Stress and Biofeedback
Stress is all around us. We encounter it on a daily basis. There are a wide variety of healthy ways to deal with stress. Biofeedback is one of them.
Biofeedback uses a biological signal from your body (such as finger temperature, heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tone or brain waves) to help identify your state of mind: relaxed versus stressed. When used with relaxation methods, it can be an effective way to treat stress, anxiety, high blood pressure, pain, and other conditions.
A good example of biofeedback in action is the "mood ring." The ring's stone changes color supposedly because of the person's mood. In reality, the color changes with your finger temperature, which can be linked to feeling stressed or relaxed. When people are stressed, the tiny blood vessels on each side of their fingers constrict, leading to decreased blood flow, which, in turn, causes the finger temperature to drop. After relaxation, the blood vessels dilate, blood flow increases, finger temperature increases, and the mood ring color changes.
There are three main types of biofeedback:
- Muscle tone biofeedback
- Finger temperature biofeedback
- Brain wave biofeedback
In each, the body tells us through muscle tightness, finger temperature, or abnormal brain waves how stressed or relaxed you feel. Once you are able to recognize your body's stressed state, you can be taught how to relax the tight muscles, ways to warm cold fingers, or change the abnormal brain waves by using relaxation techniques.
Once learned, this method can be an effective, low-cost, easy-to-use, non-drug way to help relieve stress, anxiety, and pain.
To learn more about biofeedback, contact your primary care physician for a referral to one of Dean's behavioral health specialists.
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