Erase my stress? As in gone? Completely? This is one claim I just can’t possibly believe. But the StressEraser by Helicor Inc. seems to think it can do just that. A life without stress has been a dream of mine ever since the day I could spell the word stress, so forgive my skepticism on this one. At $299 Cdn, it’s going to have to be pretty damn good to get my seal of approval. Let’s see if the StressEraser lives up to its name. I, Stasia “Stressed Out” Siscoe, am putting it to the test!

I’ve pretty much just reduced myself to living with stress, anxiety and worry on a daily basis. It’s not that I have a terrible life or anything. I just worry. About everything. All. The. Time. It really was quite a burden at first. After a while though, I learned to live with it through the use of faulty defense mechanisms, retail therapy, and wine. So when the claim of easy stress relief came to me via my Dabbler Editor, I was totally game.

Nestled in its Apple-esque packaging, the StressEraser is a small biofeedback device that measures slight changes in your parasympathetic nervous system through the reading of your pulse. By monitoring this, in concert with the pattern of your breathing, the machine “teaches” you how to breathe deeply, inducing a state of deep relaxation by telling you when it is optimal to exhale from a deep, smooth breath. The claim is that if you use it every night for a minimum of 15 minutes, you’ll notice a difference in your stress levels within two weeks, and within a month the change will be significant and you’ll go back to a life virtually free of stress.

With the science out of the way, I put my finger in the sensor and started breathing away all my worries. Well, not right away. I had some trouble trying to find the right spot for my finger to activate the sensor. It would work for a second, then tell me to insert my finger again. About six times we went through this little song and dance. Whether this was my fault, or the machine’s, I have no idea, but I can guarantee that my stress levels were rising.

Take 2: After I found the optimal spot, the deep breathing began. Once I got used to the tempo of my breathing, I would say it took me about two minutes to get almost every breath even, smooth, and deep enough for the machine to deem it acceptable.

Is this what I have been reduced to? Striving to be accepted by machines? I mean, I know my self-esteem isn’t the tops or anything, but my effort to achieve the “right” deep breaths was so palpable it was embarrassing.

I breathed deeply for about 15 minutes, as suggested, and I ended up bored by the end. Is being bored a branch of being relaxed? I suppose that by the end of it I did feel a little more relaxed, if not a little more light headed, and the StressEraser’s work was done. I continued diligently with the Relaxing Nights Program for a few nights and in all honesty, didn’t notice much of a difference.

Here’s the thing. My quest for stress-free living did not start with the StressEraser. It’s something I’ve done a little research on and one of the very first things I learned was that relaxation through deep breathing is imperative to reducing stress. This of course in combination with exercise, healthy diet, vitamins, and in some cases therapy and medication. The best book I’ve read on the topic cost me about $20*.

So, the verdict is in. For someone who requires a large outlay of cash to act as motivation to do something that’s good for them anyways, the StressEraser would likely be helpful. For me though, it reeks of year-long gym memberships that started and ended with one sweaty, painful trip to the elliptical.

For this stress case with a defense mechanism for everything, I’d be better off spending my money on a book, a really nice bottle of wine, and a new pair of shoes.

* The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, Fourth Edition by Edmund J. Bourne

Another suggestion (though untested):

The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook by Martha Davis, Matthew McKay, and Elizabeth Robbins Eshelman

There’s no magic solution folks. To rid your life of anxiety, you need to either root out the source of your stress, or learn the coping methods that are taught in books like these.

What we’re working on…

As promised, after a month of trials, Stasia’s got The Goods on the Zune by Microsoft. To find out if it’s really the “iPod Killer,” tune in next week!

Got a great new product that you think could make it on Stasia’s shopping list?
Email us and tell us about it!