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SUBJECT 111 Biofettdback Research In·
sUture. Los Angelu, echieving deep
refllltlltion by monitoring end ft111ming
to control brain w1ves, muse/e tsnsion,
body
tsmper~~ture,
and galvllnlc skin
response (emodon11l leve!) usmg bio·
feedbllck Ullining
ínstrum~~nts.
build
it
up. And we now know that
people have a lot more control over the
way their bodies function than was pre–
viOV$1y thought possible.
Mlnd Ovar Matter7
The link between mind and body has
been intensively explored in recent
years. One resulting field of Study ís
called brofettdb6ck, which has given us
new insights into how the human body
tunc:tions.
But
JUSI
what is biofeedback7 Dr.
Marvin Kartins explains ít this way: "lt
is simply
a
panicular kínd
of
feedback
- feedback from different patts of our
body : the brain. the hean. the circula·
tory system. lhe different muse.. groups
and so on. Biofeedback training is the
procedure that allows us to tune ínto our
bodily functions. and. eventually, to
controlthem" (Bíofesdb11ck. Kallins and
Andrews. p. 24).
How
does
it work7 " In
a
typícal boa–
feedback training sessíon a subject is
gíven this feedback by hooking up with
equípment that can amplify one or
a
number of his body signels and trans–
late lh<lm into readily observable síg·
nals: a flashing foght, the movement ol
a
needle,
a
ateady tone. the squíggle of a
pen. Once a person can 'see' hís heatt·
beats or ' hilar hos brain waves, he has
the information he needs to begin con–
trolling them"(ibid.. p. 24-25).
Before biofeedback. ot was believed
that the autonomic nervous system
(controlling breathing. heattbeat, and
other automatic functions) couldn't be
consciously controlled. But research has
proven this wrong.
Patients have taught themselves to
lower their blood pressure. increase
poor
circulation to their extremnies:, pre.
vent migreine headaches. and ovar·
come in.somnia through experimental
treining.
In other words. they have cured
themselves of various conditions
fonnerfy thought beyond their control.
But do-it-yoursolf cures are nothing
really new They've been happening for
years. Before modem pharmacology
had developed to its present level. doc–
tora relied heavily on plecebos, or harm–
less sugar pills. They dispensad these to
treat various ailments for which thoy
had no specifically effective medicine.
Jylrt like the nativos who trusted their
local jungla witch doctor. these ..civ·
ihzed.. plltients got satisfactory relief
over 50%
of
the tomel
The placebos' healing effect was not
due to
sorne
mystical 18ith in the doctor
or oven willpower. Rather the patients
wore exercising e certain amount of vol–
untary mental control over thelr heallh.
Placebos seemed 10 reonforce a positove
attitude in the patient that he would re–
wtor quickly. Thís
emouon
or feeling of
woll-being in turn stimulated the body
to produce hormones conducive to r•
p~~oring
doseaS<H:aused damage.
wt!l!K
ENDlNO SEP'T'eMBER. 6.
191S
lile. liberty and lon9evlty
How can we trenslate these findings
lnto practícal w8ys to prolong lile and
avoid illness7
The
book
of Proverbs shows that
what doctors and scientlsts refer to as 8
.. positiva mental attitude" can go e
long way toward meking one·s lote long
&f'd pleasant (see accompanyíng box) .
This isn't just an ancient philosopher's
opinion, either. Dr. Hans Selye, Director
of the lnstltute of Experimental Medl·
cine end Surgary at the University of
Montreal 8nd author of 8 number of
books on stress. said virtually the sama
thing in the following quotation:
"There e•ists a close relationship be·
tween work. stress and eging . A9ing
results from the sum of all the stresses
to whlch the
body
has baen exposed
during a lifetime. Eech period ol stress
- especially if it derives from frUS1rat·
ing. unsuccassful struggles - leaves
somo Irreversible chemical scars. which
accumulate to constitute the signs of
tissue a9ing. But successfu/ Bctivity,
no
m11tter how
intensa, /eeves
you with
comparaUvely few such scars. On the
contrary. it provides you with the ex·
hilarating feeling of youthful strength,
even at 8 very advanced age. Work
wears you out maonly through the frus·
tration of failure. Many of the ominen!
among the hard workers in almost any
r,.ld have hved a long hfe •.. well into,
their seventies, eighties or even late
nineties. They lived ..• a lile of con–
stant leisure by always doing what they
like todo" (Stress Wiihout Distress, Dr.
