The guy on the cover of the StressEraserTM owner’s manual greets me with a smile that says he’s become impenetrable to harsh fluorescent lights and restrictive button-down collars. Looking like a stock art version of George Clooney, he cocks his head and readies his finger for a session with the StressEraserTM. “Hey, I’ve put my finger in worse places,” he thinks, and then chuckles out loud with the stress-free ease his stock art colleagues have come to know and envy.
I’d been kicking around the idea of purchasing one of Helicor’s award-winning biofeedback devices, the StressEraserTM, for several months, but I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around the $299 pricetag. Ultimately, it was the 30-day money back guarantee that swayed me.
The website advertised: Feel Good Again in 30 Days…Guaranteed.
And Helicor’s many affiliates concurred:
- With the StressEraserTM you can rapidly calm your mind and relax your body.
- Handheld medical device calms the mind and relaxes the body anytime, anywhere.
- The Stress Eraser Is An Amazing Mini Bio-Feedback Machine.
I thought: if it’s crap, I’ll send it back. If it’s worth it, it will pay for itself.
Trouble is, it’s actually a pretty good little machine. The StressEraserTM is a sleek brushed-metal device the size of a pack of cigarettes by Frog Designs. You put your finger in its sensor and waveforms and beeps coach you as you breathe. Used properly, it teaches you to slow down your breathing and reverse the effects of stress on your parasympathetic system. I used it, and I learned from it.
The problem? That pesky pricetag. After a few sessions with the StressEraserTM, you’ll get a sense of what you need to do to improve your breathing. Played like a videogame, the StressEraserTM awards points for pulses. The slower and gentler you breathe, the more points you receive. If you’re a shallow breather, a breath holder, or a hyperventilater, the StressEraserTM will coach you out of your bad habits. At this point, motivated individuals can augment their breathwork with an Andrew Weil CD or a meditation class. The StressEraserTM is rendered obsolete if a person can be counted on to, well count on his/her own breathing.
There’s definitely a type of person who would benefit from keeping the StressEraserTM for longterm use. Nothing is more infuriating than a yoga instructor nonchalantly telling a Type A personality to “relax.” For some people, relaxing is not an automatic act, like putting the car in reverse. The StressEraserTM makes relaxation competitive, albeit in a calming way. Yoga, though great for many things, doesn’t offer quick qualitative proof that definitive health benefits are occuring. The StressEraserTM gives data. Some people need that proof to continue a relaxation practice. Cynics will say that’s part of their problem, and be that as it may, the StressEraserTM could be part of their solution.
In a perfect country, we’d get more vacation time, eat less processed food and have national healthcare. In the meantime, cogs in the ratrace can substitute a StressEraserTM for that pack of cigarettes and take stress breaks rather than smoke breaks. Those looking for temporary reprieve from their insomnia can try the Relaxing Nights program. Those unable to front the cash for a trial of the StressEraserTM can find the same lessons for better breathing all over the Internet. Memo to Steve Jobs: incorporate the StressEraserTM sensor into iPhone 2.0.
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