[groggy]

Hey there,

Martin suggested that I start a thread providing some information on how Bio-Feedback / Neuro-Feedback works, as I'm currently doing that as a treatment.

I will post some info about it here later, as I am so “sleepless” today, that I think any attempt at explaining it would just end up a garbled mess right now :wacko:

If you have any questions about it, I'm happy to (try) and answer those too, of course.

XXX

Groggy

[Martin Reed]

Fantastic! Thank you so much – I am sure this will be a valuable resource.

Hopefully, in addition to asking questions, other members can chime in with any experience they've had with biofeedback/neurofeedback, too.

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[Martin Reed]

Still looking forward to this 😉

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[groggy]

Haha – yeah, I'm so lazy, aren't I?!

But it's such a complicated thing to complain… I keep feeling overwhelmed by it!! 😮

Shall we just add bits and pieces and collate what we know?

I can start by saying that the overall term is Biofeedback – and it means that you are getting a visual and/or audio feedback of what your body is doing – for example you might be able to see your heat rate displayed on a monitor…

Then you can try different relaxation approaches to see what helps you slow your heart rate down…

Neurofeeback is a subset of Biofeedback. It is specialised only on measuring what your brain is doing – registering your brain waves…

I am doing both – Bio and Neurofeedback.

Here's a few more details copied from Wikipedia:

Biofeedback is a process that enables an individual to learn how to change physiological activity for the purposes of improving health and performance. Precise instruments measure physiological activity such as brainwaves, heart function, breathing, muscle activity, and skin temperature. These instruments rapidly and accurately 'feed back' information to the user. The presentation of this information – often in conjunction with changes in thinking, emotions, and behavior – supports desired physiological changes. Over time, these changes can endure without continued use of an instrument.

[Martin Reed]

When you get a chance, I'd love to know more about your specific experiences. We can all do the online research, but it's hard to find out information from real people who have gone through it.

Perhaps you can describe what happens from when you turn up to get the biofeedback / neurofeedback to when you leave and go home.

I know, I'm so demanding, aren't I?!

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[groggy]

Hi Martin,

yeah, I'm happy to describe that.

I just thought I'd get the basic info sorted out first so that ppl aren't thinking “What the heck is she talking about?!”

I will start with the Biofeedback, as that is easiest to explain.

As I said above, you could do a feedback to help you learn to slow down your heart rate.

Or, if they attach the sensors to the muscles in your neck/ shoulder area, you could learn to stop unconsciously tensing those muscles as much…

The biofeedback exercise I'm doing is a bit hard to explain. It used a programme/ software called “StressPilot” and it's got something to do with synchronising your breathing to your heart beat.

To be honest, I don't understand how it works, why it works or what it's trying to achieve… but the results are good – when the computer tells me I'm “doing well” my breathing and my body does feel much more relaxed.

And that's kind of the point with Bio and Neurofeedback – you don't have to consciously understand the process. If you do the indepth research and are smart enough, then you can figure out, what it is they are getting your body to do… But it is rather complicated!!

So with that StressPilot exercise, all I have is a clip on my earlobe, measuring my heart rate…

There's a computer screen with a visual cue showing me when I should be breathing in and out and at which (slow) rate I'm suppose to try and be breathing at.

Then there's the feedback responses – I can see a visual cue (in my case I picked a hot air balloon – I liked that better than the butterfly) flying up in the air (there's a landscape scene as a background) and if I do well, the balloon floats up higher and if I'm not synchronising my breath right, then it floats down towards the ground…

It's a bit weird, cos all you are doing is “practising” something that feels quite odd. There's not a whole lot of mind/ intellect involved in the process…

I guess I would say it's a bit like learing to ride a bike. While you consciously understand that you need to learn to keep the bike from wobbling and tipping over sideways while you pedal to make it go forwards – it basically comes down to trial and error until your BODY has grasped what it needs to do (balance-wise etc) to make it “work”…

Right, that's my description of the biofeedback exercise for now.

