Welcome to Living Healthy Chicago.
I'm Jane Clauss.
We're excited to start today's show
with a look at a training system
that can have some amazing health benefits.
It's called biofeedback,
and I'm catching up with the experts
that say it can really help your health.
So let's learn what it is and how it works.
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I am here with Dr. Alex Paziotopoulos
to give us more information about biofeedback.
So Dr. Alex, for those people who don't know,
what is biofeedback?
- Biofeedback is a training system.
It's a training system where you can get control
of your nervous system,
and you can get full control of your breath.
Biofeedback allows you to see what you're doing to yourself,
through your breath,
through your muscle tension on a screen
and then work with the biofeedback therapist
in order to get control of this
and bring yourself back in toasting calmness.
Once you learn this skillset,
you'll be able to practice that skill set for life.
- What types of health issues can it work on?
- Honestly, it works on everything.
You can get out of anxious states.
You can stay calm, you can reduce muscle tension,
blood pressure, allow your digestion to work better
and even increase your quality of focus.
- How many sessions do you have to do
until you can go and do it on your own?
- That's different for everyone.
I wouldn't focus on that.
I would just focus on, I want to reach coherence
and then I want to practice that for the rest of my life.
Coherence is when your breath
and your heart rate are synchronized.
And when that happens, your body becomes very calm
and gets out of this fight or flight kind of state.
And when that happens,
you have profound effects throughout your physiology.
- So can I give biofeedback a try?
- Absolutely, I'm going to introduce you
to my colleague Dr. Pabs.
- Lets go.
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Well, Dr. Pabs, we learned about biofeedback from Dr. Alex,
but explain to us what it is?
- Biofeedback is an opportunity
to see your feedback in real time, how you are breathing,
what your heart rate is doing.
So this is an example on the screen here,
we're looking at respiration
and heart rate oscillations.
So we're really training the client
to create a balanced state in their nervous system.
The breath technique that I teach,
is called resonance frequency breathing.
And that is what puts your nervous system
into that balanced state.
- What's the goal of biofeedback therapy?
- The goal is for someone
to be able to put themselves into resonance
through their breathing independently.
So think of riding the bike independently,
no more training wheels.
- I love it.
All right, so you're gonna get me all wired up?
Okay, let's do it.
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- This yellow ball is gonna move up the scale.
You're gonna inhale for that length through your nose.
And as a yellow ball moves down,
you're going to exhale through what we call purse lips.
Imagine you are blowing on a cup of hot tea,
let the belly rise
and exhale gentle steady pressure through the mouth.
- Wow, that was so interesting and cool Dr. Pabs.
Now I can really see how that practice
of getting your breath and your heart rate in unison
just by seeing it on the dashboard,
can help you live a healthier life.
And once you learn it, live healthier for the long run.
- Yes, it allows you to recognize
when you are not in coherence
and to be able to put yourself into resonance
into that balanced calm state of your nervous system,
more effectively and efficiently.
Able to decrease anxiety on the spot
and manage stress better.
- Thank you so much Dr. Pabs.
- You're welcome, thank you.
- All right, if you want more information
on how things work in the world of health,
just head to our website, livinghealthytv.com.
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