Tricorder and iPhone Applications

Two articles and a presentation on TED.com contribute to wholesome image of a biofeedback future:

Tricorder is a reference to Star Trek body scanners used by the doctor. This device comes from NASA.

Featured is a $30 hardware interface for a stethoscope that displays an audiogram of a heartbeat. The image is included in the article.

The next level of intuitive interfaces are evolving in open source and wearable. Augmented reality projected during soul searching giving another sense of your being?

Background and History of Biofeedback

Chapter 10, The Birth of Biofeedback, taken by permission from Biofeedback, Mind-Body Medicine, and the Higher Limits of Human Nature by Donald Moss, Ph.D. is a very worthwhile and available at http://nealmiller.org/?p=94

Neal Miller is termed a "Founding Father of Biofeedback" and the site is packed with articles and information collected by the committee that honored his work with this site: http://nealmiller.org/

Cognitive Behaviors and SAD

The video looks at resources and techniques for managing your own SAD. Guess what helps - charting, recording, noting, responses, patterns, triggers, and feedback of all sorts.

The Field Develops in Leaps and Bounds

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I've been busy trying to lick atrial fibrillation. While diet, exercise, monitoring, and drugs have helped, I'm going for the current cure, ablation.

Radical, to be sure, but it avoids pitfalls like continuing chemical care, an increasing inability to reset to regular heartbeat using exercise, the risks of stroke, tissue alterations with time and a really poor mental state I experience with the inevitable cardiac insufficiency.

Wii calendars now record my daily irregular heartbeat simply by putting the "foot" stamp so that it touches the date. When rhythm is normal the simple twist to indicate positive or negative feelings about Wii Fit Age are to the right of the calendar date.

The Wii Fit daily Body Test is my most regular recording tool and looking for ways to indicate a summary of other gathered information is on my mind. The amount of time consummed to post this little piece of information while getting a weight and Wii Fit Age from the Body Test is high. Now that my system has the Homebrew Channel, I hope to find faster ways of collecting data.

Browsing biofeedback http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/ proved to be a rich resource that I'd like to revisit. You might too!

Wild Goose Chasing and Monitoring It...

Home care for the elders in the family led to an exploratory expedition. Interesting sensors, networks, monitoring, and business models out there, for sure.

Life Source Wireless Activity Monitor XL caught my eye. Available at CVS and Amazon, it is a pedometer with wireless data connectivity to your computer. There are other products, or were other products:



http://www.amazon.com/LifeSource-UA-851THW-Wireless-Pressure-Monitor/dp/B001IDY5IG/ref=pd_sim_hpc_1

What to Track and How to Track It

From Wired Magazine, in their style, just what needs to be said. Biofeedback isn't about brainwaves necessarily, it is about keeping track and the ability to review, notice, and than choose to alter patterns.



There is a vast universe of personal metrics to capture. Start with these:

Vital Statistics
height // weight // age // birth weight // birth length

Vital Signs
body temperature // pulse // blood pressure // respiratory rate

Senses
visual acuity // auditory acuity

Blood
glucose level // blood-alcohol level // hemoglobin level // HDL level // LDL level // liver enzyme level


Women Only
estrogen levels // menstrual cycle

Men Only
testosterone levels // sperm count

Living
caloric intake // hours of sleep // exercise duration // exercise intensity // lactate threshold // steps taken in day // mood // medication taken // hours worked // cigarettes smoked




and wait, there is more:

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-07/lbnp_knowthyself
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-07/lbnp_nike

A piece of wisdom from Nike research:
"But that simple, dual-variable tracking can lead to novel insights, especially once you have so many people feeding in data: The most popular day for running is Sunday, and most Nike+ users tend to work out in the evening. After the holidays, there's a huge increase in the number of goals that runners set; this past January, they set 312 percent more goals than the month before.

"There's something even deeper. Nike has discovered that there's a magic number for a Nike+ user: five. If someone uploads only a couple of runs to the site, they might just be trying it out. But once they hit five runs, they're massively more likely to keep running and uploading data. At five runs, they've gotten hooked on what their data tells them about themselves."

But wait, there is still more:

This is why BeingSense is a wannabe: http://www.quantifiedself.com/

As soon as I saw the name of Kevin Kelly (Cool Tools and much more) starbursts appeared on the horizon. Worth the trip and happy to supply the introductory link. You're welcome.

Twittering Biofeedback Mostly Shakey Results

Change continues to accelerate. Keeping up consumes while energizing. Twitter offers an age reflecting signpost. People's conversation says a lot about how well they are keeping up or giving up. It seems to give a "Wii Age" reading. You know, taking into account your real age and how you responded to a couple of tests, this is how old you are acting....like the Wii Fit Body Test results. I still use some of the balance exercises, but tracking my Wii age seems to provide a processed biofeedback record that is the primary reason I turn on the unit these days.

Anyway, Twitter fascinates me. I've been using Twitter search for sometime, mostly to see what sorts of Tweets contain the word "biofeedback". There is information to be discovered through processing. Teaching uses of the platform demonstrate the potential for learning in other ways. Another tool that will change community communication.

Next search idea is to take a look at interest in biofeedback loops related to microorganisms living with us. Continually astounded by the shear mass and range of organisms humans consist of inspire respect for antibiotics as potent medications I'd prefer to avoid. Getting healthier is getting a better crew on board. We live in a biofeedback loop.