Biofeedback

What is it?

Biofeedback techniques enable us to teach you to prevent and control stress by becoming aware of when the stress response starts and stopping it in the moment.

This technology has been designed to prevent, manage and reverse the effects of stress.

You can watch in real time how thoughts and emotions affect your heart and autonomic nervous system. You will learn how to intentionally shift to a positive emotional state and will be able to see the changes in your heart rhythms immediately on the computer screen.

These shifts in your heart rhythms create a favourable cascade of neural, hormonal and biochemical events that benefit the entire body and mind. Blood pressure drops. Stress hormones plummet. The immune system pumps up. Anti-aging hormones increase. You gain clarity, calmness and control. The effects are both immediate and long lasting.

Research has shown that emotions are reflected in our heart rhythm patterns. The analysis of Heart Rate Variability (HRV), or heart rhythms, is recognized as a powerful, non-invasive measure that reflects heart-brain interactions and autonomic nervous system dynamics, which are particularly sensitive to changes in the emotional state.

New clinical research identifies HRV as a key indicator of preventable stress and shows correlation with a broad range of related health problems.

Studies found a critical link between the heart and emotions. The studies explain how the heart responds to emotional and mental reactions. As we experience emotional reactions like anger, frustration, anxiety and insecurity, heart rhythms become incoherent or more jagged (see the graphic), which interfere with the communication between the heart and brain. These emotions create a chain reaction in the body – blood vessels constrict, blood pressure rises, and the immune system is weakened. This kind of a consistent imbalance can put a strain on the heart and other organs, and eventually lead to serious health problems.

When we experience heart-felt emotions like love, care, appreciation and compassion the heart produces coherent or smooth rhythms (see the graphic), that enhance communication between the heart and brain. Positive heart qualities produce harmonious rhythms that are considered to be indicators of cardiovascular efficiency and nervous system balance. They've also been shown to produce beneficial effects that include enhanced immunity and hormonal balance.

Biofeedback

What is it used for?

What would you like to improve? Your work performance; your school work; your golf game; your creative efforts; your health; your fitness; your work, home or social relationships; your peace of mind?

Today, the overwhelming pace and intensity of life affect all of these things. This technology can help you break through stress that's preventing you from feeling good, being in control, and achieving your goals.

We can also help you to overcome/ manage problems such as stress-mediated illness, many chronic illnesses and conditions that are psychophysiological in nature. Examples include:

Emotional/Behavioral Disorders

Certain negative emotional states such as anxiety, anger and panic, include a component of over-arousal thereby triggering the "fight or flight" repertoire of physiological responses. Some of these existing emotional tendencies are additionally amplified by stress. When in an undesirable emotional state, many individuals then experience unwanted cognitive and behavioral phenomena that can lead to impaired performance and undesirable behavioral choices. If shifted to a more positive, balanced emotional state, many find that performance and behavioral control improves. This system has been used successfully with clients having emotional/behavioral conditions, such as:
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Depression
  • Anger Management
  • Emotional Liability
  • Asperger's Syndrome
  • Performance Anxiety
  • Peak Performance Training
  • ADHD
  • Pain
Acute chronic and recurrent pain is a significant problem worldwide for children and adults and one of the leading reasons that people seek medical (conventional or complementary) treatment. Negative emotional states such as anxiety and fear go hand in hand with pain experiences and are often as important as the pain stimulus itself in the patient's experience of distress. In addition, patient perceptions of control or lack thereof over their pain, can contribute to poor coping with pain. Excess sympathetic nervous system arousal may contribute to or mediate pain intensity in certain conditions. Therefore, this system and its techniques that promote stress reduction, reframing of emotional states and offer active control, are very helpful.

Psychophysiological Disorders

Disorders that by definition include both a mind and body component are increasingly identified in primary care. Most commonly, the "mind" component includes stress and negative emotional experiences resulting in Autonomic Nervous System imbalances which in turn mediate a plethora of "body" symptoms including pain, trouble sleeping, appetite changes, fatigue, dizziness and nausea to name a few. In many cases, excess chronic, sympathetic nervous system over-arousal is particularly problematic and for certain conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Tourette's syndrome, and can lead to flare-ups of these conditions. Some of the more common psychophysiological disorders seen everyday in primary care offices include:
  • Insomnia
  • Cardiovascular rehab
  • Functional GI disorders including irritable bowel syndrome and diarrhea
  • Somatisation/ Somatoform/ Conversion Disorders (often manifest as somatic complaints such as abdominal pain, headache, etc.)
  • Habits/Tics/Tourette's syndrome
  • Hypertension

Chronic Illness

Evidence indicates that for many forms of chronic illness, the general dysregulation and drain of the illness experience can be reflected in decreased coherence. In addition, many individuals with chronic illness experience various forms of stress related to the chronic illness experience (academic, job, financial, social, physical) which can further amplify either core symptoms or related feelings of fatigue, malaise, etc. Feeling hopeless and or ineffective, these patients are also at risk of developing negative emotions which may further complicate things by promoting unhelpful neuro-hormonal and immune events that can interfere with recovery.