Hans Selye. p. 96).
Notice how Dr. Selye' s words parallel
the advice of King Solomon in the book
of Ecclesiastes: " Go. eat your bread
with enjoyment. and drink your wine
with a merry hean.. .• Let your gar–
ments be always white: let not oil be
lackong on your head. Enjoy lile with tha
wife whom you love. all the days of your
valn lile . . beceuse that is your
por–
tien in lile and in your toíl at which you
toil under the sun. Whatever your hand
finds to
do,
do it wilh your might .. ...
(Eccl.
9: 7- 10. RSV).
But very few of us find ourselves
doíng something
we
really enjoy " with
ou,r might... Dr. Selye agrees and adds
that: ..
Few
people belong to thls group
of the creativa elite; admittedly. their
supcess in meeting the challenge of
stress eannot serve as a basis for a gen–
eral code of behavior. But you can live
long and happily by working hard along
more modestlines if you hove found the
proper job and are reasonably success–
ful at
it"
(Srress Without Distress,
pp. 96-97).
Health and Hope
Occupying one's lila with enjoyable
actívities is omponant, but in order to
do
so one has to be in control of his lile. lf
he lsn't, trouble is ahead in the form of
depresgon and resulting disease.
Dr. Mattin E. P. Seligman stated.
"1
believe thet depression, the common
cold ol
psyohop~~thology,
is really the
bella! in one's own helplessness. In psy·
ehological postmortems of 26 audden,
une><pected deaths among Eastmen Ko–
dak employees, depression was the
dominant atate of mind. When thesa
depressad persons became anxious or
angry. they had heatt attacks" (C.tholic
Dlf/est, Decamber 1974, pp. 95-96).
Dr. Sellgman emphasized lhe benefi.
cial effecu of le8rning 10 hope, versus
lhe helplessness causad by the feeling
of loss of control over one' s lile: ..1 do
not know what physiologica
1
mecha·
nism
;s
at work. but mounting ev•dence
indicates that being placad in a helpless
situation end reacting with
pa$$ivity
in.
creases the risk of death, for human
beings as well as enimals" (Psychology
Tod11y. May 1974. p. 80).
Here is where belief -
faoth and
hopo - enter the plcture.
lf
a person
can make setiptures like Romana 8:28·
31 ("We know that all things work to–
gether for 900d to them that love
God.... lf Ood be for
us.
who can be
agaonst us?") a
plltt
of hos lile;he will be
Proverbs
on
Tension
The
book
of Proverb$
hás
a lot to say
about the connection between emotions
and hoalth. Below are excerpts from
Proverbs on this subject, quoted frorn
the Revisad Standard Version.
• My
son ...
let your hean keep my
commandments; for length of days and
years of lile and abundan! welfere will
they give you (3: 1·2).
• Be not W1se in your own eyes: fear the
Lord, and tum away from evll.
1t
will be
heallng 10 your flesh and refreshment to
yourbones (3:7-B).
• The fear of tho Lord prolonga lile. but
the years of the wicked will be shott
(10:27).
• A
man who is kind benefits himself.
but a cruel man hurts himself (11: 17).
• There is one whose rash words ere like
sword thrusts. but the tonguo of the
wose brings healing (12: 18).
•
Anxiety in a man's hean wo1ghs him
down. but a good word makes him glad
(12:25).
• Hope deferred makes the hean sick,
but a desire fulfilled is
a
tree of lile
(13:1 2).
