Reasons to Reduce Stress | Stress Minimizing Books

Stress is unavoidable, right?  That is a practical reality.  We can’t totally avoid stress as long as we are alive in this world.   We can reduce our exposure to stress.  We can counteract stress by doing relaxation exercises, yoga, exercise, meditation, and other things like biofeedback.

Why is it worth the effort to reduce or manage stress?  Here are a few reasons.

Cardiovascular disease:  Stress can cause constriction of blood vessels which leads to increased blood pressure.  It can also cause plaque to build up in the arteries causing them to be less flexible.  This can lead to heart disease, strokes, and heart attacks.

Physical Pain:  When some people are under stress, they tense some of their muscles unnecessarily and chronically.  Muscles are intended to cause the body to move and to maintain posture.  When they are not working for those purposes, they should be resting.  When muscles contract for a long period of time they can trigger pain.  If a person is tensing their muscles as a reaction to stress for a long enough time, they may experience pain.  This is often experienced as neck pain, back pain, or headaches because of chronic tension in the face, neck, and back muscles.

Sleep problems: When a person is stressed a lot during the day, they may develop problems falling asleep and or staying asleep.  Being physically tense and mentally anxious at bedtime makes it more difficult to get a good night’s sleep.  Sleep may be improved if you reduce stress.  It is very important to get enough sleep for good mental and physical health.

Cognitive function problems: Chronic stress has been shown to reduce connections between neurons in the brain and actually reduce the size of important parts of the brain.  Even short-term stress affects our ability to think clearly.  You probably can remember times that you were under stress and had difficulty with schoolwork or mental work on your job.

There are many more negative effects that stress can have on us.  The ones listed above should make the point.  For much, much more on the negative effects of stress on your body, check out the works of Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D. including a 24-lecture video program by The Great Courses company entitled Stress and Your Body.  I just wanted to give a few important examples.

We encounter multiple sources of stress every day.  It is important that we do things to reduce the negative effects of stress daily so that we don’t suffer these negative effects.  By doing this we will not only avoid physical and mental health symptoms.  We will also improve our quality and enjoyment of life.

Harry L. Campbell

914-762-4646 – Harry@biofeedbackinternational.com

Author of What Stress Can Do, Available on Amazon.com

Biofeedback Resources International Corp.

Get More Info : Visit Here : Stress Minimizing Books

Neurofeedback Training for Concussions | Neurofeedback Certification

 Concussions happen in many ways including sports and motor vehicle accidents, slip and falls, military blast injuries, and physical assaults.  Effective treatment methods are limited.  Because a concussion involves an injury to the brain, it makes sense that therapies should involve the brain.  Neurofeedback training is a therapy that helps to regulate dysfunctional activity in the brain that might be causing symptoms.

When the brain operates it produces electric impulses that can be measured by neurofeedback instruments.  These instruments then display the information from various parts of the brain.  If the information shows that the brain is not functioning normally, the software can encourage the brain to go back to functioning in a more effective way.  With this neurofeedback training symptoms tend to resolve.

In their book, Conquering Concussion, Healing TBI Symptoms with Neurofeedback and Without Drugs, Mary Lee Esty, Ph.D., and C.M. Shifflett talk about this in-depth.  Here is a list of symptoms that they include in their book that brain injuries can cause: headaches, impulsivity, fatigue, confusion, memory problems, slowed thinking, focus, insomnia, anxiety, anger, explosiveness, phobias, dizziness, mood swings, indecision, concentration, light sensitivity, slow speech, depression, nightmares, and risk-taking.

Neurofeedback training is non-invasive.  It uses electrodes or sensors that are placed on the scalp either individually or with a cap or headset.  The sensors only measure activity coming from the brain.  No electricity is introduced into the brain through the electrodes.  There are some exceptions to this.  Some forms of neurofeedback use CES – cranial electrical stimulation which puts a mild electrical current into the head or Electro-Magnetic stimulation which introduces a magnetic field into the head.  When you are researching neurofeedback training, equipment, or therapy you should ask questions about what method is being used and if it is non-invasive or not.

Many neurofeedback providers conduct a brain map before starting training.  This involves placing a cap or headset on the head and recording the EEG from 12 or more areas of the brain.  This data is then compared to a normative database to determine how close the activity is to the average of similar brains of people without clinical symptoms.  A report is produced that indicates which areas have normal, lower than normal, and higher than normal activity for various measures.  Based on this information and the symptoms the person presents with, a training protocol is set.  The person then attends training sessions 1-3 times per week for a total of about 30 sessions.  Sometimes less and sometimes more sessions are required.

Most of the professionals who provide the service are psychologists, social workers, and mental health counselors.  Some chiropractors and others also provide the service.  Training and certification are available for those who want to provide the service.

For more information on neurofeedback training and certification, you can send me an email or call.

Harry L. Campbell, BPS, BCB, BCN

President, Biofeedback Resources International Corp.

Harry@biofeedbackinternational.com

914-762-4646

www.biofeedbackinternational.com

Author of What Stress Can Do, Available on Amazon.com