Biofeedback is one of many tools that Dr. Schwartz utilizes to treat health conditions and improve quality of life. It is a very basic, yet extremely effective physiological monitoring tool. It is a non-invasive “treatment” in which patients are connected to a computer via electrodes to obtain information such as temperature, sweat gland activity, muscle tension, breathing, and heart functioning [NOT for treating or diagnosing heart conditions].
Chronic pain involves continued pain symptoms typically lasting longer than 6 months in which either (1) the bodily damage appears to be completely healed, (2) the origin is unknown, or (3) the cause is not sufficient for the duration, intensity, and frequency of the pain. Acute pain involves pain symptoms that, in general, last the duration of an event and a brief time afterward.
Cancer begins when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. There are many kinds of cancer, but they all start because of out-of-control growth of abnormal cells.
Depression is a mental health condition which involves negative, lethargic, and self-loathing thoughts, behaviors, and emotions that may significantly interfere with everyday functioning. Approximately 20 million people in the U.S. have symptoms of depression.
Weight management is your ability to sustain or manage a certain weight that you, or one of your resources, has determined for your daily living. Two of the most important factors (aside from how you chose your optimal weight for yourself) are diet and exercise. Although being underweight can have health risks, much of the research focuses on excessive weight and obesity.
Headaches generally include discomfort and pain around the neck, shoulder, skull, eyes, scalp, jaws, and/or forehead. Types of headaches include migraines (vascular), tension headaches (muscle contraction), cluster headaches, sinus headaches, and what we call “Atypical Migraines” or “Painless Migraines”
Anxiety (and even fear) can be helpful. It can motivate us, keep us focused, alert, and increase our performance in tasks. If, however, the anxiety doesn’t go away after the situation, increases significantly in intensity, or just remains “hanging” like a cloud all the time, the consequences can be harmful. They can considerably affect your everyday functioning or even affect your physical health with problems such as cardiac symptoms, reduced immunity, Gastro-Intestinal symptoms, excessive fatigue, and many of the other stress related physical symptoms. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), approximately 18% of all U.S. adults have an anxiety disorder.
Relationships abound in everyday life, in every culture, and between pretty much anything. Relationships exist in many circumstances; with family, friends, romantic partners, co-workers, shop clerks, neighbors, your dog or cat…pretty much anyone you meet starts at least some type of relationship. Also…what is your relationship with yourself? Are you hard on yourself and beat yourself up? What about your relationship with nature? Religion? What about the relationship between the ocean and animals? Relationships are everywhere…
Lifestyle is made up of the decisions you make on a daily basis, the routines you engage in, your habits, your social network, your occupation, your involvement in family, the influence of religion and spirituality, diet, exercise, and all of the other of what I call, “Life Factors.”
Stress can be summarized as one word: Strain. As noted above, it can be Mechanical, as in force or load on a system (pounds per square inch (PSI); Physiological, as in a reaction by an organism to a stimulus that destabilizes the balance of the physical functioning of that organism; or Emotional or Cognitive strain, such as a person reacting with anxiety, fear, or other emotional or cognitive distress to a situation he or she is in.
Heart disease is a general term that describes a wide variety of diseases that affect you heart and you blood vessels. These conditions include coronary artery disease; heart rhythm problems (arrhythmias); and heart defects you’re born with (congenital heart defects). The most common cause of heart disease is cardiovascular disease — a condition involving the narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries (blood vessels that supply the heart) that can lead to chest pain (angina), heart attack, or stroke. Other forms of heart disease may include infections and conditions that affect your heart’s muscle, valves, or rhythm.