The Role of Biofeedback Equipment in Stress Management

Stress management is a huge subject. There are many methods of managing stress.

 

One thing that is constant is that the body reacts to stress in several ways, many of which can be measured using biofeedback equipment. People who are experiencing stress often have sensations that they can feel, if they are sensitive and present enough without biofeedback equipment.

 

These sensations may be related to changes in cardiovascular activity like your heart beating faster or more forcefully, blood vessels constricting, muscles contracting, increased sweat, changes in brain activity, or changes in digestive activity. These changes are related to what is called physiology. Whether a person feels these changes or not, they are happening. What biofeedback equipment can do is make the invisible, visible.

 

It can show you the measurable changes that are happening, moment by moment so that you can connect the changes to the events that may have triggered them. You can also use this information to learn to train your physiology or affect how much change there is and reverse some of the changes if they are in an unhealthy direction. When we step on a scale and don’t like the number we see, we may regulate our behavior including eating and exercise to change the number we see on the scale over time. This is a slower process than what we see when using biofeedback equipment. The changes in the readings can happen in moments instead of days, weeks, or months. With practice you can train your physiology to behave in a more healthy way. The negative changes become smaller, and you recover from them more quickly.

 

The things that biofeedback equipment can measure include muscle tension, skin temperature, skin conductance (sweat activity), Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability, Respiration, end tidal CO2, and EEG/brainwave activity.

 

Free introductory biofeedback and neurofeedback courses are available at www.biofeedbackinternational.com

 

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What Can You Do About Stress?

Stress tends to trigger the fight, flight, or flee response which is supposed to be an emergency state which lasts for only a short time.  When there is not a short-term emergency requiring a physical response then the state can last for a long time.  It may also be triggered repeatedly over a long period of time.  When this happens, negative symptoms including pain, headaches, cardiovascular problems, and insomnia can result.

Try some of these things to reduce the negative effects of stress on your physical and mental health.

Monitor your muscles.  Several times during the day, take a few moments to scan your body from head to toe for any areas where you are holding tension.  You might notice that you are frowning, biting your teeth together, raising your shoulders, or holding tension in your arms, hands, legs, or feet.  Just release the tension and notice how much better it feels.  You can do this when you are feeling stressed too.

Slow breathing.  Most of us breath faster and shallower than we need to.  Males tend to breathe 12-14 breaths per minute.  Females breathe about 14-16 breaths per minute on average.  In my experience many people who are anxious are breathing 15-30 breaths per minute.  Simply practicing breathing at a slower pace can reduce anxiety and decrease the negative effects of stress.  Find a pace that is comfortable for you so that you will feel good about practicing it.  There are computer programs and smart phone apps that help you to practice slow paced breathing.  Some Heart Rate Variability biofeedback experts suggest practicing slow paced breathing for twenty minutes two times each day to relieve stress symptoms

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