Sunday, September 8, 2013

Positive performance using Biofeedback



Positive performance using Biofeedback

Biofeedback in sports and stress
Biofeedback is a technique that measures body functions (HR, BP etc) and help you to train and control them. It is mainly based on the measurement of BP, HR, RR, EEG, Muscle tension and skin conduction. With biofeedback you are connected to the electrical sensors, which receive information (feedback) about your body (bio).This feedback helps you to make changes in your body for eg.relaxing certain muscles –results in reducing pain.
Previous works on biofeedback was limited to medical problems like anxiety, insomnia, migraine, constipation, urinary incontinence, backpain, depression, raynaud’s disease, epilepsy and paralysis. But recent studies found positive effects of biofeedback on sports performance and stress management.
Biofeedback in stress:
Human health is dependent on the functioning of homeostasis. Whenever there is homeostatic imbalance, illness results. Chronic stress can interrupt our body’s homeostasis, leading to illness. To stay healthy we need to reduce stress level. Stress is of course a normal fact in everyday life. It is a physical and emotional response to certain stimuli. How affect people stress however depends on the duration of exposure. If it is a short term our body recovers. In fact some stress is useful for one’s performance. However long-term exposure is serious.
A regular exercise can reduces the stress. Biofeedback is another form of stress relief. During biofeedback session, if your heart started beating faster when you thought about examresults, the machine will make a click sound. By breathing deeply and relaxing you can bring down your heart rate consciously. Then the click sound disappears. Eventually, you can do it without the aid of the machine. The main aim of biofeedback application in stress management is learning to recognize the stress symptoms and to counteract them.
Biofeedback in sports: Enhancing performance-
Application of biofeedback in sports is based on the psycho-physiological principle. It states that every physiological change in the body is accompanied by a corresponding emotional change and vice-versa. Biofeedback can be a powerful device, among sports person for enhancing mental health and self regulation to cope up with stress in preparation for sports performance.
(for additional review refer:Biofeedback posted by Dr.R.Vinodha in vinodha’s Blog on Feb 4,2007)


Tuesday, January 15, 2013

happy pongal

Hope this pongal spills your life with happiness,warmth and prosperity.Wish you a happy pongal.