Have you ever noticed that you don’t require these motions when you lift your cup to take the first sip of your morning
Smokey tea?
You don’t require it.
Like greeting a familiar face with a welcoming grin in the morning?
All of your behaviours are unconsciously regulated.
Other bodily processes, such as heart rate, breathing rate, skin temperature, and blood pressure, are all governed
involuntarily by your nervous system.
You don’t think about speeding up your heartbeat or your breathing.
It simply occurs as a result of your surroundings, such as when you’re frightened, aroused, or exercising.
Do you know about a novel strategy that can help you acquire better control over these generally uncontrollable functions?
This is known as biofeedback.
Migraine headaches, chronic pain, incontinence, and high blood pressure are among the problems that biofeedback therapy
is used to help prevent or cure.
Biofeedback is a selfregulation technique in which patients learn to deliberately control body functions that were previously assumed to be
uncontrollable.
In the 1960s, laboratory tests were undertaken to study research subjects’ brain wave activity, blood pressure, and other
bodily functions that are not regulated freely in regular conditions.
It was then that the term “biofeedback” was coined.
Increased creativity at will—by a person’s ability to change their own brain patterns—or, more importantly, the ability to lower one’s own blood pressure—making prescription blood pressure medicine
unnecessary—were intended to be the consequences of these research.
The premise behind biofeedback is that you can have more control over your body by harnessing the power of your
mind and being aware of what’s going on inside it.
Biofeedback’s mechanism and mechanism of action are unknown to researchers.
They are aware that biofeedback promotes relaxation, which can aid in the relief of a variety of stress-related disorders.
As you may be aware, stress is one of the leading causes of a wide range of disorders.
Electrodes are placed to your skin during a biofeedback session.
Finger sensors are also an option.
These electrodes/sensors give impulses to a monitor, which shows a sound, flash of light, or image representing your
heart and breathing rate, blood pressure, skin temperature, perspiration, or muscle activity as a sound, flash of light,
or image.
These functions change when you’re stressed.
Your heart rate accelerates, your muscles tense up, your blood pressure rises, you begin to sweat, and your breathing
becomes more rapid.
On the display, you can watch these stress responses as they happen and get quick feedback as you try to stop them.
People utilise biofeedback to aid with a variety of conditions, including:
Anxiety, despair, and post-traumatic stress disorder are all symptoms of anxiety.
- ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
- Asthma or other breathing issues.
- Digestive problems, such as constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.
- Insomnia.
- Headaches, fibromyalgia, and joint and muscle pain are all examples of pain.
Are you afflicted with any of the following conditions?
If that’s the case, biofeedback could be able to benefit you as well.
- Diabetes.
- Epilepsy
- Hypertension (high blood pressure).
Alcoholism and drug addiction are examples of substance use disorders.
Biofeedback, for your information, is a painless procedure.
Your provider will implant painless sensors on your skin during a biofeedback session.
- Breathing is one of the physiological signals measured by the sensors.
- The rate of your heart.
- Muscle movement.
- Sweat.
- Surface electromyography, or sEMG, is used to measure muscle movement and tension.
- Neurofeedback or EEG biofeedback to measure electrical brain activity.
- The temperature of your skin.
The results are displayed on a nearby screen, which your practitioner will explain.
Your practitioner will next recommend techniques to help you change the way your body works.
You may be required to follow the therapist’s instructions, such as
- Alter how you sit, stand, or move: Changing how you sit, stand, or move can help relieve muscle tension.
- Change your breathing patterns: Changing your breathing patterns can help you relax.
- Relax your muscles: Concentrating on relaxing your muscles will help relieve discomfort.
- Practice mindfulness and focus: Concentrating on a variety of things will help you control your breathing
- and reduce your heart rate.
- Take a test: You can notice how stress affects your body’s response if you try to solve an arithmetic problem
- or a riddle.
The most important thing to remember is that with enough practise, you may learn to make the identical bodily
changes without using the feedback screen or the practitioner’s guidance.
Isn’t it incredible how Biofeedback can help you feel more in control of your health and well-being?
There are no side effects or potential complications, and it is noninvasive.
The number of treatments varies greatly depending on the following factors:
- The condition you’re attempting to control.
- The degree to which your symptoms are severe.
- Your body’s reaction.
- The amount of time you spend practising in between sessions.
Biofeedback, of course, is not a substitute for traditional medical treatment.
Biofeedback is commonly used in conjunction with other treatments.
You learn biofeedback and take medicines.
Biofeedback sessions are normally held in a therapist’s office, however computer programmes exist that allow you
to connect the biofeedback sensor to your own computer.
Biofeedback therapy is a training method rather than a treatment.
Individuals receiving biofeedback training, like those learning to tie their shoes or ride a bicycle, must take an active
role and practise in order to gain the ability.
The patient is an active learner, rather than a passive recipient of treatment.
It’s the equivalent of learning a new language.
When a patient seeks clinical biofeedback treatment, the emphasis is on education. The therapist explains what each
sensor will measure when it is placed on the patient’s skin, assuring the patient that the sensors do not cause pain or
shock and are just capturing signals from the body and showing those signals on the screen. The therapist selects signal
displays that take into account both the individual’s demands and limits, and then explains each signal. This might be
as simple as stating, “The green line represents muscular tension, while the blue line represents temperature.”
Patients are also taught how their physiology reacts to mental stimuli, especially stressful ones.
This is frequently accomplished by a psychophysiological evaluation that includes a series of activities and recoveries.
Patients are asked to relax first, then to participate in a stressful exercise like the Stroop Color–Word Test5 or the Serial Sevens Test6 before being asked to relax again.
The therapist can then pause the feedback and show the patient his or her physiological reactivity to the mental task,
as well as the extent and speed with which the physiology returned to baseline values.
The therapist may now describe what the ideal values are.
Conclusion: Biofeedback training can be used as a stand-alone or complementary therapy for individuals.
The current treatment may be causing an insufficient or even non-existent response.
Individuals who are medicine intolerant or for whom pharmacological treatment is contraindicated (for example, the
patient is pregnant or may become pregnant, or the patient is breastfeeding) may be referred for biofeedback training.
Biofeedback was provided as a beneficial supplement to the counselling wellness approach, as you now know.
Biofeedback interventions can reveal a link between the mind and body while also allowing clients to improve their
self-awareness and self-regulation abilities. Counselors can also include biofeedback therapies into their counselling
practise to help clients develop self-awareness and self-regulation skills that will help them attain their optimal level
of health and well-being.
-End-
