Starting a New Workout Regimen or Nutrition Plan? Why You May Want to Consider Biofeedback
Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash
Written by Beth Rush
Every January 1, scores of well-intentioned individuals decide they will shed those unwanted pounds by swimsuit season this year. However, best-laid plans often go awry and many folks abandon their resolutions well before Punxatawny Phil passes down his springtime verdict.
Is there anything you can do to become one of the few who stick to their guns? Consider trying biofeedback training.
Evidence suggests this practise may be the secret to powering towards your goals. Here’s why biofeedback may be your ultimate tool for success when starting a new workout regimen or nutrition plan.
What Is Biofeedback?
If you’re new to fitness science, you may wonder, “What is biofeedback?”
This technique entails bringing involuntary bodily processes such as muscle activity, heart rate and blood pressure under your conscious control. It’s similar to methods used by mystics and yogis to achieve similar goals or alter their mental state to connect with divinity. However, modern technology makes it more accessible to western minds than ever.
Biofeedback can work wonders — improving heart health, lowering blood pressure, providing relief from migraines, treating temporomandibular disorders and easing chronic pain. Can it help you change your behaviour?
A typical session involves using a biofeedback machine to send information about bodily processes to a monitoring box. Such devices vary in what they measure.
Thermal Biofeedback Machines
These devices detect your average skin temperature. Practitioners typically apply sensors to your hands when using this method to treat anxiety. Your body’s fight-or-flight reflex diverts blood from your extremities to your internal organs, resulting in a drop when you experience stress.
Electromyography
Electromyography generates feedback in response to muscle activation. It often helps stroke patients regain the use of damaged limbs. The machines can also alert you to that pesky clenched jaw if you have bruxism.
Electroencephalograms (EEGs)
These gadgets measure electrical activity in your brain. They treat brain conditions like seizures, depression, addiction, anxiety or PTSD.
During a biofeedback session, your practitioner reads the feedback from your device. They then suggest various mental activities and relaxation techniques to help you alter your body’s response to specific stimuli. The goal is to learn to regulate these processes without using a machine.
Using Biofeedback Machines for Fitness
How can biofeedback training help you achieve health goals like shedding pounds and getting in better shape? Ultimately, human thoughts and behaviours boil down to a series of electrochemical responses your body produces in response to various stimuli.
When you anticipate pleasure, your brain starts flooding its cells with dopamine — making you excited when a task seems worth the effort. You feel good.
Understanding this mechanism can help you see why cravings are so hard to control. To shed unwanted pounds, you must fight against your body’s innate reward system that tells you “food is good — eat more.”
While this response evolved to keep you from starving amid primitive scarcity, it hardly serves you in modern times where indulgent treats are readily available.
Biofeedback builds awareness of your body’s processes when cravings strike. Once you recognise what’s happening, you can practise alternative techniques to mitigate your response. For example, you may focus on the rewards of saying no to a cupcake while consciously relaxing your muscles, heart rate and mind into a state that makes refusal easier.
Getting Started With Biofeedback Training
How can you start biofeedback training? Where can you find a provider? Your primary care provider is a wise first step, especially if you have other health conditions like rheumatoid arthritis that could benefit from this therapy.
Your insurance carrier likely classifies such treatment as physical therapy, allowing you to save a few pennies if you have health coverage. Another alternative is to search Google or talk to others who have undergone such a regimen for their recommendation, although you may have to pay out of pocket.
If you can’t find a provider in your area, your next best option is to invest in a home biofeedback device. Many such gadgets focus on heart rate variability to gauge your nervous system’s response to stress.
Heart rate variability refers to the difference between heartbeats when you inhale and exhale. Inhaling accelerates the pace slightly while exhaling decreases it. The variance between the two correlates to your body’s ability to self-regulate and maintain a balanced state. Many such devices ring in at £165 or less, although you may need to pay a monthly subscription fee on top of your device purchase to utilise the software.
How do you get your body to produce the desired change in physiological response? It’s simple — you breathe.
Longer exhales help to activate your body’s parasympathetic nervous system, which is the side responsible for your rest and digestion functions. As you breathe, monitor your results at selected intervals, as staring at the device might increase nervous tension.
You can also employ progressive muscle relaxation techniques to ease the tension often resulting when your body craves one thing but your mind says no. As you inhale, tense each muscle and let them go as slack as possible as you exhale. You may wish to focus on one muscle group at a time, starting at your toes and working your way up or vice versa.
Correlate your mental messages with the positive feedback you receive from the biofeedback machine. For instance, you may repeat affirmations like, “I prefer to nourish my body with healthy foods,” while you breathe your way to a relaxed state. Positive internal speech helps your brain create new neural pathways that associate choosing salad over cake with the calm, euphoric feeling you experience in a session.
Do You Need a Biofeedback Machine to Utilise These Techniques?
What if you want to try this technique to help you stick to your new weight loss regimen or nutrition plan, but your wallet holds nothing but moths? Do you need a biofeedback machine to take full advantage?
The answer is no — the ultimate goal of biofeedback training is teaching you to use specific relaxation exercises to moderate your body’s physiological responses when you aren’t in a session. The only disadvantage is that you won’t have a handy screen to tell you when you have reached the desired state. You’ll need to employ mindfulness, perhaps taking routine body scans to identify improvements.
Remember, the ancient yogis didn’t have computers to assess heart rate variability, body temperature or brain wave patterns during practise. Nevertheless, their techniques worked — and you can use them in modern times.
Disadvantages of Biofeedback Training
Of course, any procedure or therapeutic technique has potential drawbacks. In general, biofeedback training is safe and carries a low risk of side effects. However, there are some caveats you should understand before commencing treatment.
One issue is the time factor involved. Biofeedback entails brain training, not a pill or shot that promises instant relief, so you may need multiple sessions before you begin seeing results. The cost then also becomes a factor — especially in for-profit medical systems. You could part with thousands in copays and deductibles before you feel progress, causing many to drop out and quit the protocol.
Additionally, there needs to be more research on the efficacy of biofeedback. While it has proven successful in treating things like incontinence, scientists still have work to do in this area concerning conditions like hypotension and fibromyalgia. They need more evidence to truly state biofeedback can be successful in disease treatment and management.
Using Biofeedback for Success With a Healthier You
What is biofeedback — is it the answer to your behavioural change prayers? Evidence suggests it may be.
Consider using the above techniques if you struggle to stick to a new workout regimen or nutrition plan. Training your body through the power of your mind may provide the key that propels you to better health.
Beth is the Managing Editor and content manager at Body+Mind. She shares knowledge on a variety of topics related to nutrition, disease prevention, mental health, holistic health and fitness. In her spare time, Beth enjoys trying out new fitness trends and recipes.
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