Biofeedback to Reduce Stress

Very simply put, the science behind guided biofeedback has to do with heart rate variability, or the variation in the beat-to-beat interval of your heart rate. Researchers have found a significant link between reduced heart rate variability and a decreased quality of life, including greater stress, pain and worry, and a host of other conditions. Higher heart rate variability is associated with better overall physical and emotional health, as well as with a reduced risk for stress-related illnesses. Guided biofeedback devices may help increase heart rate variability — and possibly benefit a host of other physiological functions, like keeping the blood pressure constant and less reactive — by calculating and establishing optimal breathing patterns. According to Paul Lehrer, a psychologist and psychophysiologist from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, “In biofeedback, heart rate variability is about five to 10 times higher than if you’re just sitting there breathing normally.”

Read more: