www.stresseraser.com
The StressEraser® is an award-winning, FDA-regulated, portable biofeedback device that helps you learn to activate your body’s natural relaxation response in minutes — without the use of medication.
It’s sleek medical technology that fits in your pocket, using a harmless finger sensor to convert your pulse into an HRV wave. This wave guides you to synchronize your breathing with your heart rate cycle.
How does it work?
The StressEraser is state-of-the-art medical technology – portable, drug-free and non-invasive. The premise behind StressEraser stress relief is simple and has been used in practice by physicians, psychologists and meditation experts for more than three decades.
We all know that slowing down your breathing can slow down your heart rate and help you relax. The StressEraser cues you to not only slow your breathing but, just as importantly, to synchronize your inhales and exhales with the natural cycle of your heart rate. Here’s how it works:
From beat to beat, your heart rate naturally increases and decreases in a cycle, known as HRV, or Heart Rate Variability. Using a harmless infrared sensor, the StressEraser measures HRV from the pulse in your fingertip. The StressEraser Breathwave® actually displays the time between your heart beats – known as the inter-beat interval.
HRV is considered to be the most accurate, non-invasive measurement of your nervous system activity. HRV biofeedback is clinically proven in decades of peer-reviewed research to promote stress relief and relaxation training.
The StressEraser Breathwave is like a window into your nervous system. When you’re stressed, your wave is jagged and spiky; when you’re relaxed, your wave becomes smooth and consistent, like a sine wave. StressEraser HRV is so accurate that you can actually see the impact of your inhales, your exhales and your thoughts on your heart rate cycle.
That’s because the wave reflects the activity of your vagus nerve, which extends from your brain to your heart and branches out to your major organs. The vagus nerve is the primary nerve in your parasympathetic system, which activates your body’s natural relaxation response. Because the vagus nerve is governed by your brain, distracting thoughts actually appear as a “break” in your StressEraser wave.
How do I use It?
For complete instructions, please read How to Use the StressEraser.
The StressEraser uses simple biofeedback symbols – squares and triangles – to cue your breathing. Triangles indicate the “peak” of the wave – that is, the fastest point of your heart rate in your HRV cycle. Squares provide a scoring system for your waves, so you know when you are focused and are breathing properly. Your goal is to get 3 squares for each wave, which indicates that your parasympathetic system is active.
Before using the StressEraser, take a few long, slow comfortable inhales and exhales. Inhale for a count of 4 seconds, and then slowly exhale for a count of 5. This will take the spikes and jags out of your wave, and smooth it out. Make sure this count is comfortable for you. If your breathing is strained or uncomfortable, your wave will continue to be jagged.
Once you are breathing at this pace, you have only one instruction to learn: Exhale at the triangle. That is, time your inhale so that you begin your exhale at the moment that the triangle appears. It may take several triangles for you to completely sync up, so be patient. There’s no hurry! Remember your goal is to relax. This timing is the essence of how the StressEraser activates your vagus nerve, which in turn triggers your body’s natural relaxation response.
Beginning your exhale at the moment your heart rate begins its natural deceleration does two things: 1) It gets you into a parasympathetic-dominant or relaxed state more quickly, and 2) It helps extend the benefit of your body’s natural parasympathetic response. Most people notice a difference the first time they use it. Additionally, our studies suggest a “dose effect” – using the StressEraser every day for a period of weeks and months appears to help people combat stress more efficiently.
As you’ll see in our Science and Research pages, we are conducting numerous clinical trials and pilot studies to determine the efficacy of the StressEraser to treat a variety of conditions. We are studying the StressEraser with combat soldiers and veterans, and people with stress-related conditions such as Depression, PTSD, and Insomnia.
The StressEraser is not approved for the treatment of any condition. It is registered with the FDA with an indication for “Relaxation, Relaxation Training, and Stress Reduction.”