There is new evidence that Heart Rate Variance training, breath control and engaging positive emotions may impact specific conditions such as airway reactivity in asthma, glycemic control in diabetes, blood flow in sickle cell anemia, and effect positive changes that promote immune function in conditions such as cancer and atopic dermatitis. It has long been acknowledged that although negative emotions and stress don't cause inflammatory bowel disease, they likely play a role in exacerbation and maintenance of symptoms for many. The system has been used successfully in the following conditions:

  • Asthma
  • Cystic Fibrosis
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Cancer
  • Atopic Dermatitis
  • Type II Diabetes Mellitus
  • Diabetes Mellitus I
  • Sickle Cell Anaemia
  • Immune System dysfunction
  • Crohns and Ulcerative Colitis

Children and adults with a variety of chronic illnesses often share the feeling of a sense of loss of control as part of the ongoing chronic illness experience. One of the benefits of using these techniques is that these approaches give back some measure of control over the chronic illness and that alone has important therapeutic impact. Many patients greatly appreciate the ability to master a technique that allows for some self-management of symptoms commonly associated with chronic illness such as pain, stress and insomnia. In addition, since these patients are on multiple medications, adding an effective tool that is safe and non-pharmacological is particularly welcome. What happens during a session?

Sensors are placed on the fingertips of one hand, and you then navigate a series of tasks on a computer screen. The tasks are dependant on your ability to manipulate your bodies’ stress-response. A step-by-step approach teaches you how to achieve the desired results. Once you reach the desired outcome, you will leave feeling much more relaxed and in control of your emotions and stress-levels. On a deeper level, the body’s innate healing response is enhanced and pain levels are decreased.

Sessions are about 30 to 45 min long and 4 to 6 sessions are needed, spaced one to two weeks apart.

Our clients notice their sleeping habits improve; they can manage daily stress much better than before and now have the tools to face any future challenges to their stress-levels.

On a physical level, chronic diseases often improve and pain-levels become more manageable.

How does it work?

As you practice the biofeedback, you can readily see and experience the changes in your heart rhythm patterns. These become less irregular, smoother, and more sine wave-like as the individual enters the ‘coherent’ or relaxed mode. This process enables individuals to easily develop an association between a shift to a more healthful and beneficial physiological mode and the positive internal feeling experience that induces such a shift.

This technology analyzes the heart rhythm patterns and calculates a coherence ratio for each session. Coherence is a highly efficient physiological state in which the nervous system, cardiovascular system, hormonal and immune systems are all working in harmony. So, the more coherence you have, the less stress you have.

The coherence level is fed back to the user as an accumulated score or success in performing on-screen tasks designed to reinforce coherence building skills.

Biofeedback trainers are currently utilized in medical, mental health, corporate, sports, and academic settings to improve clinical, psychological, and performance outcomes. This technology holds promise as a powerful and practical tool for the enhancement of health and human potential.

Can you benefit from Biofeedback at Avalon Natural Health?

If you have concerns about your anxiety, stress, panic attacks or depression, please answer the following questions below.
During the past 30 days, about how often did you feel...
  1. tired for no reason?
  2. nervous?
  3. so nervous that nothing could calm you down?
  4. hopeless?
  5. restless or fidgety?
  6. so restless that you couldn’t sit still?
  7. depressed?
  8. so depressed that nothing could cheer you up?
  9. that everything was an effort?
  10. worthless?

Research

  1. Dr. Dana McDougall. Your Brain and Neurofeedback: A Beginner's Manual
  2. Horst H. Mueller, CPsych. Clinical Outcomes Study of Fibromyalgia Patients Treated With EEG-Driven Stimulation and Myofascial Physical Therapies at Myosymmetries International Inc. (Edmonton)
  3. Jiri Tyl, Svojmil Petranek et al. Efficacy of EEG Biofeedback Training on EEG Maturation in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
  4. Hideaki Koizumi, Prof., Ph.D. Dynamic Optical Tomography: A New Concept for Non-Invasive Human Brain Mapping
  5. Lawrence Klein. Mind Over Muscle Programme
  6. Robert Kall, M.D. Optimal Functioning Training: A Different Vision of Biofeedback, Self Regulation and Applied Psychophysiology
  7. T. Druckman, M.Ed., A. Minevich, M.A. Applications of EEG - Neurofeedback for Attention Deficit Disorder
  8. Vladimir Tokarev, Ph.D. The Use of REG Biofeedback in Occupational Medicine
  9. Ilan Shalif. Biofeedback, Alternative Therapies and All the Others