4 Mind 4 Life: Mental Health Tips

What are gamma brainwaves?

Gamma brainwaves are considered the brain’s optimal frequency of functioning. Gamma brainwaves are commonly associated with increased levels of compassion, feelings of happiness, and optimal brain functioning. Gamma brainwaves are associated with a conscious awareness of reality and increased mental abilities. Gamma brainwaves range from the frequency of 38 Hz – 70 Hz and have a tiny (virtually unnoticeable) amplitude. Gamma brainwaves can be found in virtually every part of the brain. They serve as a binding mechanism between all parts of the brain and help to improve memory and perception.

Benefits of increasing gamma brainwaves:

• Boosted memory – High amounts of gamma brainwaves have been associated with a boosted memory and ability to recall past events. The 40 Hz gamma frequency has been associated with a well-regulated memory. If you are currently struggling with maintaining a great, healthy memory, consider increasing your 40 Hz gamma brainwave.

• Enhanced perception of reality – Gamma brainwaves can provide you with an enhanced overall perception of reality and understanding of consciousness. Because gamma brainwaves can be found in virtually every part of the brain, it allows parts of the brain to communicate. Through their communication, your reality and perception is formed.

• Binding of senses – The gamma brainwave is what allows us to experience: smell, touch, vision, taste, and hearing altogether. It allows our brain to process multiple sensations at the same time and allows us to identify environmental forms of stimulation. It also improves our overall perception of our senses by enhancing our levels of focus.

• Increased compassion – Advanced meditation practices and yogic traditions have associated the gamma brainwave frequency range with a pure state of compassion. Richard Davidson hooked long-time meditators up to an E.E.G. at the University of Wisconsin Madison and found that the more meditation experience a person had, a higher amount of gamma brainwave was displayed. Since most people aren’t able to cultivate a pure state of compassion like many monks, they may not ever understand or feel the wonderment of the gamma brainwave range.

• High-level information processing – Gamma brainwaves are associated with high-level information processing in the brain. Basically, the brain is able to operate more efficiently at a higher level. Thoughts are easily processed and the brain is able to easily absorb and understand new information and changes in one’s environment.

• Natural antidepressant – The gamma brainwave is a known natural antidepressant. Not only does it increase our level of compassion for others, it boosts our overall levels of happiness. Many people claim that listening to the gamma brainwave while meditating has proved to be extremely effective at completely eliminating their depression. The gamma brainwave decreases during stress, anxiety, and cases of depression. No wonder that increasing your gamma brainwaves will make you feel much less depressed. In people with depression, the amount of gamma brainwave tends to be much lower than average.

• Advanced learning ability – Since gamma has been associated with a higher level of information processing, quicker thinking, and an enhanced perception of reality, people with high amounts of gamma brainwaves tend to have an advanced learning ability. People with learning disabilities, ADD, and those under a lot of stress, tend to have a significantly smaller amount of the gamma brainwave than others.

• Intelligence (I.Q.) Increase – The gamma brainwave has been associated with higher than average levels of intelligence. People with lower I.Q.’s and learning disabilities tend to have very low amounts of gamma brainwave compared to smarter individuals. Increasing your gamma brainwave, especially 40 Hz, will probably correlate with at least a slight intelligence increase.

• Positive thoughts – Are you a person that always thinks positive and one who has compassion for others? If you already think positively and are relaxed, you probably have high amounts of the gamma brainwave. In people with depression, there is relatively little amounts of the gamma brainwave that can be observed in an E.E.G. If you have depression or are a chronic negative thinker, you may want to really consider naturally increasing your gamma brainwaves.

• Higher energy levels – Higher brainwave frequencies in the beta and gamma brainwave ranges correlate with increased physical and mental energy. Since the gamma brainwave range is among the highest of known brainwave frequencies, it definitely will give your energy level a jolt upwards. If you currently have low amounts of energy, consider increasing your brain’s gamma brainwaves.

• High level of focus – The mind is extremely focused on just one thought while in the gamma brainwave range. It is important to cultivate a high level of focus in order to efficiently complete tasks and succeed in the world. It is very difficult when you have a learning disability or are lacking in focus to be successful. Sustaining a high level of focus can be done easily by increasing the amount of 40 Hz gamma activity in the brain.

