About

How it Works

Clients who benefit from biofeedback are trained to relax and modify their behavior. Most scientists believe that relaxation is a key component in biofeedback treatment of many disorders, particularly those brought on or made worse by stress. Their reasoning is based on what is known about the effects of stress on the body. In brief, the argument goes like this:

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Stressful events produce strong emotions, pressure rises. Normally, people calm down when a stressful event is over especially if they have done something to cope with it. For instance, imagine your own reactions if you are walking down a dark street and hear someone running toward you. You get scared. Your body prepared you to ward off an attacker or run fast enough to get away. When you do escape, you gradually relax.

If you get angry at your boss, it's a different matter. Your body may prepare to fight. But since you want to keep your job, you try to ignore the angry feelings. Similarly, if on the way home you get stalled in traffic, there is nothing you can do to get away. These changing habitual reactions to stress can cause pain or disease. Many clinicians believe that many of their clients have forgotten how to relax.

 

Stress Reduction is Today's Most Important Medicine!

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The effects of stress are well documented in many thousands of medical studies that span over centuries. While occasional bouts of stress are not likely to have lasting adverse health effects, regular or constant stress can lead to the development of chronic medical conditions.

 

The causes of stress vary depending on our individual life circumstances.  Likewise, the potential effects of stress are extremely broad, and in fact, have been directly linked to the top causes of death in Canada.

Stress management is important in optimizing work or sport performance, preventing injury and disease, and improving our overall quality of life.

 

Stress Statistics

 

Research has shown that stress can cause the development of chronic conditions in a few years.

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Over one-quarter of men (28%) who report high job stress in 1994/95 continued to experience it six years later. Persistent job strain was even more common for women (42%).

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Men in high stress jobs were 2.5 times more likely than their counterparts in low stress jobs to experience depression; women were 1.6 times more likely.

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Stress as a reason for absence has increased 316 % since 1995. The direct cost of absenteeism totals $4.5 billion each year.

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The total cost of work time lost to stress in Canada is $12 billion.

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Women seniors who report higher levels of psychological stress appear to be more likely to die sooner.

Nearly a quarter (23%) of Canadians report a high degree of life stress.                                                                            (Statistics Canada)

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Mental health claims are the fastest growing category of disability costs in Canada. (Manulife Financial Group)

 

Job stress is estimated to cost American Industry $300 billion a year, more than the net profits of all the Fortune 500 companies combined and ten times the costs for all strikes.

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60-80% of on-the-job accidents are stress-related

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75-90% of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related complaints or conditions

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Health Care expenditures are nearly 50% greater for workers who report high stress level.