Biofeedback Science Experiment

Finger Feedback

I am still working on my phobia of needles and injections. I had a couple of biofeedback sessions this week and it was both interesting and enjoyable. I have been practicing relaxation techniques. The idea is to use biofeedback to help me control the extreme fear symptoms that I experience before, during and after an injection or other needle procedure.

Biofeedback is a very interesting technique. Sensors measure your muscle tension at several points, hand temperature, and skin conductivity. I begin by relaxing to get all of the levels nice and low. Then they give a stimulus, such as telling me to imagine that I am in the doctor's office to get an injection. That causes the levels to jump, which produces a tone. As I relax again, the tone changes and finally disappears. During one session, I talked with Dr. Craggs of Mayo Clinic about a biofeedback experiment that you could do at home. This is one that he suggested.

You will need:

• an oral thermometer

Sit down in a quiet place and hold the bulb of the thermometer between your finger and thumb. Wait a couple of minutes and check to see what the temperature is. Write that down. Now hold the thermometer again, in the same way. Close your eyes and begin to relax. Start with your hands and focus on having them become limp, heavy and warm. When you feel that your hands are relaxed, work on relaxing your forearms, then your upper arms and then your neck and shoulders. As you relax more and more, your hands should begin to feel very heavy and warm. When you reach this point, check the thermometer again. It should be a little warmer. It may just be half a degree, but it also may be two or three degrees warmer.

What is going on? There is not anything magical or mystical about this. As you relax, more blood flows through the vessels near the skin and so your hands get warmer. The more you practice, the easier it gets to relax and raise the temperature of your hands. My goal is to reach the point where I can relax when I go to the doctor's office, instead of tensing up in panic. Along the way, I am enjoying learning more about how the human body works.

By the way, the biofeedback equipment is very similar to the devices used for lie detectors. Just as the indicators jump when I even think about getting an injection, they would also jump if I thought about telling a lie. This also explains why lie detector results are not used in court. Just as I hope to learn to control relaxation in medical situations, a person could learn to control some of the response to questioning. For now, I just have to be sure that my wife does not sneak into a session to ask me about who ate the last of the ice cream.

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