Neurofeedback, Biofeedback, and Wearable Fitness Technology:

Neurofeedback, Biofeedback, and Wearable Fitness Technology:I typically use my Fitbit Blaze watch to monitor my sleeping habits, workouts, and general activities.  I love to look at my heart rate during a workout after I have completed.  Whether it is hiking, paddle boarding, yoga, or just walking the dogs I always get a kick out of seeing my “progress.”  I even get a great email every week from Fitbit that tells me how my week was compared to previous weeks, and I can set fitness goals and mark progress.  My watch reminds me to get up every hour and move around a bit.  It wakes me up in the morning as my alarm.  I have become very used to using it in my day to day life.  As I think about this, it got me to thinking about neurofeedback.

Neurofeedback is an interesting technology, and in a lot of ways it is like all the fitness wearables that we use every day.  Much like setting my fitness goals and tracking what I eat through my fitness watch and app, I can make progress toward cognitive goals through neurofeedback.  Both the fitness apps/watches, and neurofeedback are forms of biofeedback.

Google dictionary defines biofeedback as, ”a process whereby electronic monitoring of a normally automatic bodily function is used to train someone to acquire voluntary control of that function.”  I have played with meditation apps, and many other tools that have allowed me to explore positive gains in my life through biofeedback. There seems to be so much potential from a technology standpoint in biofeedback, and this has both technology companies and health care companies taking notice. Neurofeedback can do the same thing for our brains. Neurofeedback can train our brains to address things like ADHD, anxiety, depression, and brain trauma. Much like the fitness apps, it has a lot of potential to work in our cognitive brain functions. Cognitive brain functions are brain-based skills that we need to carry out simple to complex tasks. They have to do with how we learn, remember, problem-solve, and pay attention.

Reach out to Harper Therapy at (813)434-3639 to see how you can gain benefits from neurofeedback today!