Plainfield Naturopathic Physician

HRV Biofeedback Plainfield, IL

The nerves that control voluntary movement like stretching your legs or tapping your fingers are all guided by you. There are some natural responses, however, that are automatically adjusted by your brain and seem out of your control. HRV, Heart Rate Variability, biofeedback is a medical treatment that helps to measure one's HRV and develop a treatment to modulate it.

HRV Biofeedback is available at Aceso Natural Medicine in Plainfield, Joliet, Naperville and the surrounding area. Biofeedback involves utilizing the power of the mind to understand and control certain involuntary actions that hinder one's quality of life. With practice, patients may begin to understand how these natural reactions occur and what they can do to adjust and even control them.

Call us at 815-782-3974 to schedule an appointment and learn more about the benefits of HRV biofeedback.

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HRV Biofeedback Benefits

With the proper training and treatment, people can naturally adjust their heartbeat to a specific rate. While this seems too good to be true, the reality is that current medical technology allows anyone to harness that level of control over their body. HRV biofeedback monitoring can help you do just that.

The ability to regulate one’s own internal autonomic functions has a variety of benefits. As such, it can help alleviate the symptoms for a number of different conditions. In addition, biofeedback therapy can have an advantageous effect on a host of common symptoms as well:

  • Directed relaxation of tension
  • Easing headaches
  • Chronic pain relief
  • Reduced anxiety
  • Decreased risk of panic attacks
  • Aid in lowering high blood pressure

Through heart rate monitors, our professional staff use guided meditation and breathing practices to help you identify the problem centers of your body. As you work through the process, visual representations of your autonomic responses, let you gauge how the session is proceeding. This non-invasive approach to treatment is especially advantageous to those who have difficulties with more complicated procedures.

Understanding the Autonomic

The body’s nervous system is made to react to certain stimuli in different ways. When danger approaches, be it a physical threat or the possibility of emotional harm, sympathetic responses are initiated and prepare the body for action. Typically called “fight or flight,” this can increase the heart rate, expand the bronchial passages and dilate the pupils.

The purpose of HRV biofeedback therapy is to regulate those responses to react in a way that benefits the patient's physical and mental health as a whole. With training, many patients have learned to transform their sympathetic nerve response to parasympathetic levels.

This response is the “rest and digest” state the brain usually keeps bodily functions at for typical, calm daily life. Problems can come from many different places. Anxiety over personal or professional goals can significantly increase stress.

Chronic pain caused by existing conditions or accidents is physical stressors that have been shown to respond well to biofeedback treatments. Other persistent ailments such as tension headaches and migraines also stimulate a sympathetic nervous response and as such, may benefit from this treatment.

HRV Treatment Process

To achieve the transition from sympathetic to parasympathetic responses, therapists use relaxation and internal observance methods that help the patient learn more about the natural state of their body. There are a variety of tools to help with this purpose. When in conjunction with a heart rate monitor and visual indicators, these methods include the following:

  • Directed meditation
  • Deep breathing
  • Mindfulness training
  • Progressive muscle relaxation

Directed meditation involves concentrating on a single object or color to focus the mind and promote relaxation. By helping to direct deep breaths, it is possible to help calm the nervous system. Mindfulness training helps patients to focus their mind and gain clarity over their situation. Letting go of a negative emotional state can help to promote peace. Progressive muscle relaxation involves tensing and relaxing muscles throughout the body to relieve stress.

These sessions usually last between 60 and 90 minutes. During this time, our professional team will help guide you through each process of the treatment, helping you understand how your body responds to various stimuli. Many patients indicate they can better interpret the warning signs associated with sympathetic responses even after the initial session.

Call Us Today

You do not have to let anxiety and chronic pain rule your life. With our help and HRV biofeedback therapy, it is possible to learn to control these autonomic responses and discover how to react more positively to the world around you. As a naturopathic doctor, Dr. Michael R. Smith, ND, BCB can help to find a natural and holistic approach that can incorporate HRV biofeedback into one’s treatment plan when necessary.

Call us at 815-782-3974 to schedule an appointment and learn more today.

Contact Us

Aceso Natural Medicine is located at
23501 W. Clark Street
Plainfield, IL
60586

(815) 782-3974