For the average working adult, living with a certain amount of stress and fatigue can feel like the new normal. Demands at work, family responsibilities, financial or health concerns, a general sense of not having enough time or always falling behind; these pressures drain us physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Yet, while we will almost always stop to make sure our phones or tablets are charged to get through day, we rarely pause to recharge our own inner batteries. This “running on empty” can leave us susceptible to more challenges and with minimal capacity to resolve them. The good news is, there’s emerging technology designed to help us reenergize. And, it’s available right on Ohio State’s Columbus campus in the PAES building!

The OSU Health Plan has partnered with the Ohio State S.M.A.R.T Lab  to work with faculty and staff on stress-management training and resilience building. The S.M.A.R.T. Lab uses biofeedback technology to help us become more “coherent,” an inner state where the heart, mind, and emotions are all working in sync. User-friendly computer games and visual graphs of heart rate variability will display your coherence levels in real-time, and help you practice techniques to reduce stress both in and out of the lab.

Why does coherence matter? According to research from HeartMath, the organization behind the technology and training, being in a coherent state helps our physiological systems function more efficiently, leading to benefits like increased mental clarity and focus, reduced anxiety and fatigue, and greater sense of calmness and emotional stability. Very simply, coherence helps us feel better and perform better, making us better able to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to the challenges of our daily lives.

If you are looking for a new stress management strategy to break the cycle of fatigue and exhaustion, a biofeedback session in the S.M.A.R.T. Lab might just be the “something different” thing to try! Thirty-minute sampler sessions are available to faculty and staff. 

Register now to sign up for a 30 minute biofeedback session. Log in to: linktohealth.osu.edu.

Check for available appointments by selecting ‘Educational Program’ and choose Give Biofeedback a Try!

To view a video about how to use the technology, visit http://go.osu.edu/SMARTLabVideo.