You have already used biofeedback without knowing it.  Every time you step on a scale in your bathroom or doctor’s office, you receive feedback about your weight.  Then you have an idea in your mind about whether or not you are on track.  In response, you may increase or decrease your exercise level and food intake.  This modification of your behavior and a follow-up assessment of your weight complete the biofeedback loop.  Another example of a behavioral change in reaction to biofeedback happens when you regulate your exercise vigor on a treadmill based on your elevating heart rate.  A similar type of biofeedback occurs when you use a speed detector in your car, which you set to sound an alarm if you go over a certain speed limit.  This can cue you to decelerate, causing the alarm to quiet.

In a clinical setting, biofeedback is used to help people control functions of their body such as respiration, heart rate, sweating, and muscle tension.  Another physical sign of stress that people are often unaware of is cold hand temperature.  I frequently recommend monitoring hand temperature as a sign of stress, as it can be easy to measure without expensive equipment.  The next article in this series will provide you simple step-by-step instructions for using biofeedback to learn about your stress response by tracking your hand temperature. First, let’s take a quick look at what hand temperature has to do with your stress level.

In order to understand this connection, it is important to examine what your body does in response to a stress or challenge.  Luckily, all animals were designed with a system to combat challenge.  A branch of the nervous system, called the autonomic nervous system, is made up of the sympathetic and parasympathetic sections.  The sympathetic nervous system is commonly referred to as the “fight or flight response.” This impressive network is dedicated to ensuring that our body reacts instantly and forcefully to the threat of danger.

The ‘fight or flight” system is so powerful that it responds directly and immediately to real or potential threats, often before you even know you are stressed!  This causes a chain reaction in the body, beginning with the sensory organs, which send data to the brain about sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing.  In turn, the brain interprets this data, and if the right triggers are tripped, the brain sends a danger message to glands (adrenal and pituitary), which activate a hormonal cascade that sends epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol throughout the body.  Suddenly, whether or not you realize it, you experience a number of physical changes in response to stress.

When it is functioning appropriately, this is a wonderful system to assist you with real threats of danger that require you to respond by acting and thinking quickly, such as when a car is swerving into your lane, you hear footsteps behind you when headed through a dark parking lot, or a fire alarms sounds its ear-piercing shrill.  Consider for a moment that the following changes in your body would help you to react:

• Constriction of the blood vessels in some parts of the body (outer or peripheral) to send the blood flow centrally to the heart and brain to help with moving and thinking quickly
• Increased heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, and fat to supply the body with energy
• Muscles tighten to prepare for action
• Increased perspiration to prevent overheating
• Normal house-keeping duties of the body such as digestion and saliva production halt so that every ounce of energy is used for actions that protect one’s life.

Take another look at this list. Which changes do you think relate to hand temperature? That’s right! Those constricting blood vessels in the peripheral areas of the body cause hand temperature to plummet. When confronted with actual danger, such a physical change is beneficial. Again, your heart and brain need that extra blood-flow!

The problem is that this stress-response system, while powerful, is often over-activated in modern-day life.  To help ourselves respond appropriately to the level of stress we experience, it is useful to be aware of our physical response.  Then we can learn to modify it. Hand temperature biofeedback is one interesting but simple way to do this.  Remember, stay tuned for the next article in this series for a guide to understanding how hand temperature can help you assess your well-being and simple step-by-step instructions for using biofeedback to modify it as you change your stress level! For now, it will be helpful to investigate some portable biofeedback devices and apps.

A question I am commonly asked by clients is whether they can buy a biofeedback computer.  I often find myself answering that while the equipment itself is important in the beginning, the overall goal is to become self-reliant and not need the devices.  In a sense, the tools evolve into skills as we move from depending on the external to increased awareness of the internal.  Nevertheless, tools can be an adjunct to biofeedback treatment or provide you with a simple way to begin to incorporate biofeedback into your life for the purpose of increasing your awareness.  Check out some of these portable and user-friendly devices as well as apps for smartphones:

Thermistor- a small portable unit that measures your hand temperature to help you become aware of the constriction and vasodilation of your peripheral blood flow.

Stress Eraser – a portable unit that uses the blood pulse volume of your finger to help you see how your breathing affects your heart rate.

BellyBio- app responds to your breathing pattern, which is determined by movements of the phone when laid across your belly, with music and lights that provide feedback of this breathing pattern so that you can regulate it.

 Stress Doctor- app uses your iphone’s camera flash to read your blood volume pulse and help you synchronize your breathing with your heart rate for improved heart rate coherence and relaxation.

Biobreathing- app provides a simple respiration pacer that allows you to set the rate of inhalation and exhalation so you can follow along with the screen to work toward regulating and slowing your breath.

*In addition, there are apps that allow you to hook up sensors to your smartphone that may more precisely measure your respiration, heart rate, hand temperature or skin conductance. These vary in price.

In summary, while it is important to regularly monitor and adjust your activities and people in your life so that you create a healthy balance, there are many situations that will be beyond your control.  For this reason, becoming more aware of your body and its reactions to stress can help you get better control of your responses to situations that are beyond your control.  Once you are aware of your body’s responses, you can work to adjust them.

**For a variety of visualization and relaxation exercises see our Mindfulness- Based Biofeedback audio download.