Final answer:
The mind-body technique where an individual can voluntarily control physiological functions like body temperature or heart rate is called biofeedback. It uses electronic equipment to measure and provide feedback on neuromuscular and autonomic activity, helping to manage various health conditions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The mind-body technique in which an individual voluntarily controls one or more physiological functions, such as body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure (BP), and brain waves, is known as biofeedback. Developed in the early 1970s by Gary Schwartz at Harvard University, biofeedback involves the use of electronic equipment to measure a person's neuromuscular and autonomic activity. The feedback is provided through visual or auditory signals. This approach is based on the premise that biofeedback can empower individuals to develop strategies for voluntary control over normally involuntary bodily processes.
Alongside biofeedback, other techniques such as meditation, the relaxation response technique, and hypnosis have also shown to influence physiological functions. Each of these techniques requires a different form of focus or mental state, but like biofeedback, they can affect bodily functions that are typically regulated automatically by the body's systems. For example, in controlled hypothermia, medical professionals induce hypothermia in a patient to lower their body temperature and reduce metabolic rate during surgeries, which is a deliberate modulation of the body's normal thermoregulation process and involves vasoconstriction and vasodilation mechanisms.