• Improved perception / consciousness – Gamma brainwaves have been linked to improved perception of reality and the ability to be aware of one’s consciousness. Gamma brainwaves are very powerful and may feel like quite an awakening to increase if you don’t have much natural gamma activity. Advanced meditators have much more gamma activity than the average person which is why it is easy for them to control and understand their state of consciousness.

Who has high amounts of gamma brainwaves?

• Advanced Meditators – Advanced meditators tend to have a large amount of gamma brainwave activity compared to non-meditators. The amount of gamma brainwave and its amplitude increases as one’s ability to go deeper into meditation increases. Though most meditation practices increase the amount of slow brainwaves in the alpha and theta range, the gamma brainwave frequency increases as well. The gamma brainwave is what allows meditators to distinguish the alpha, and possibly the theta brainwave ranges. As you are able to gain more meditation experience, you’ll learn to naturally boost your gamma brainwave activity. Research has shown that the more experience you have with meditation, the more gamma brainwave activity you’ll display.

• Peak performers – Peak performers tend to have large amounts of gamma brainwave activity compared to others. Though alpha bursts in the left hemisphere has been scientifically proven to be linked to peak performance, gamma brainwave activity is suggested to be essential to performing at an optimal level. If you are interested in manipulating your brainwave patterns to help create a state of peak performance, you may want to try alpha and gamma and be the judge as to which one works better. I’ve heard of several brainwave training regimens that claim it is best to use 10 Hz alpha for visualization several hours before your sporting event, then the gamma brainwave around 30 min. – 1 hour before your event. The combination of alpha, followed by gamma, is supposed to create a state of peak mental preparation and performance.

Just like any of the other brainwave patterns, too much of a dominant rhythm can cause problems. By no means would it be recommended to increase a brainwave that you already have high levels of. Though it is extremely rare, it is possible that the gamma brainwave could cause a couple problems.

Problems associated with too many gamma brainwaves:

• Some anxiety – Though gamma brainwaves are usually not correlated with stress and anxiety, they can be. When a person mostly displays high amounts of beta brainwaves in combination with gamma on an E.E.G., the individual probably has very high levels of anxiety. Though gamma brainwaves usually decrease when we are under stress, the dopamine released from gamma brainwaves can actually cause us to feel overanxious, nervous, or tense. It is best not to increase both gamma and beta brainwaves at the same time. Depending on your current brainwave state, it is important to recognized that though you are usually safe with increasing gamma, overdoing training time or frequency of training may make you feel unpleasantly anxious.

• Clear, conscious perception of reality – Some people are not prepared for the mental awakening that is associated with gamma brainwaves. If you are currently living a fairly unfocused life and happen to begin entraining the gamma brainwave, it may feel like a huge jolt to your consciousness. If I was extremely unfocused, I’d definitely work on entraining the gamma brainwave, but I’d do it slowly and in moderation. Too much gamma entrainment will actually give you a headache! It is important to not become disturbed by your brains initial reactions to an increased gamma brainwave and perception of reality.

Healthy ways to increase gamma brainwaves:

• Brainwave entrainment - As I mention a lot, brainwave entrainment is great for fine tuning your state of consciousness and awareness. If you want to easily and naturally experience gamma brainwaves, I highly recommend trying any of the programs in my “recommended products” section. Brainwave entrainment is an easy process that involves simply listening to a tone (stimulus) and your brainwaves will automatically, naturally shift in order to match the desired frequency associated with the acoustic tone. If you have Neuro-Programmer 2 or Mind Stereo, I recommend creating a customized gamma brainwave session at 40 Hz. Why 40 Hz? 40 Hz is the brainwave of choice and has been linked to the most powerful, positive effects which are currently associated with the gamma brainwave.

• Getting a good night’s sleep – Gamma brainwave activity is present in Rapid-Eye Movement (R.E.M.) Sleep and is sometimes associated with dreaming. Getting a good night’s sleep is important for staying healthy, keeping a healthy, powerful brain. Gamma brainwaves also increase the moment we awaken. Though we are in the theta brainwave for most R.E.M. sleep, the gamma brainwave is present along with the theta. Most non-dream, deep sleep is linked to an increase in delta brainwave activity, whereas dream-sleep is mostly linked to gamma and theta brainwave activity.

• Meditation – The goal of most types of meditation is to lower the brainwaves into the alpha-theta brainwave range. With that said, as you learn to become more aware and increase awareness of your brainwave state, your gamma brainwave activity will naturally increase. A very safe, healthy way to attempt to increase your gamma brainwaves is to make the act of meditation a daily habit or start up a meditation routine. If you are already meditating, great – you’ll naturally increase your awareness. As you increase your awareness, your gamma brainwave will increase.

