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Biofeedback lab's methods recognize and relieve stress
Joyce Atkinson
Production Coodinator
Guilford College may have one
of the only free biofeedback clin
ics in North Carolina. The lab,
located on the second floor of
King (238-B) holds afternoon
hours Tuesday through Friday,
with no appointment necessary.
If these hours are inconvenient,
an appointment can be made on
Monday or Saturday.
The clinic is open to all stu
dents, staff and the general pub
lic. William Wright and John
Christ are running the clinic as
part of their Independent Study
and Jackie Ludel and Claire
Morse act as the advisors of the
lab.
Many people may be leery of
biofeedback because they're not
quite sure of what it is. The main
objective of biofeedback is to
reduce the stress level a person
has by gauging his/her tempera
ture and muscle tension level.
FCAers retreat to Ridgecrest
Eric Badertscher
Features Editor
From Feb. 2-4, 11 members of Guilford's
chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
(FCA) participated in a weekend retreat at
Ridgecrest Baptist Convention Center. The
event was attended by over 600 people, with
over 300 from Clemson University alone.
Freshman Butch Maier said the center was
like a hotel, in that it had only six people to a
room, unlike summer camps' bunkrooms. He
called the retreat the "most insightful, eye
opening weekend of my life, and I think I grew
a lot." One of his roommates on the retreat,
junior David Hopkins, said those three days
showed him the importance of "discipline
through submitting to Christ... discipline in
your efforts and in your commitment to Christ."
The retreat's theme came from St Paul's
first letter to the Corinthian church. Divided
into "huddle groups," the FCAers studied I
Corinthians 9:24-27 which reads:
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners
compete, but only one receives the prize? So
run that you may obtain it. Every athlete
exercises self-control in all things. They do it
to receive a perishable wreath, but we an im
perishable. Well, Ido not run aimlessly, Ido
People experience daily stress
that may be manageable but we
are not aware of much of the
stress within ourselves.
For example, many students
don't get enough sleep and drink
coffee to compensate, but won't
realize how badly this effect their
physiological system until they
encounter violent headaches,
depression, or experience ex
treme cases of panic.
In other words, there are many
signals our bodies give off inter
nally that we are not consciously
able to detect. The biofeedback
monitors aid in bringing uncon
scious physiological signals to
our conscious level of thinking
where we are able to control them
with a number of relaxation tech
niques.
The Guilford College biofeed
back lab has two monitors: the
Autogen 60 which registers
temperature levels and the Auto
gen 1000 which detects the level
of muscle tension. The tempera
ture machine has two hookups
which are normally attached to a
nor box as one beating the air: but I pommel my
body and subdue it, lest after preaching to
others / myself should be disqualified." (Re
vised Standard Version)
Senior Heidi Gibson said that Saturday of
fered a choice of four different "buzz sessions";
she went to the ones on "Self-Esteem, Christ-
Esteem" and "Knowing Your Calling," whereas
others went to "Sex and Dating" and "The Spirit-
Filled Life."
"The whole weekend just gave you so much to
think about," she said.
Sophomore Stacey Boggs, who attended the
same session as Gibson, said, "I was really
blessed by both of those in a big, big way." She
also enjoyed the large-group talks by speaker
Tom Nelson, who pastors a church in Dallas.
Nelson listed four wrong ways to be holy:
1. Legalism, or trying for salvation through
rule-keeping.
2. Emotionalism; in Nelson's words, "accel
erating the flesh."
3. The "second blessing" mentality; i.e.,
thinking that once a person is saved, he/she does
not sin anymore.
4. Libertinism, or doing anything one wants,
because God is going to forgive it anyway.
Boggs summed up the retreat's theme by
quoting Nelson; "The only thing you can do
with the flesh is to crucify it., the basis of Chris
tian life is the cross."
finger and the forehead. The
client's temperature is monitored
by sound. If they are very tense,
a sharp tone will sound out, but
as the person learns relaxation
techniques, the tone will mellow
down, indicating the client's
temperature is rising due to the
increased blood flow throughout
their body.
The Autogen 1000 has three
hookups which can be placed on
major muscle tension areas. This
process works just as the tem
perature process does. The
sharper the tone, the more ten
sion the client has.
Wright, one of the students
running the lab, indicated that
people just starting out with bio
feedback could use either ma
chine first to detect physiologi
cal states they're not aware of.
When asked what the success
rate of the biofeedback was
Wrightreplied, "We've had about
six to eight people who have come
in more than one time, and all of
them have improved."
Once a client's anxiety level is
detected by the biofeedback
machines, the lab operators,
Wright and Christ, offer main
relaxation techniques which in
clude exercises in breathing,
visualization, meditation and self
affirmations.
The lab offers a number of
handouts including Zen Tenets,
instructive deep breathing exer
cises, and affirmations in self
actualization. Books and tapes
are available on loan for anyone
who is interested in learning more
about how to detect early anxiety
and control stress.
Biofeedback is an up and
coming holistic science that is
being used nationally for reha
bilitation of accident victims,
prevention of ulcers and migra
nes, and is even being studied to
Dizzy Gillespie
>■ continued from page 5
A&T Gillespie promised that
when he returns next year he will
perform a song written to cele
brate their action.
After the performance
Gillespie attended a reception
held in his honor at the Student
Union building. Although he
answered a few questions, he was
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THE GUILFORDIAN February 12, 1990
control space sickness, a prob
lem that NASA has found about
50 percent of their astronauts
suffer from.
Normally, people pay from S6O
to SBO for one hour of biofeed
back in a neurologist's office.
Take ad vantage of Guilford's free
clinic and help ease and eventu
ally prevent anxiety and stress.
David Barlow, director of the
Center on Stress and Anxiety in
the State of New York, Albany,
described biofeedback as "a
characterization of a background
from which symptoms appear
from time to time under stress.
Whether it is intrusive thoughts,
depression or panic attacks, we
might be changing how we con
ceptualize these disorders."
hungry and tired and perhaps
mildly disgruntled at being sur
ronded by so many of his ques
tioning fans. He remarked to one
woman, "I'm tired, I'm a sev
enty-two year old man. I should
be at home in bed... by myself."
All in all, though, it was a
splendid evening, an incredible
performance.
7