Many of us struggle from chronic stress in some form or another, whether from a loss, a diagnosis, a failure, or general life stressors. This stress can cause our nervous system to be out of balance. This imbalance leads to wear and tear on the body over time, and can eventually cause disease.

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     There are two parts to our nervous system, the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS aka Fight-or-Flight) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS aka Rest-and-Digest). Physiological changes occur depending on which system is more activated. Our bodies were designed for these two parts to be in homeostasis (a fancy word for balance). However, as we've evolved as humans, our bodies are more hardwired to look for threats and stress. Thus, the SNS aka Fight-or-Flight system tends to be more chronically activated for a lot of us, throwing the balance of our nervous system off.

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     Biofeedback involves connecting you to a device that provides you feedback on how your nervous system is doing while learning techniques that help you to re-balance. As a certified HeartMath biofeedback practitioner, I measure Heart Rate Variability (HRV). HRV is the variation in the time between heart beats. Our heart rates are always changing. High HRV suggests our nervous system is in balance because there is greater variation in the time between heart beats, increasing as we breathe in and decreasing as we breathe out. High HRV has been linked to increased ability to adapt to the environment, emotional self-regulation, and the ability to use constructive coping methods. In contrast, low HRV has been linked to anxiety, PTSD, negative cardiovascular outcomes, chronic headaches, and other ailments (Zucker et al. 2009; Hasset et al. 2007; Bleil et al., 2008). Research has found that those who practice the relaxation techniques in combination with HRV biofeedback have reduced symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, cravings for substances, and more. Through biofeedback training, you will train your HRV to go from incoherence to coherence as demonstrated in the graphs below:

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