• Hypnosis / Self-hypnosis – The goal of all hypnosis and self-hypnosis programs is to target the lower brainwave ranges (i.e. alpha and theta) and implant new beliefs. Though you are slowing your brainwaves, your concentration levels are skyrocketing as well. Only having large amounts of alpha and theta without gamma would make self-hypnosis very difficult and an ineffective practice. The more often you participate in self-hypnosis, the more your gamma brainwave amplitude will increase.

• Yoga – Like meditation, yoga is yet another activity that promotes relaxation and wellbeing by shifting your brainwaves and increasing your perception of reality. Brainwaves of yogis have shown that they are able to increase their gamma brainwaves to higher than average amounts. Though there are many different types of yoga, if they are practiced correctly, they can be utilized to increase awareness and gain valuable insight from within.

Unhealthy ways to increase gamma brainwaves?

• There are no known unhealthy activities that increase gamma brainwaves

• Virtually all activities that are detrimental to mental health, decrease the amount of gamma brainwave activity in the brain – Things like general anesthesia, stress, and killing brain cells will decrease your brain’s natural production and amount of gamma brainwave activity. As gamma brainwave activity decreases, susceptibility to depression, stress, and unfocused or impulsive thinking may overtake the brain.

Final evaluation of gamma brainwaves:

I personally think that gamma brainwaves are very invigorating, reality enhancing, and great for everyone to experience. The advanced focus, learning ability, and perception of consciousness is something that everyone should experience. The gamma brainwave is a natural antidepressant and experiencing the power of 40 Hz feels awesome. However, you should be the judge as to whether or not increasing gamma is the brainwave you want to experiment with. If you are already experiencing many of the listed “benefits,” your gamma brainwave could be within it’s healthiest range.

Are you already a very smart, compassionate person? If so, chances are high that your brain could be naturally producing a fair amount of gamma brainwave activity. However, most people do not experience large amounts of the gamma brainwave unless they are in a state of compassion meditation. If you think you are one of the rare people that actually have too much of a conscious perception of reality and are slightly anxious, you may not want to increase your gamma brainwaves.

I highly recommend entraining the 40 Hz gamma brainwave to see how you react. Most people don’t produce large amounts of gamma naturally and most people can benefit. There is not much documented evidence that the gamma brainwave can even be entrained, but most people that I’ve talked to claim that it does have an effect. I have also given the 40 Hz gamma brainwave a shot and have found it to be extremely effective for increasing my focus. If you purchase Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional or any of my recommended brainwave products, you can create a customized 40 Hz gamma brainwave session or use a specialized one that’s already built into the library. The built-in gamma brainwave sessions are supposed to be great. I usually stick to creating my own gamma sessions with custom frequencies. If you are confused about your brainwave pattern, consider giving Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional some experimentation and seeing how your brain reacts and your reality is shifted.

If you’d like to experience Gamma brainwaves:

If you have ever given gamma brainwaves a shot, I’d really like to hear about your experience in the comments section. If you are interested in experiencing some gamma brainwaves or have any questions for me, feel free to send me a message through my contact form. I appreciate when you buy products through my referral ads to help me pay for blog hosting services and the promotion of this blog! Increasing your gamma brainwave pattern is definitely an experience that has potential to boost your brain power and take your brain to a higher level of functioning.

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What are delta brainwaves?

Delta brainwaves are considered the most relaxing brainwave frequency range. Delta brainwaves are commonly associated with the deepest sleep [stages 3 & 4] and a state of unconscious awareness. Delta brainwaves are the lowest in brainwave frequency: ranging from 0 – 4 Hz, but are the highest in amplitude. Delta brainwaves, like other slower brainwave patterns, are generated in the right hemisphere, though they may be observed in widespread patterns throughout various parts of the brain. The delta brainwave range is associated with empathy, the unconscious mind, and a decreased sense of awareness.

Benefits of increasing delta brainwaves:

• Release of Anti-Aging hormones – One of the associated benefits of increasing your delta brainwaves is the release of anti-aging hormones. The delta brainwave pattern stimulates the release of melatonin and DHEA, 2 powerful anti-aging hormones. The delta brainwaves are also associated with decreased levels of cortisol – a hormone linked to stress that has been scientifically proven to speed up the aging process.

