StressEraser Pro is a handsome, simple and sensitive device to measure HeartRateVariability (HRV) with your iPhone (iPhone 5 ore more). On your iPhone screen you can see your heart rhythm and how it affects your emotional system and how you can recharge your stress level.

You can bring your body into the state of Autonomic Balance through guided breathing. Guiding the resonance frequency can be compared with guiding someone on a swing by pushing at just the right moment to optimise their swing. With respiration we can optimise the heart rhythm.  

STRESSERASER PRO

Heart beat is connected with emotion, this is a general concept. But surprising and not well-known is that more than 5000 scientific articles show the amazing impact of the heart rhythm, especially Heart Rate Variability in stressrelated problems and emotion regulation. Key finding is: your cardiovascular system has a personal resonance frequency and Heart Rate Variability is the key in self training of resilience! Breathing in this personal resonance frequency will train the baroreflexes and the elasticity (resilience) of your vascular system.

Positive Effects: This will help in better sleep quality, lowering blood pressure, is effective in coping with stress, panic and anxiety, and enhances better concentration at school, business, music and sport. 

ABC of the Autonomic Balance in Cardiovascular system
Heart rate is a dynamic body function that varies in each moment. From beat to beat, your heart reflects the activity of your stimulating and pacifying nerves. In an Active state (sympathetic stimulating nerve) heart rate increases, in a Calm and relaxed state heart rate decreases and the pacifying nerve activity increases. Autonomic Balance is the Balanced state of the autonomic nervous system in which you feel safe and happy, free from fear and anxiety and overstressed reactions, concentrated and focused on the essence. Ready to act but always in a balanced relaxing state.

A. Orange: Action (sympathetic nerve activity)
B. Violet:   Balance 
C. Green:  Calm, pacifying(vagal nerve activity)

The old (sold out) very effective StressEraser:                       

From all  methods in HRVbiofeedback (also known as cardiac coherence or heart coherence) training with StressEraser turned out to be the most effective device, clinically and scientific:

BDI (Beck DepressionInventory)score decreases significant (Zucker et al, 2009) (PMR=progressive muscle relaxation method)

Enhancement with PostTraumaticStress Disease (Tan, et al, 2011)

Details in How to use Stresseraser Pro: 

With StressEraser Pro you can choose between two ways of following waves in your breathing rhythm. Both ways are effective. Please explore and discover which  preference is yours.

A. Start with StressEraser Pro. This is the most simple and basic way.  
Press “training with StressEraser Pro” and in a few seconds you will see a wave of your heart rhythm (and also a red heart beat). This rhythm is always changing and you can be happy about that.
StressEraser Pro displays these tiny changes as a wave. It can be chaotic, but it can be in a waveform and you will train to create nice flowing waves.
The triangle indicates the optimal time to exhale based on your nerve activity. Breathing in this rhythm decreases the activity of the stimulating nerves and increases the activity of the pacifying nerves.

So: breath in line with the wave of your heart rhythm. Once you are exhaling with the triangles and exhaling when the wave goes down you come in Autonomic Balance. Your goal is to consistently make wide, smooth waves. StressEraser Pro scores each wave with squares. You will score two squares when your pacifying nerves are active and three squares when they are very active and you are in Autonomic Balance. With 3 squares you get 1 point, with 2 squares ½ point.
You are using StressEraser Pro properly when you are consistently scoring two or three squares and your breathing is comfortable.

When ending your session?
For the best results, we recommend you 3 sessions a  day, and to reach 30 points a session (90-100 points a day).
What are good moments for a session? The sessions have to fit in your personal lifestyle. For some people it is a good start in the morning. For other people: after a busy day of work, or even better: in the middle of the busy day taking some time for yourself, for better concentration, for relaxation. In the beginning it is good to do it in a silent room (please do not enter). When you have more experience it is interesting to use StressEraser together with collegues in a silent room, or in a meeting.
Most people like to use StressEraser Pro before sleeping. It enhances sleeping quality. 

B. Second choice is experimenting with Respiroguide, which is preference of a lot of people. Now the breath guide is not your own heart rhythm, but a constant wave in a chosen frequency
Each individual has his or her own personal respiratory frequency (resonance frequency) in which the cardiovascular system is optimal. This ideal respiratory frequency is between 0,04 Hertz and 0,15 Hertz. StressEraser Pro will help you to find your personal resonance frequency, which depends on the length and width of your blood vessels.

In SETTINGS you can set the breathing rate in different frequencies:

• Average: F5: 5 breaths a minute = 0,083 Hertz
• Faster :  F6: 6 breaths a minute = 0,1 Hertz
• Slow:   F4: 4 breaths a minute = 0,066 Hertz
• Quick: F7: 7 breaths a minute = 0,118 Hertz

And inbetween: 4,5 and 5,5.

To find your resonance frequency experience three of these  breathing frequencies and notice:

• which one provides the most balanced feeling  (subjective)?
• which one comfortably stays constant for a period of at least 5 minutes?
• which one gives a maximum score in Autonomic Balance? This you can find in History.

Score you find in the arrow and also the amount of the purple graph in Training score is relevant.
Choose one of the frequencies F5,F6 or F4 or something in between, like 5,5 or 4,5. Then train yourself in this frequency three times a day  and after a week: do the test again.

In SETTINGS you also can set exhalation time. To have success in this method it is important that exhalation is longer than inhalation time. If you breath 1:1 (inhalation and exhalation same length)  there is the risk of hyperventilation and stressfull breathing and too active breathing. If you breath effortless 2x longer exhalation than inhalation (2:1) this is optimal for stressmanagement and autonomic balance.
But if you are not experienced in long exhalation (singers, flute player, yoga experience) you better can start with 1,5 or 1,25.

Recent studies with StressEraser show:

1.  StressEraser can be an effective tool to decrease  sleeping problems and diseases.

2. De StressEraser is een uitstekend middel om hartritmevariatie mee te meten.