subject: The Benefits And Choices With Biofeedback Machines [print this page] Biofeedback creates physiological awareness via instruments which provide feedback. The purpose is to effect the feedback and so change the physiological experience. Sensors detect such things as brain patterns, muscle tone, skin conductance, heart rate and pain perception.
Uses of biofeedback include psychological training for focus, concentration, relaxation. And also for health, leading to changes in thoughts, emotions and behaviour.
A consensus between three organizations define biofeedback as follows:
"Biofeedback is a process that enables an individual to learn how to change physiological activity for the purposes of improving health and performance..."
AAPB, BCIA, and International Society for Neurofeedback and Research (ISNR).
There are now a variety of biofeedback device options available for home use.
Biofeedback devices work on the idea of shifting your brainwaves to alternate states, including beta for alert engaged work and busy thinking; alpha for states of calm, self-introspection and day dreaming; theta for meditationmaximum flow of ideas and creativity, and a connection to the subconscious. And finally is delta which is the deep sleep state.
It functions on the concept of entrainment. Which is the tendency for two oscillating bodies to fix into phase. Entrainment happens when the vibrations from 2 or more rhythm cycles interact with each other to synchronize - they harmonize.
If the brain has been responding to the continuous stimulation of a frequency for around 5-6 minutes, it starts to generate the same rhythm on its own.
To achieve this, biofeedback devices often use a binaural beat generated from two tones. The tones have different pitches. One tone is presented to the left ear, and the other to the right. They combine into a single tone sensed by your brain
The latest mind machines produce binaural beats, dual binaural beats and other entrainment techniques.