• State of empathy – Delta brainwaves can provide you with the ability to read other peoples emotions and determine their feelings at unconscious levels. In healthy amounts, delta brainwaves cause a person to have an advanced state of empathy, understanding, and compassion for others. If you are always able to relate to others and can “read other people’s minds,” you probably have more delta than the average person. If you find yourself getting into trouble for not being considerate enough or for “stepping on other people’s toes,” you may have less overall delta brainwave activity.

• Extreme bliss – Advanced meditation practices and yogic traditions have associated the delta brainwave frequency range with a feeling of all-encompassing bliss. Since most people aren’t able to consciously experience the delta brainwave state, it may be tough to feel extreme bliss from the delta waves like the yogis, monks, or advanced meditators. With that said, there have been people that have testified to feeling the bliss associated with the delta brainwave while performing extremely deep meditation.

• Advanced healing of body and mind – The delta brainwave rhythm is known to completely rejuvenate, replenish, and heal the entire body and brain. The delta brainwave revives the body after a hard day by rejenerating necessary chemicals while a person is asleep. Due to the deepest levels of relaxation that the delta brainwave provides, the body and mind are easily able to restore themselves after minor stress, a rigorous workout, or after boosting your brain power.

• Human Growth Hormone (H.G.H.) Release – The delta brainwave is associated with the stimulation of the pituitary gland, which in-turn, is able to release human-growth-hormone — commonly referred to as H.G.H. It doesn’t release enough for you to skyrocket in height and weight. The delta brainwave will not provide adults with a second version of puberty. With that said, there is evidence that it does release slight amounts of H.G.H. in certain individuals. If you are looking to increase your H.G.H., you should definitely consider using delta brainwave entrainment and evaluate how it works out for you!

• Connection with unconscious mind – Though the alpha and theta brainwaves are capable of bridging the gap between conscious thoughts and the subconscious mind, the delta brainwave allows us to connect deeper: it allows us to connect with the deepest possible level of our consciousness. The goal of many meditation practices is to experience and consciously control the unconscious mind. The subconscious mind, or our brain’s right-hemisphere, becomes activated when slower brainwaves like alpha, theta, and delta waves kick in. If you spend too much time in beta, it may feel incredible to finally relax and give yourself a chance to connect with your deepest sense of awareness.

• Deepest possible level of mind / body relaxation – Delta brainwaves while a person is conscious or awake, are extremely rare. However, advanced meditators and infants, are 2 groups of people that are able to enjoy the deeply relaxing benefits of the delta brainwave. Remember what you felt like when you were an infant? Probably not – the delta brainwave is associated with extreme relaxation, yet completely unconscious mental processes.

• Perfect intuition - Ever have a powerful gut-instinct that helped you make a good decision? Or a gut-instinct that you should’ve followed? If we get ourselves too caught up in the upper brainwave patterns of beta, our intuitiveness becomes severely damaged. As you increase your theta brainwaves and your delta brainwaves, your intuition will increase and so will your ability to recognize the feelings in your “gut.” There are some disagreements as to whether or not the theta brainwave patterns are better for intuition vs. the delta brainwave patterns, but most research suggests that if you can become consciously aware in the delta brainwave state, you will have a nearly perfect sense of intuition.

• Connecting with the spiritual body – Many consider the delta brainwave to bridge the conscious mind with higher planes of reality, the subconscious mind, and / or the unconscious mind. Advanced spiritual gurus have considered the lowest brainwave pattern, delta, one that connects their spirit and their body to a universal life energy. Becoming consciously aware of experiencing the delta brainwave frequencies has been associated with the deepest sense of spirituality, highest sense of internal awareness, and feeling directly connected to a Higher Power.

• Paranormal Experiences – People are especially open to O.O.B.E.’s (Out Of Body Experiences), astral travel, connecting with spiritual beings (i.e. “spirit guides,” “angels,” etc.), E.S.P., and other phenomenon in the delta brainwave range. Though most paranormal and psychic experiences can be argued to be real or fake, there is evidence that most people tend to have them when their brain is producing higher than average amounts of delta, and /or theta brainwaves. Though spiritual experiences and phenomena are commonly experienced in the theta brainwave state, the delta brainwave state has been associated with many too!

