Biofeedback: Mind Over Matter

"Biofeedback is a form of alternative medicine that involves measuring a subject's quantifiable bodily functions ..."

Biofeedback has been called the mind and body therapy. It's designed to help you use your thoughts, your mind, and your will to control your body. Biofeedback is a technique that trains you to improve your health by learning to control certain internal bodily functions that normally occur involuntarily. Biofeedback monitors your heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, sweat gland activity, and even skin temperature. These functions are measured with electrodes and displayed on a monitor viewable by both you and your biofeedback specialist. The monitors provide feedback about how your body processes measurable body functions. The information from this type of monitoring can then be used to teach you how to gain control over "involuntary" activities that may be impacting your health in a negative way. Biofeedback is an effective therapy for many conditions, but it is primarily used to treat high blood pressure, tension and migraine headaches, chronic pain, hot flashes, irritable bowel syndrome, irregular heartbeats, and incontinence.

Why consider biofeedback?

Some people may never be interested in trying biofeedback. Without a clear understanding, the benefits of biofeedback may seem ambiguous. The people who may be more willing to give this alternative treatment a try are those who have been suffering from migraine headaches for years. They have tried every treatment, but nothing has worked. People who have suffered from chronic pain for decades may also benefit from a greater understanding of how their body is functioning, processing and responding to a health concern.

The National Institutes of Health has reported that biofeedback can lead to relief of chronic pain. The study also showed that biofeedback helped 20 percent of the people who suffered from urinary incontinence find relief, and another 30 percent of the participants found moderate relief. Biofeedback has also been found to help some people suffering from insomnia.

What happens during a biofeedback session?

In a biofeedback session, electrodes are attached to the skin. These electrodes feed information to a monitor that translates physiologic responses into tones that vary in pitch. These sensors will monitor your body's physiological response to stress, or how your muscles contract during a tension headache. The information is then fed back to you through audible sounds and symbols; beeping sounds and flashing lights. The feedback is designed to allow you to begin to associate your body's response to say your headache pain with certain physical functions such as your muscles tensing. Through the course of the biofeedback process, you can learn to identify, associate, and control the mental activities and begin to bring about a desired physical change.

A typical biofeedback session lasts between 30 to 60 minutes. The length and number of sessions are usually determined by your condition and how quickly you learn to control your physical responses. For instance, once you begin to recognize that your headache is a result of a certain set of tense muscles, the next step is to learn how to induce positive physical changes in your body. You learn to relax those specific muscles that you now know are tensing and causing your body to respond in a stressed manner. Biofeedback eventually trains you to produce the desired response on your own, and without the help of technology.

What are the benefits of biofeedback?

The benefits of biofeedback can be very personal to you and your condition, but biofeedback does provide certain known benefits:

• Measurable feedback about body functions.
• Locate areas of bodily stress and tension.
• Discover underlying health issues.
• Reduce, or eliminate the need for medication.
• Discover the root cause of a chronic condition.

Types of biofeedback

There are several different techniques used to gather biofeedback information about your body's responses. Study the various techniques to decide which one may be right for you.

Electroencephalogram (EEG). An EEG monitors the activity of brain waves associated with different states of mind, such as energy, relaxation, feeling calm, and sleeping.

Electromyogram (EMG)

EMG uses electrodes and other types of sensors to measure muscle tension. You can learn to control the tension once you recognize the feeling.

Skin response

Sensors measure the activity of your sweat glands and the amount of perspiration on your skin. Perspiration is an alert of anxiety.

Temperatureresponse

Sensors are attached to your fingers or feet to measure your skin temperature. Body temperature tends to drop under stress. A low reading can alert you to relax.Finding a biofeedback therapist

No matter what treatment you seek, always make sure you do your research to find a qualified biofeedback therapist. There are many biofeedback therapists. Some are professionals in other areas of the health care industry, and some attain certification from the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (BCIA). Ask the therapists to provide references, whether they are licensed in biofeedback or another health care field, and what experience they have in treating your specific condition and symptoms. You may obtain a list of biofeedback therapists certified by the BCIA by contacting the organization.

Keep a diary to monitor your use of the treatment as well as how you feel before, during and after the therapy to determine whether biofeedback is effective for your particular symptoms. Biofeedback may improve your medical condition and teach you a valuable discovery technique to use for living a healthier life.