows you to see your heart rhythms on the screen, which appear like ocean waves, or lines that move up and down. Irregular, ever-changing waves mean that things easily upset you, whereas smooth waves mean that you are able to stay calm in stressful situations. Quality HRV has a direct correlation to how fit a person is, and how one regulates oxygen flow in the body (breathing).

Benefits from HRV training can be directly tied into learning to breathe better (deeper). Have you ever heard the expression, “air is free, yet most people are oxygen deprived”? Oxygen is the body's number one nutritive. It is responsible for the regulation of health glandular rhythms, and is the mechanism for the body's re-build and repair system that is responsible for cellular rejuvenation.

Quality breathing means less stress, plus a healthier heart.

Muscle Tension (EMG – electromyograph)

Muscle tension biofeedback measures how tight a particular muscle is. Relaxing your forehead can help reduce headaches, release jaw tension, and upper shoulder tightness.

You wear headphones with a band containing sensors that goes across your forehead. When the muscles in the forehead let go, then the tone decreases in pitch. Other EMG devices require putting a EMG sensor (electrode) on the muscle, and a visual computer graph or monitor displays the results.

This type of biofeedback is mostly used for stiff shoulders, migraines, and teeth grinding.

Brainwave Biofeedback (EEG - electroencephalograph)

Brainwave biofeedback is used by medical doctors to help diagnose sleeping disorders, seizures, and clinically to improve concentration and focus.

Brainwave biofeedback measures the quality of your brainwaves, giving you a visual representation of how your brainwaves appear. Often they are erratic, and do not form a constant pattern, much like choppy waves in the ocean, versus regular and rhythmic waves. This indicates difficulty focusing. The idea of brainwave training is to learn to produce smooth and regular waves.

Also, brainwave biofeedback tells you which side of the brain is dominant; left (logical), or right (artistic). Professionals teach people to learn to balance the left brain activity with the right which brings greater balance and more control over daily functions.

Brainwave biofeedback is best left to professionals because it requires effort to learn the process of applying the electrodes to the scalp, where to place them, and how to interpret the meaning of the signals.

Some people obtain professional training to learn brainwave biofeedback at home. They either do this for focus training such as for those with attention deficit; or to learn about the different states of consciousness, how to produce them, and maintain their focus within each one.

The different brainwave states are:

Here's how some people use biofeedback:

• Actors learn to reduce stage fright
• Drivers can stay calmer in harrowing situations
• Students stay relaxed during a test to improve grades
• Businessmen find ways to stay “less reactive” to get more done
• Multi-tasking becomes easier
• Home users find ways to be less reactive to environmental stress and intrusions (noises) caused by neighbors to improve quality of life
• Learn what memories and activities help you become relaxed or stressed

How Biofeedback Saved My Life

“In 1983 I was using GSR biofeedback while playing Atari video games. Video games become progressively more difficult as you play, thereby generating an increasing amount of stress. 

The GSR hook-up was an early warning system monitoring my stress level. When you know you are stressing-out, you then can do something about it right then and there. This experience extended my Atari Game time significantly, dodging missiles directed my way. 

That year I was driving southward from San Francisco during the Christmas holidays. When transitioning from an onramp onto the freeway, my car struck the back side fender of another vehicle. This collision swerved my car around 180 degrees, and I found myself heading in the opposite direction down the freeway straight towards cars while going about 45 mph. 

Somehow, I flashed back to my biofeedback training. The oncoming cars seemed like nothing more than oncoming Atari game missiles and I was able to expertly dodge them, pull over onto the center divider keeping myself and the oncoming drivers SAFE. What a Trip!”

About Jeff Labno :

Jeff Labno consults with manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and private individuals on all aspects of mind machine tools and techniques, along with writing copy for brochures and technical manuals. You can learn more about Jeff Labno and find articles written by Jeff on his Bio Page (click here).