Biofeedback is the use of measuring instruments to show people real-time changes in their own physiology for the purpose of self-regulation. It can help people learn to relax, or to be better focused and more alert. It can help you learn how to reduce anxiety, panic, PTSD, chronic pain, migraine or tension headaches, mood disorders, insomnia, or deal with relationship issues with greater flexibility. It can help reduce dependence on food, nicotine, or compulsive behaviors. It can also be helpful with chronic health problems like asthma, hypertension, arthritis, hypertension. And it can help people perform optimally in school, business, sports and creative endeavors. How can one modality help so many problems? Simple – biofeedback isn’t just one modality. Different types of biofeedback are useful for different disorders. Heart-rate variability biofeedback – using your breathing rate to change the pattern of ups and downs of your heart rate – helps anxiety, asthma, depression, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, syncope (sudden episodes of low blood pressure sometimes leading to fainting) – because it stimulates the vagus nerve and regulates the parasympathetic nervous system. Thermal biofeedback – learning how to warm your hands through relaxation, imagery, and sensitive biofeedback devices that can measure minute changes in fingertip temperature – can help you learn to be more calm, and to manage Raynaud’s Disease (the “patriotic disease” that turns people’s fingers red, white and blue with cold); it has also been used, together with neurofeedback and visualization/imagery, to teach people to reduce alcoholic cravings. EEG-variability biofeedback helps with stress management and optimal performance. I am a New York State-licensed mental health counselor certified in biofeedback, Zengar NeurOptimal EEG signal-variability biofeedback, and Emotional Freedom Techniques. Accept Aetna, Cigna, Multiplan, 1199SEIU. See websitewww.biofeedbacklearning.com. ...read more

You'd think, from watching TV ads, that medication was the best and only treatment for insomnia.  But decades of research have documented that there are effective behavioral and nutritional strategies.   Here are a few things you might want to try.  If you find you still can't sleep, your doctor tells you there is no organic problem (e.g., a glandular condition requiring medical treatment) and don't need a referral to a sleep center for overnight evaluation (for such conditions as restless legs syndrome or sleep  apnea), you might consider biofeedback or neurofeedback for help "resetting" your autonomic or central nervous system for greater stability. SUGGESTIONS FOR OVERCOMING INSOMNIA Behavioral       Never work, read, eat or watch TV in bed. These activities are stimulating, and you want to associate your bed only with rest, sleep and/or sexual satisfaction.      Make a set ritual of your before-bed tasks——locking the door, flossing your teeth, etc.—and perform them in the same order every night to help you wind down for sleep.      In order to fall asleep, lie very still. Tossing will wake you up.      To quiet your mind and body, practice a relaxation technique such as diaphragmatic breathing or mentally scanning your body to reduce muscle tension.        If you can’t fall asleep within half an hour, get up. You don’t want to associate your bed with restlessness. Sit at your desk and read, or work at some boring, routine chore until you get sleepy again; or repeat your before-sleep ritual and go to bed all over again.      Listen to your internal clock. Most people get sleepy around 9 or 10 p.m. Instead of ignoring the message, allow yourself the luxury of going to bed when you’re sleepy.      Establish and stick to a regular wake-up time.      Don’t take more than a 20-minute nap during the day.      Keep your bedroom fairly cool.      Aerobic exercise——just 20 minutes a day of brisk walking, jogging, swimming or skating—can help you sleep more deeply. But leave at least a few hours between exercise and bedtime if, like most people, you find late-evening exercise stimulating. Nutritional      Eat a light dinner. Overeating may cause you to wake up too early.      Don’t use an alcoholic beverage as a sleeping pill. Alcohol disturbs sleeping patterns.      Caffeine, nicotine and chocolate are stimulants. If you drink caffeine-containing coffee, cola, black or green tea, stop after 3 p.m. If you eat chocolate, limit quantities. If you smoke, get help quitting.      Eat a moderate portion of a high-carbohydrate food—fruit or juice, crackers, cereal, yams or some other starchy or sweet vegetable—40 to 60 minutes before bedtime. Carbohydrates help L-tryptophan compete with other amino acids for transport to the brain. (L-tryptophan is used by the brain to produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter that increases drowsiness and reduces pain.)      But don’t eat if you wake up in the middle of the night. That might condition your body to waken habitually for this reward!      Other nutrients known to help sleep: calcium and magnesium gluconate (1,000 mg each), taken with vitamin C to increase calcium absorption; and inositol (1,000 to 2,000 mg).  Helpful herbs include valerian, hops, passionflower and lemon balm. A few aromatic oils that help sleep: lavender, ginger, rosemary. (Badger Sleep Balm contains many of these.)      Homeopathic sleep formulas may be helpful. Seewww.biofeedbacklearning.comfor more information on biofeedback and neurofeedback, and for discounts at Emerson Ecologis, a source of high-quality nutrition products. ...read more