Brain Waves

In my last blog on Innovation, I promised that this post would be about brain waves and a new method to induce Alpha brain waves -so important to anyone wanting to ‘think outside the box’.

First of all, the strange picture on the left is of a person having an Ectroencephalograph [EEG] test of brain activity. Our whole nervous system is made up of neurons that can transmit information by passing electrical signals from one neuron to the next. The EEG records fluctuations resulting from electrical currents flowing along the neuron circuits in our brains. The recordings show what we call 'brain waves' - variations of strong and weak signals, differentiated by the distance between their peaks. The picture on the right shows the different types of brain waves and identifies the electrical activity going on in the brain when they were recorded.

Scientists measure the number of peaks in a second or Hertz [Hz] of brain waves, so that the Beta waves, which have between 13 to 30 peaks per second, is 13 – 30 Hz, Alpha wave frequency is 8 – 13 Hz,  Theta waves, 4 – 8 Hz and Delta wave peak frequency is less than 4 peaks per second.    

It didn’t take long after the different brain waves were classified before those in the field began to do experiments to try to induce the brain neuron circuits to take on a desired type of brain wave. One method they have come up with, is using sound waves.

 

Have you ever wondered why we have two ears? With only one, we can hear all right but we don't know where the sound is coming from. If a sound was coming from your right side for instance, it takes a measurable instant longer for it to reach your left ear. So our whole hearing system is exquisitely designed to distinguish between differences in the sounds coming into each ear. It’s called binaural hearing and a method has been discovered using our binaural hearing system to affect our brain wave frequency. 

For example, if you feed a pure tone with a frequency of 110 Hz into one ear, and a tone of 100 Hz into the other ear, when they mix they create a beat frequency of 10 Hz. The diagram on the left  shows that when the two top frequencies mesh, sometimes the sound is amplified and sometimes it's cancelled out and together they crate a slow beat - in this case, a beat of 10 Hz.  Humans can't hear a sound of 10 Hz but amazingly it can pull, or draw along after it, the EEG brain wave associated with Alpha brain waves.  

Using this method of mixing frequencies of slightly different tones into our separate ears with a small headset, we can actually  induce whatever brain waves we choose.  The result may be increase intuition or heightened creativity, increased learning ability, elimination of insomnia, induction of lucid dream states and so on.  

If you are interested in getting into a mind altered state without drugs – using the binaural beat system is very simple - you just buy the stereo CD's with the brain wave frequency you want on line . I find it all so incredible that trying it myself is the only way I will believe it. I’ll be interested in any feedback.  Rie