I will try explaining the neurofeedback exercise next and then try explaining how what you learn in the sessions helps you when you're at home/ during your day-to-day life…

[groggy]

Don't know if this pic is large enough, but this is what the screen looks like that I use:

And this is what the picure with the butterfly looks like:

This is the ear-clip thingee:

And this is what is looks like when you are doing it:

[groggy]

And no, that's not me – it's a pic from the “Stress Pilot” website…

And sorry if I'm just mentioning one product here – there are others of course, but I can't remember the names…

This is absolutely not intended as “advertising” – in fact let me say something critical about it:

I don't like the images/ pictures they use – I think they are crap – and I think with a BIT more effort their programmers could EASILY have come up with better images.

Also the music is crap (there is gentle, relaxing music going on in the background).

And as you cna see from the last pic, the cable on the ear clip thingee is so short that it's always “tight” – surely they could have designed that better too!

But apart from those criticisms, it does seem to work – which I guess is what's most important to me…

[rusty rake]

If you dont mind me asking how expensive is the biofeedback?

[lily]

Good question I would be interested to know this too

[Gegatso]

I know a few people who are using something called an Alpha-Stim for insomnia and are having good luck. It is an electrical device that uses a tiny current that goes through ear clips. I think they are a few hundred dollars and require a prescription. Not cheap, but I'm thinking of trying one. It's worth it to me to be able to sleep.

[wonderhussy]

I just shelled out $1,750 (!!!!) for Brain Training…basically a fancy brainwave optimization/neurofeedback franchise (BrainState Technologies) that recently underwent trials at Wake Forest Baptist U. and was found to be effective at treating insomnia.

It did not work for me AT ALL and I am out $1750 and feeling like a total schmuck. If interested, I blogged about the experience in detail at http://wonderhussy.com/my-experience-with-brain-training-as-an-insomnia-treatment/.

I feel like Brain Training is a moneymaking scam. Furthermore, the therapist who administered my treatment advised me to stop using isochronic tones AT ONCE, since they are bad for the brain. Isochronic tones are what SleepTracks are based on…so was she just saying that to bash the competition?

If you read my blog, you'll find that my sleep did improve temporarily during my course of treatment because I wasn't able to drink or smoke weed, so my life got very dull and I started going to bed at midnight, like an old lady. This humdrum routine was pretty effective in keeping me asleep….but once the course of treatment ended, and I resumed living my life (without alcohol or drugs, at first, but with plenty of excitement)…my insomnia came back.

I've come to the conclusion that I can either choose sleep, or an exciting life.

Sorry…..I choose life.

[Kate]

'groggy' wrote:

Don't know if this pic is large enough, but this is what the screen looks like that I use:

And this is what the picure with the butterfly looks like:

This is the ear-clip thingee:

And this is what is looks like when you are doing it:

Hi to Groggy! Was very interested in your explanation of biofeedback. Thanks for that on behalf of everybody who like me read it. I had been trying to get info and had not been successful. Tell me, did you buy the equipment and set it up at home with your laptop, or do you go somewhere? If you could clarify that it would be helpful as i don't know where to start. It is not advised to watch screens before bed, so when do you do this, and are the results culmative or day by day? Thanks again.

[Kate]

Any more interest in this topic? My sleep clinic Psychiatrist has recommended the bio-feedback. I can buy a gizmo thingy for around $200. And he's ok'd me to try the neurofeedback. There is someone in my town who offers sessions for around $60.00 per sess. I've put a lot of time and $$ researching and so on I will go. Meanwhile, i am finding meditation and dharma teachings incredibly helpful to reduce anxiety and just make me feel better about life in general. It cultivates compassion and kindness and that can't be a bad thing:)

Happy Winter Solstice!

[Martin Reed]

Have you made a decision on whether or not to give this a try, Kate?

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

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