By Doyin, Chantelle, Lydia, Katherine

1. By Doyin, Chantelle, Lydia, Katherine BIOFEEDBACK WAYS OF REDUCING STRESS HANDOUT

2. Biofeedback is a technique that trains people to improve their health by controlling certain bodily processes that normally happen involuntarily, such as heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and skin temperature. Electrodes attached to your skin measure these processes and display them on a monitor. With help from a biofeedback therapist, you can learn to change your heart rate or blood pressure, for example. At first you use the monitor to see your progress, but eventually you will be able to achieve success without the monitor or electrodes. Biofeedback is an effective therapy for many conditions, but it is primarily used to treat high blood pressure, tension headache, migraine headache, chronic pain, and urinary incontinence. What Is Biofeedback?

3. Biofeedback involves 4 processes: • FEEDBACK: The patient is attached to a machine, which gives information (feedback) about ANS anxiety. For example, the patient can hear his/her heart beat or is Given a signal (light or tone) to show higher or lower blood pressure. The thermal biofeedback can be used • Relaxation: The patient is taught techniques of relaxation like meditation • Operant Conditioning: Relaxation lead to a target behaviour, for example, heart rate is decreased or muscle tension is relaxed. This is rewarding, which increases the likelihood of the same behaviour being repeated. Such learning (conditioning) takes place without any conscious thought. The reward leads to an unconscious ‘stamping in’ of the behaviour. The Electromyography (EMG), which measures muscle tension • Transfer: The patient then transfers the skills learned to the real world Are There Different Types Of Biofeedback Therapies

4. A feedback thermometer detects skin temperature with a thermistor (a temperature-sensitive resistor) that is usually attached to a finger or toe and measured in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit. Skin temperature mainly reflects arteriole diameter. Hand-warming and hand-cooling are produced by separate mechanisms, and their regulation involves different skills. Biofeedback therapists use temperature biofeedback when treating chronic pain, edema, headache (migraine and tension-type headache), essential hypertension, Raynaud’s disease, anxiety, and stress. Feedback Therapy Strategy

5. Relaxation/meditation Therapy strategy Progressive relaxation exercises are based upon an awareness of tensions within various parts of your body and an awareness of how these same parts of your body feel when they are relaxed. A perfect relaxation technique is meditation.

6. EEG Biofeedback is a learning strategy that enables persons to alter their brain waves. When information about a person's own brain wave characteristics is made available to him/her, he or she can learn to change them. • EEG Biofeedback is used for many conditions and disabilities in which the brain is not working as well as it might. These include Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and more severe conduct problems, specific learning disabilities, and related issues such as sleep problems, enuresis in children, speech disorders, teeth grinding, and chronic pain such as frequent headaches or stomach pain, or paediatric migraines. • The training is also helpful with the control of mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, as well as for more severe conditions such as medically uncontrolled seizures, minor traumatic brain injury, or cerebral palsy. Operant Conditioning (EEG)Therapy strategy

7. The EEG Biofeedback training is a painless, non-invasive procedure. One or more sensors are placed on the scalp, and one to each ear. The brain waves are monitored by means of an amplifier and a computer-based instrument that processes the signal and provides the proper feedback. This is displayed to the trainee by means of a video game or other video display, along with audio signals. The trainee is asked to make the video game go with his brain. As activity in a desirable frequency band increases, the video game moves faster, or some other reward is given. As activity in an adverse band increases, the video game is inhibited. Gradually, the brain responds to the cues that it is being given, and a "learning" of new brain wave patterns takes place. • In the case of ADHD, impulsivity, distractibility, and hyperactivity may all respond to the training. This may lead to much more successful school performance. Cognitive function may improve as well. In several controlled studies, increases of 10 and more points in IQ score were found for a representative group of ADHD children. How Is The (EEG)Therapy strategy Done?

8. The EEG Biofeedback training is a painless, non-invasive procedure. One or more sensors are placed on the scalp, and one to each ear. How Is The (EEG)Therapy strategy Done?

9. The operant conditioning of involuntary responses was demonstrated by miller and DiCara(1967) by paralysing rats with curare (they had respirators to keep them breathing), thus was to ensure that the rats could not use any form of voluntary control. • Half of the rats were rewarded whenever their heart rates slowed down; the reward delivered by electrically stimulating the pleasure- centre in the brain. The other half were rewarded when their heart rates speeded up. In both groups there were significant changes in heart beats after repeated reinforcement. Research Support to Biofeedback

10. Biofeedback has been shown to be effective with many conditions associated with stress, such as asthma, hypertension, migraine and bed-wetting (Underhill, 1999) • Biofeedback certainly works with voluntary responses. However, apparent changes in voluntary control may be due to relaxation and control of unused voluntary muscles. Attempts to replicate the work of DiCara and Miller have never been as successful (Dworkin and Miller, 1986) • It is time consuming and requires effort and commitment • On the other hand, it is non-invasive, has virtually no side effects. And can be effective over the long term Evaluation Research Support to Biofeedback