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Du kan få kunskap om din kropp genom en biofeedback skärm eller biofeedback-genererade elektroniska ljud. T. ex. ofarliga sensorer appliceras på fingrarna eller örsnibben upptäcker din puls och skickar hjärtfrekvens data till en dator, som visar din hjärtfrekvens på en biofeedback skärm. Biofeedback ger mycket mer känslighet och precision för att upptäcka din psyko-fysiologiska tillstånd (t.ex. stressad eller avslappnad) än vad du kan upptäcka på egen hand. Genom biofeedback träning kan du lära dig att synkronisera andningen med din kroppsliga processer, och detta synkronisering kan hjälpa dig att förbättra din hälsa och välbefinnande.

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Overview
You can gain knowledge about your body through a biofeedback screen or a biofeedback-generated electronic sound. Biofeedback provides much more sensitivity and accuracy in detecting your psycho-physiological state (e.g., stressed versus relaxed) than you can detect on your own. Through biofeedback training, you can learn to sync your conscious efforts (e.g., attention to breathing) with your bodily processes, and this syncing can help you to enhance your health and wellness.

Biofeedback Training at Mind-Body Wellness
Erica believes that most individuals can benefit from biofeedback training as a means to enhance awareness, reduce stress, and experience well-being. Biofeedback training at Mind-Body Wellness may include one or more of the modalities (e.g., skin conductance biofeedback) listed below. To schedule a relaxation training appointment (using biofeedback), contact Erica.

Skin Conductance Biofeedback
Harmless sensors applied to your finger tips provide biofeedback about your skin conductance, which gives real-time feedback about the degree of electrical activity in your sweat glands. When there is high electrical activity of your sweat glands, you are more likely to be stressed. When there is low electrical activity of your sweat glands, you are more likely to be relaxed. With this particular form of biofeedback, you can see a representation of your stress level through the feedback shown on a computer screen. As you relax, the image on the computer screen representing the electrical activity of your sweat glands changes in real-time. Mind-Body Wellness has an array of skin conductance biofeedback “games” that can help you to strengthen your relaxation skills.

Heart-rate Variability Biofeedback
Harmless sensors applied to your fingers or earlobe detect your pulse rate in real-time. In healthy individuals, the heart-rate varies considerably (meaning the person has high heart-rate variability) when measured for even just a few seconds. If the individual’s heart-rate does not vary much from second to second (meaning the person has low heart-rate variability), he or she may be at greater risk of developing a chronic health condition. Heart-rate variability biofeedback involves learning how to synchronize your breathing with your heart-rate. With relaxation practice, the line on the computer screen representing your number of heartbeats per moment changes from looking like an uncoordinated set of peaks and valleys to looking like a smooth wave. For most individuals, heart-rate variability is increased by mindfully breathing approximately six breaths per moment.

Thermal Biofeedback
When people are under stress, they are more likely to have cold hands and feet due to the body’s blood staying near the body’s organs (in preparation for “fight-or-flight”). Of course, if you are outside in cold weather or sitting in a cold room, your hands and feet are also likely to be cold! Thermal biofeedback training takes place in a warm room without any drafts to ensure that outside factors are not affecting your finger temperature. A harmless sensor is placed on your finger. The sensor gives a reading of your finger temperature. Colder finger temperatures indicate more “peripheral vasoconstriction” (the narrowing of small blood vessels in the limbs) and generally more stress.  Warmer finger temperatures indicate more “peripheral vasodilation” (the widening of small blood vessels in the limbs) and generally more relaxation. Through thermal biofeedback training, you learn how to consciously increase the temperature of your hands through relaxation, visualization, or a combination of both.  Over time, thermal biofeedback training allows you to gain more conscious control over the mental processes that precede and succeed stress in your body and mind.

Research on Biofeedback
Researchers have found that certain kinds of biofeedback training were effective in reducing individuals’ symptoms of the following kinds of chronic conditions: anxiety, chronic pain, constipation, headache, insomnia and asthma (among others). Erica uses biofeedback training to help individuals generate more balance in their nervous system activity and more overall resiliency to stress.

Videos about biofeedback:
Coping with stress – biofeedback: Self-mastery beyond pills
How to use biofeedback for stress