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BIOFEEDBACK :
Biofeedback is a fancy
machine used basically the same way a thermometer or scale is used.
When we are sick, we use a thermometer to determine if we have a fever.
Depending on how high the fever is, we decide how we want to handle
it. (Take over the counter fever reducers or get to the emergency
room.) A thermometer is telling us the bio-feedback- the information
from our bodies- we need to make the decision. It's the same principle
with large and more complicated biofeedback machines.
These machines are used to chart internal functions with more accuracy
than a human alone is capable of, and the results are used to determine
and then gauge how well the treatment is working.
As an example, say you as a biofeedback patient need to learn how
to relax, because you're headed for a stroke. Along with a change
in diet and exercise, you need to learn how to stay calm. A biofeedback
machine hooked up to you in the office, you learn at what level of
stress you start to have physical problems (which are indicated by
lights or a buzzer, what ever the machine does to indicate an off
balance of heart rate or stressed - tightened- muscles.) the object
is for the patient to practice slowing down their heart rate or relax
their muscles until the machines light dims, or buzzer stops going
off. This is used as a gauge to help patients learn how to listen
to and control their bodies. The biofeedback therapist teaches the
patient exercises and techniques to use for adjusting the body's rhythm.
In the 1960's laboratory experiments were being conducted to examine
research subject's brain wave activity, blood pressure, and other
functions of the body which are under normal situations are not controlled
voluntarily. The term biofeedback was born. The outcomes of these
experiments was hoped to be increased creativity at will-by a person
being able to change their own brain patterns-or even more important,
the ability to decrease ones own blood pressure, making prescription
blood pressure medication unnecessary. Although this hope was found
to be unrealistic-too many variables-it has been recorded that biofeedback
can help with other conditions such as chronic pain and stress reduction.
Biofeedback techniques can help with migraines, digestive disorders,
and dangerous rhythms of heartbeat. The basic treatment involves teaching
the patient different forms of relaxation to adjust the different
levels of heart rate and breathing, digesting, etc. the gift of biofeedback
is that it serves to remind health care providers and patients that
our thoughts and emotions do play a big role in causing and treating
symptoms of illness.
A lot of the outcome depends on the patient. You must adhere to regimented
eating and exercise habits and change your stressful lifestyle in
order to achieve results. You need to commit to learning and practicing
stress relieving techniques. Relaxation seems to be the key in biofeedback,
and although scientists can not yet determine exactly how it all works,
they are able to document that biofeedback does, in fact, teach patients
how to control seemingly involuntary conditions of the nervous and
circulatory systems. This is thought to be part of the flight or fight
reflex system that we all have, and once had much more strongly, when
humans were threatened with physical harm more than any other.
When we experience stress today, our bodies still react with the same
type of response we did as early man. Our pupils dilate and we start
to sweat. Our heart rate increases, etc. but because we live in a
"civilized" society now, we can no longer just lash out
at seeming threats. So we hold it in and get sick. The practice of
recognizing these signs and symptoms of stress in our bodies and the
ability to control them-thus not becoming ill-is at the heart of biofeedback.
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