Heart Focused Biofeedback – Providing Focus and Control When Life Spins Out Control

1. Heart Focused Biofeedback – Providing Focus and Control When Life Spins Out Control Karen McKinley PsyD, LCSW

2. What is stress? • It is the body’s nonspecific response to any demand made upon it.

4. What Do We Know About Stress • Stress is bad for our health • Too much stress can impact health issues such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, depression and sleep disorders • 75-90% of doctor visits in the United States are for stress related disorders • 8 out of 10 prescriptions written in the United States, are for stress related problems-ulcers, hypertension, anxiety and depression

5. How did we become so stressed? • Fight or Flight Response • Being chased by a wild boar • House on fire • A truck coming at you the wrong way in the tunnel • A code being called in the hospital for your unit • Inappropriate Fight or Flight Response • Late for work • Our partner uses a tone we don’t like • Kids destroy the house after you spent all day cleaning it

6. What choice do you have? • Fight ? • Run ? • Change the way you experience the world!

7. How Stress Impacts You • It is not the event or situation that is harmful • It is how you respond to the event • When the body is stressed it becomes out of sync • Negative emotions create disorder in the heart rhythm and nervous system • Positive emotions create harmony – move in sync heart rhythm and nervous system

8. Quick Stress Test • I feel overly tired or fatigued • I am often nervous, anxious or depressed • I have sleep problems • I have frequent headaches or minor aches and pains • I worry about job security, financial obligations and/or relationships

9. The Mind-Body Connection • Yogis have known for thousands of years how to change their heart rate, lower their blood pressure, reduce acid secretions in their stomach and lower their body temperature • Mind Body Medicine has been used for 20 years for prevention and as adjunctive therapy utilizing meditation, yoga, diet and stress management

10. What we think effects our body • 5 minutes of recalling a stressful event can cause a slight short term rise in IgA (Immunoglobulin A), followed by a depletion that takes the body six hours to restore normal IgA production • 5 minutes of experiencing a positive emotion can cause a 34% increase in IgA, and continue levels continue to rise for the next six hours. Recovery time is reduced to one and a half hours.

11. Biofeedback • What is it? • A training technique in which people are taught to improve their health and performance by using signals within their own bodies. • How long has it been used? • Biofeedback has been used for more that 30 years.

12. Current Applications of Biofeedback • Migraine Headaches • Tension Headaches • Chronic Pain • Disorders of the digestive system • Incontinence • High blood pressure • Cardiac arrhythmias • ADD/ADHD

13. Current Applications of Biofeedback • Performance Improvement • Epilepsy • Paralysis, spinal cord injury and other movement disorders • Stress Management

14. Technology and Biofeedback • Today with new technology individuals can learn techniques in a few sessions that took years to learn in the past. • Cost • Breathing is free • 50 cent thermometer • $7,500 software

15. Basic Types of Biofeedback • Galvanic Response • Lie Detector – measures the flow of electricity in the skin • Good measure of internal stress • Finger sensor connected to a monitor – watch the needle move • Heart Rate Variability • Two way communication between the heart and the brain • Intervals between beats are important • When we are stressed, our heart rate is fixed and occurs at regular intervals, like soldiers marching into battle. • When relaxed, there is an increase in the interval between beats and increased flexibility

17. It All Starts with Breathing • Good breathing causes an increased sense of well being • Each breath we take helps balance our blood chemistry • Taking 5-6 incorrect breaths can cause the PH level in the blood to be unbalanced • Years of incorrect breathing can pre-dispose an individual to chronic illness • Breathing incorrectly for 3 minutes can decrease the amount of oxygen to the brain and heart by 30%

18. Freeze Frame/ Em Wave Demo • Quick Steps • Shift – to the heart • Activate – a positive feeling • Sense – a change in perception, attitude or feeling

19. Introducing Freeze Frame/Em Wave • Heart Focus • Close your eyes (optional) • Focus your attention in the area of your heart. If you like, you can put your hand over your heart. • Heart Breathing • As you focus on the area of the heart, pretend you are breathing through your heart. • Breathe slowly and gently (to a count of 3 - 6) until your breathing feels smooth and balanced • As you continue to breath, you will find your internal rhythm

20. Heart Focus Cont. • Positive Feeling • Continue to breathe through the area of the heart and find a positive feeling, like appreciation for someone and something. • Can you recall a time when you felt appreciation or love and re-experience that feeling? It could be a pet, a special place in nature or an activity that was fun. • Once you have found that feeling – try to sustain the feeling by continuing heart focus, heart breathing and heart feeling.

21. Heart Focus Cont. • Practice • Use Freeze Frame/Em Wave before stressful events - a test, important meeting, rush hour traffic • Use when you feel stress – give yourself a time out • Use when you have to make important decisions