We are not normally aware of our bodies at work, although physiological factors such as blood pressure, blood flow, and heart rate affect our health. The therapeutic technique of biofeedback provides conscious awareness of unconscious body states and is a powerful tool for learning to control stress-related conditions.
Biofeedback gives people the power to influence some aspects of their bodily functioning that are of benefit to health. For example, it is well known that high blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease. Blood pressure fluctuates constantly in any 24 hours, but we are not normally aware of these changes. Using biofeedback, we can learn what it is that raises blood pressure and what we can do to bring it down again.
In fact, biofeedback is a kind of learning process consisting of three basic stages. First, the physiological function that you want to control is identified – such as lowering skin temperature or blood pressure. Second, the function needs to be converted into a signal that is easy to recognize – such as a moving needle on a meter, a flashing light, or a sound that changes its tone. In order to measure and observe any variation in the signal, you need to be connected to a monitoring machine that has either a visual display (such as a computer screen) or an audible output. For example, a tone may be used to indicate blood pressure. As the pressure falls, so does the pitch of the tone. The third stage is reached when you have learned what it is that makes the signal alter in the direction you want – in other words, how to consciously control your body’s response.
Thinking of how you felt about your neighbor when he took your parking space, for example, might make your blood pressure tone rise to a high-pitched squeal. Brea thing more slowly and thinking about your forthcoming holiday may alter it to a pleasing hum. Eventually, you will learn what mental tricks work to make these desired changes for you without needing the machine.
How biofeedback works
Biofeedback became popular in the 1960s and since then has been applied to a range of chronic disorders, many of them stress-related. It began with a study conducted at the University of California involving people with epilepsy. Researcher Barry Sterman discovered that the brainwaves of people on the verge of a seizure had an abnormally high level of brain activity. The researchers devised an interactive computer game where the screen image was related to the level of brain activity. By learning how to control the images on the screen, patients learned to control and normalize their brain activity patterns. For example, one patient’s image was a rocket, and by raising it to the top of the screen – using whatever mental trick worked best – he found he could normalize the electrical activity of his brain when it was highly active and thereby avert a seizure. A variety of similar techniques are in use today.
Using biofeedback
Biofeedback has proved to be successful in treating a wide range of conditions, including high blood pressure, migraine, and Raynaud’s disease – a circulatory problem in which blood vessels in the hands constrict and cause an aching, cold sensation. Bruxism (teeth-grinding) and temporomandibular joint (T MJ) disorder, where the tension in the jaw produces severe facial pain, are two stress related conditions that respond well to biofeedback. In the USA, biofeedback (or neurofeedback as it is also known) is being used to improve concentration among hyperactive children.
IMPROVED PERFORMANCE
There is new evidence that biofeedback may have positive effects even when there is not a specific medical problem. A team at Imperial College London has succeeded in raising the performance of musicians at London’s Royal College of Music. The results suggested that enhancing specific brain activity patterns by biofeedback improves attention. After biofeedback training, the students made fewer impulsive mistakes when performing, such as playing the wrong note or coming into the piece too early. The technique could also be applied to enhance sporting skills. Biofeedback could be used to improve a golfer’s swing, for example.