• A tranquil mind gives lile to the flesh,
but passion (KJV: envy) m8kes the
bones rot (1 4 :30).
• Better is e dinner of herbs whero love
is than a fatted o>< and hatred with
h
(15: 17).
• The light of the oyes rejoices tho
heart, end good news refreshes the
bones (15.30).
• Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness 10 the soul and health to the
body (16:24).
• Better is 8 dry morsel with qOiot than e
house full of feasting with strife (17 : 1)
• A eheerful hean is a good medicine.
but e downcast spirit dries up the bones
(17:22).
• A
man's spint will endure sickness;
but a broken spirit who can bear?
(18:14.)
• A man without self-<:Ontrol is like
a
clty
broken into and left without wells
(25·28).
much less likely to become depressed,
ill,
orto
die
from
lhe
eflects
el
hopejessness.
The Bible is lilled with ínlormatíon on
how
to m8intain a hopeful, happy. tran–
quil mind . But one
of
the best fum·
marias is found in Philippians 4 :4-8:
..Rejoioe in the Lord always: agaín
1
will
say, Rejoice.. , . Have
no
anxiety about
anything. but in everything by prayer
and supplication with thanksgíving let
your requests be made known 10 God,
And the pasee of God. which passes all
understanding. W1ll keep your heatts
and your minds on Christ Jesus. Finally.
brethren. whatever is true. whatever is
honorable. whatever is just. whatever
ls
pure. whatever is lovely, whatever is
gracious, if there is any e><cellence. if
there is anything wotthy of praise. think
about these things" (RSV).
o
The Holmes
Stress Scale
Psychiatrist
Thomas
H.
Holmes of lhe
Univers.ty of Washington School of
Medicine has developed
a
scale to mea–
sure lhe reiative stress lnduced
by
vari·
ous
Changes
in
a
person·s lile.
The
amount of stress is measured on
a
poínt
sea
le of 200 "life..change units... Stud·
ies
by
Ot.
Holmes and hís associates
show that
11
you eccumulate more \han
200 units In a single year your
lile
has
probably
been
disrupted enough to
make you vulnerable to illness.
Event
S
cale o! lmpact
Oeath of spouse ............................... 100
Olvorce ............................................. 73
Mañtal separation .............................
65
Jall term ............................................ 63
Oeath of close tamlly member ..........
63
Peroonal lnjury or Ulness ..................
53
~~;;:~~":.;;;i<·:::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ~
Marital reconcifiatlon ........................ 45
Retlrement ........................................ 45
Chango In heallh ot famlly member ..
44
Pregnancy ........................................ 40
Se~
difficutties .................................. 39
Galn of·new famíly member .............. 39
Business readjustment ..................... 39
Change In financtal state ..................
38
Dealh
o!
close
triend ........................
37
Changa to dlfferenlline of work .......
36
Changa In number ot arguments wllh
spouse .......................................... 35
Mottgage over $10,000 ..................... 31
Foreclosure o! mottgage or loan ...... 30
Change In respontltMiilies at work ....
29
Son or daughter laavíng home .........
29
Trouble wlth ln·laws ......................... 29
Outstanding personal achlevement .. 28
Wife beglns or stops
work ................
26
Begln or end school ......................... 26
~~~~e.en
1
~~~~~~~~~=~';!
::::::::::::::
~~
Trouble with boss ............................. 23
Changa in work hours or conditlons 20
Changa In residence ........................ 20
Changa In
SchooiS ............................
20
Change in recreatlon ........................ 19
Ch8nge In church activltles .............. 19
Chango in aocialacUviUes ................ 18
Mortgage
or
loan
less
than $10.000 . 17
Changa In aleeplng habits ................ 16
Change In numbor of tamlly
gtt·togetllefs ................................
15
Chan~¡e
in eating habits .................... 15
Veoatoon ...........................................
13
Christmaa ......................................... 12
Mlnor violation of
!he
law .................. 11
9
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