Biofeedback - Development Of Modern Biofeedback Methods, Biofeedback Training, Uses Of Biofeedback
consciously temperature
Biofeedback is a means by which a person can mentally influence a natural physiologic process that may or may not be consciously regulated under normal conditions. This could include lowering blood pressure, regulating the heart rate, or influencing the skin temperature.
Deliberate control of bodily functions is not a new accomplishment. Many historical accounts exist of Indian yogis who controlled their body temperature with such precision that they could make the palm of one hand warmer or cooler on one side than the other. Biofeedback also played a role in the performances of the famous escape artist Harry Houdini who consciously suppressed his gag reflex to suspend a key in his throat so as to regurgitate it later to unlock his elaborate bindings.
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As a form of therapy, biofeedback is a relatively recent development that has begun to gain acceptance among some members of the medical community. research in the topic began in the 1960s, and by the end of the decade a number of research projects had demonstrated its effectiveness. While some early studies indicated that physiologic processes not usually under conscious control could not be infl…
Biofeedback training must begin with an auditory or visual signal to measure the activity of the organ being influenced and to indicate any changes that take place in it. Heart rate, for example, can be signaled by a beeping sound that occurs with each heartbeat. A subject can detect any increase or decrease in the number of heartbeats per minute by the increasing or decreasing rapidity of the bee…
Clinical applications for biofeedback include the control of blood pressure for patients with hypertension, relief or control of migraine headaches, easing of muscle cramps, and relief of insomnia. Biofeedback training begins with the basic control of heart rate or other readily accessible and controllable functions. The subject is provided an auditory or visual signal at first and is gradually we…
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