On the way to my first brain biofeedback session since NaNoWriMo began, I wondered if writing fiction every morning for six days straight would've improved my gamma output. Maybe, maybe not, was the answer. But what really struck my trainer was how my heart rate had dropped: all the way to the low 100s.
Most astonishing: my heart rate during SMIRB dropped below 100! And during reading dropped down to low 90s. Woot!
The next week, I wondered how biofeedback would affect physiotherapy. I usually don’t have the two appointments on the same day, but scheduling conflicts required a change for that one day. It wasn’t until my certified athletic trainer began working on my neck did he notice a big difference: my neck was much more mobile. It was significantly easier for him to work on it. It reminded me of how my physiotherapist back in 2000 preferred it if I went to acupuncture first because it made it easier for her to mobilize my strained and sprained muscles.
I thought about why biofeedback would have helped. I postulated that maybe it’s because I have to work on lowering my muscle tension during training. It’s important for any brainwave but particularly so for gamma brainwaves to have low muscle tension. Maybe that was it. And then I remembered how GABA analogues are used to reduce pain from fibromyalgia and other causes and how I began gamma brainwave biofeedback as an alternative to drugs to raise the GABA levels in my brain. Maybe for a moment in time the training had, and it allowed my neck to move easier.
All theory but interesting.
My results to date:
| Date | Baseline | HRV | Fdbk 1 | Fdbk 2 | SMIRB | Fdbk 3 | HRV |
| 27 Jun | 0.83 | 0.88 | 0.90 | 0.90 | 0.91 | ||
| 4 Jul | 0.85 30s | 0.91 | 0.94 | 0.898 | 0.90 | 0.84 EC | |
| 25 Jul | 0.96 30s | 1.03 | 1.02 | 1.01 | 0.97 | 1.02 EC | |
| 3 min | 10 min | ||||||
| 7 Aug | 0.85 | 0.949 | 0.95 | 0.89 | 0.93 | 0.92 | |
| 28 Aug | 0.98 | 0.98 | 0.986 | 0.92 | 0.97 | 0.934 | 0.93 EC |
| 4 Sep | 0.87 | 0.872 | 0.84 | 0.876 | 0.92 | 0.95 | 0.88 |
| 26 Sep | 0.92 | 0.91 | 0.93 | 0.92 | 1.12 | Reading: 0.94 |
Fdbk: 0.91 |
| Fdbk 1 | Fdbk 2 | Fdbk 3 | SMIRB | Reading | |||
| 2 Oct | 0.96 | 1 | 0.93 | 0.91 | 0.93 | 0.98 | 0.98 |
| 30 Oct | 0.93 | 0.99 | 0.96 | 0.97 | 0.94 | 0.95 | 0.98 |
| 6 Nov | 0.92 | (2' 5' 1') 0.92 0.896 0.92 |
0.99 | 0.97 | 0.99 | 0.91 | 0.90 |
| 7 Nov | 0.99 | 0.98 | 0.93 | 0.90 | 0.92 | 0.94 | 0.99 |
| 14 Nov | 0.97 | (2 5') 0.93 1.04 |
0.94 | 0.90 | 0.91 | 0.96 | 0.97 |
