you heard it here first (possibly)

Tomorrow or the next day Ed and I will become the proud owners of our very own StressEraser.

First thing this morning, Ed talked to the kids' psychiatrist,^* who is a genius. He says this thing works. He has one himself, and can now will himself to lower his stress level just by deciding to.

Woo-hoo!

He uses it prophylactically, too. When he knows he's going into a stressful situation, he uses it beforehand.

I know biofeedback works, because I've done it.

I was the psych department research assistant in college, which meant that I helped with lectures and demonstrations if I was needed. So, when the professor gave a lecture on biofeedback, I was the subject. He put electrodes all over my head, switched the machine on, and told me to make the tone it was producing turn off.

The tone sounded whenever my brain wasn't producing delta waves.

The tone stopped sounding whenever my brain was producing delta waves.

This meant the tone was sounding continuously at the outset, since under normal conditions your brain produces delta waves only when you close your eyes. I was supposed to will my brain to produce eyes-closed brain waves with my eyes wide open.

Within a minute or two, I could do it.

It felt bizarre, like drifting off to sleep while sitting bolt upright in a wood chair, eyes open, lights on, 100 people watching, and not sleepy. Very strange.

But doable.

Learnable.

Ever since then I've wondered why we don't have biofeedback machines on every corner like Starbucks.


update

Amazon reviews of StressEraser

And here is Jim Robbins' original article in Psychology Today on biofeedback used to treat epilepsy & ADHD. Robbins is talking about "neurofeedback," which is what I did in my psych class. I'm guessing the StressEraser measures galvanic skin response, but I don't know. [No - it's pulse rate; plus it trains you to slow your breathing. Very simple.]

Wired for Miracles?

Like many children with epilepsy, Jake took two heavy-duty anti-seizure medications: Depakote and Tegretol. Both are depressants, and both have serious side effects. As a result, the boy was logy and often tired. "We felt that Jake was losing his personality," says his mother. "He was zoned out."

I had known Jake since his birth; the incredible story of his survival had made him something of a celebrity in our town of Helena, Montana. Two years ago, I was in Santa Fe doing a piece on the use of different technologies to enhance brain performance; while I was there, I heard about a new technique for the treatment of epilepsy--a natural treatment called electroencephalographic (EEG) biofeedback, or neurofeedback, that often reduced or eliminated the need for drugs. I was skeptical, but l mentioned it to Jake's mother at a Christmas party. They drove three hundred miles to Jackson, Wyoming; for a week at the local hospital, Jake underwent two hour-long sessions a day on a computerized biofeedback program.

Within just a few days, Jake's condition had improved. "His teeth-grinding and sleep problems disappeared," says his mother. "We could carry on a conversation for the first time ever. He wanted to cut and draw and zip and button. He could never do any of that." Unprompted, friends and relatives remarked that Jake seemed more centered.

Later, Jake repeated the protocol for another week. The results were similar. Jake's pediatric neurologist, Don Wight--who had been extremely skeptical--examined the boy. When he was done, he concluded that he had found a new and exciting way to supplement his practice: "There was a qualitative and quantitative improvement in the way he was functioning," says Wight. "It was very real."

This is epilepsy week for me, it seems. This morning the Sun carried a long interview with our friend Marty Morrell, who researches epilepsy. Marty and her family moved to Irvington the same year we did; C. and her son went to nursery school together. A couple of years ago they moved back to California so Marty could work on a brain-stimulation device to treat the disorder. I was incredibly excited when she told me this, because for a few years now I've been thinking that the "cure" - or at least a major treatment - for autism is going to be exactly such an animal: a pacemaker for the brain.

Can't explain why, exactly, except to say that when you live with autism you can see that autistic people's timing is wildly off, and I think that's probably true at all levels. As I recall, by the time I left NAAR, researchers were starting to find timing problems in the brain, but don't quote me. The point is: for some reason, at some point, pacemaker for the brain started to sound like something my kids needed.

I bought Robbins' book, A Symphony in the Brain, years ago, but it's part of my Great Unread. Probably time to give it another go.

.............................

What I really want is a Segway.



StressEraser
you heard it here first (possibly)
StressEraser on YouTube
a possible case of buyer's remorse
gadget of the week

* for newbies - 2 of our kids have autism