Did you know that to really concentrate on a subject, the brain must produce more high-frequency beta waves.... but to relax, it has to produce low-frequency theta waves instead, and that it is possible to control these yourself? It all about self control or as some would say Mind Over Matter.

Biofeedback teachs patients to control the functions of the body that are generally involuntary through the use of monitoring equipment. Such functions as body temperature, blood pressure, muscle tension, brain waves, respiration, stomach acidity, sphincter activity, skin temperature, heart rate, and sweat gland activity.

It has been used to treat numerous ailments like migraines, stress, incontinence, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder, chronic nausea, anxiety, fibromyalgia, epilepsy and more. It has been one of the more effective efforts in reduction of stress and has greatly increased self- management of this condition. Research investigations have clearly indicated benefits from biofeedback , although sometimes this becomes effective only when in combination with other treatments.

Dr. Olafur Palsson, assistant professor of psychiatry and family medicine at EVMS made this statement about biofeedback: 'Thirty years of biofeedback research has shown that by training specific brainwave changes, or reductions in other abnormal physiological signals, people can achieve a wide variety of health-enhancing outcomes,'

This all began back in 1961 when Dr. Neal Miller began experimenting with controlling involuntary bodily functions. He made the statement that this was a trainable skill and his experiments backed up his theory. But it wasn't until NASA successfully used it to lessen motion sickness in astronauts that it actually became popular. The astronauts were taught to normalize their heartbeats and body temperatures using biofeedback. This lessened the severe nausea previously experienced in space. After this, many practitioners came out of the woodwork and soon the treatment was made relatively available to the public.

There are so many things that may be helped by this treatment, migraines and headaches not being the least of those on the list. Besides being painful and sometimes even debilitating, headaches cost the workforce millions of dollars each year due to absences. Headaches affect 91 % of males and 96 % of females in the course of their lifetimes. One recent review on biofeedback told of a 50 % reduction in pain during headaches following biofeedback/relaxation therapy and stress management training.The National Headache Foundation also published a guide called 'Standards of Care for Headache Diagnosis and Treatment', which says that “biofeedback has been shown to be an excellent treatment in the long term management of migraine and tension-type headache disorders (NHF, 1999, p. 17)."

EEG-neurofeedback application, related to biofeedback, is the process by which patients can learn to manipulate the reactions of their own brains. The EEG monitors the brain while the patients practice controlling those brain waves. Epilepsy, ADHD and schizophrenia have all been treated successfully with neurofeedback. Ever since Science first discovered that there were physical causes for certain mental conditions, these conditions have now become candidates for neurofeedback therapy.

How does this technique work? Well, in a typical session, biofeedback teaches you to become conscious of functions that you are normally not aware of such as the pulse, digestion and body temperature. It trains you to control these things by using your response along with sounds and beeps or whatnot from monitoring equipment. These techniques have aided patients in lowering their blood pressure, getting rid of headaches and numerous other things as well without the use of drugs.

In a general Biofeedback session, sensors are attached to the area that will be monitored and will in turn send information to a communicating device. This device registers the information from the sensor by either sound or light. The therapist then trains his or her patient to put this information to good use and thus helps them change their responses. By listening to the speed or frequency of a certain sound for example, the patient would then attempt to slow this sound down, at the same time slowing down his body's response as well. Along with biofeedback, the therapist sometimes offers instruction in deep breathing, meditation, visualization, and muscle relaxation, all of which may be beneficial in relieving stress-related symptoms.

Normal treatment time is usually between 30 minutes to an hour, and in most cases, people can learn control in around 8 to 10 sessions. Some problems, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder may take longer however, depending on the severity--sometimes as many as 35 to 40 sessions.

Biofeedback has been used on conditions, such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder (PD),chronic pain, including the pain of arthritis, muscle spasms, and headache, tension, chronic insomnia, fatigue, alleviates depression, reduces hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder, and has even helped some kick the habit of alcoholism and drug addiction. It has also been quite helpful in controling blood pressure, abnormal heart rates. asthma, ulcers, and numerous other ailments or diseases.

Is it simply "mind over matter"? It surely seems that way. The mind is a powerful thing, they say. One thing we do know for certain is that biofeedback is a form of therapy that is not only a way for those that are ill to become healthy but also may be beneficial to those of us that are already healthy, only serving to make us that much better. It is highly possible that in the future we may see biofeedback in the classrooms. It has shown effectiveness in increasing classroom performance and also as an aid to learning disorders and stress related symptoms in children.

Be sure to check back at a later date for another article that tells how this is done sans equipment.