• Boosted immune system - Increasing your delta brainwaves can lead to a boosted immune system due to the fact that delta brainwaves are associated with age-reversal or slowing, the production of healthy hormones, and significantly decreased amounts of stress. Increasing your delta brainwaves can lead to a boosted immune system due to the fact that delta brainwaves are associated with healing and rejuvenation of the body. Stress and too much anxiety can do harm to the immune system by releasing harmful chemicals such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and too much of the hormone: cortisol, associated with the adrenaline release. The delta brainwave releases pleasant chemicals and neurotransmitters to help keep your immune system at arguably its highest rate of performance.

Who has high amounts of delta brainwaves?

• Advanced Meditators – The goal of many meditation practices is to increase the amount of slower brainwave patterns. Usually, after practice, meditators are able to become consciously aware in the alpha, and possibly the theta brainwave ranges. It takes a rigorous amount of meditation and dedication to become consciously aware during the delta brainwave state. After you gain a lot of meditation experience, you can eventually learn how to shift your brainwaves from the beta range, through the pleasant calmness of alpha, into the extraordinary theta range. If you get lucky, you’ll eventually cultivate awareness in the delta range. Experienced meditators are able to recognize and control their state of awareness and brainwaves. Like any practice, the more you do it, the better your chances of passing through the alpha brainwave range, into theta, and from theta into the delta brainwave rhythm.

• Infants – The delta brainwave is the dominant rhythm in infants up to 1 year of age. It would be extremely rare for an infant to display any of the upper range brainwave frequencies like beta. The delta brainwave really promotes great neural development and molding of the brain formation.

• Young Children – Younger children tend to have extremely high levels of theta and delta brainwaves compared to adults. Most young kids display very low amounts of higher brainwave frequencies like beta brainwaves, yet display a lot of lower frequency brainwaves in the alpha, theta, and delta ranges. Though most children with A.D.D. have abnormally high amounts of theta brainwave activity, some have large amounts of delta — making it nearly impossible for them to concentrate.

• Individuals With A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. - The majority of individuals with ADD or ADHD tend to have brains that produce too much theta brainwave activity. With that said, it is not uncommon to find an individual with ADD or ADHD that cannot concentrate because they have too much delta brainwave activity and not nearly enough beta brainwave activity. Individuals with ADD can exhibit a number of different brainwave combinations. Some people have: high amounts of delta brainwave activity or a combination of theta and delta brainwaves with virtually zero beta activity. Having too much of the delta brainwave activity explains why ADD people aren’t able to concentrate well and find it impossible to stay on task. (On a personal note, I have been able to cure my ADD by staying disciplined to a set of 5 daily steps).

• People with brain damage – People with head trauma, concussions, and other forms of brain damage, tend to have much higher amounts of delta brainwaves than other people. People in a coma, with brain tumors, or any other problem that can cause brain injury or damage usually produces many of the slower delta brainwaves or theta range brainwaves. When people say they got “knocked out,” they really were “knocked out” due to the increased production of delta brainwaves as a consequence of their injury. Allowing things to kill your brain cells will not help promote a healthy delta brainwave.

• People who’ve had N.D.E.’s (Near-Death Experiences) – People who have had a Near-Death Experience, tapped into their delta brainwave activity during their experience. Many times people often report a disconnection from their body, getting a glimpse of the afterlife, and / or floating sensations. Though this topic is highly controversial, most agree that the person with the N.D.E. was in the delta brainwave range.

Just like any of the other brainwave patterns, too much of a dominant rhythm can cause problems. By no means would it be recommended to increase a brainwave that you already have high levels of. In fact, you may experience some negative affects from too many delta brainwaves.

Problems associated with too many delta brainwaves:

• Packing on excess “emotional baggage” – If you’ve ever been told that you worry too much about the emotions of others or literally “feel what others are feeling,” chances are good that you have too much delta. While some people may enjoy increased empathy, others may feel like they are too caught up in other people’s emotional lives. The delta brainwave can definitely make you pack on too many extra emotions if you aren’t prepared.

• Extremely unfocused mind - Not everyone may particularly enjoy an increased amount of delta brainwaves in their waking E.E.G. The delta brainwave range has been linked to extremely unfocused, unconscious thinking, and ADD. The delta brainwave range can increase mental fogginess, dreaming, and forgetfulness. If you are already extremely unfocused, increasing your delta brainwaves isn’t recommended.

• Extreme sleepiness - Since the delta brainwave pattern has been linked to the deepest stages of dreamless sleep, increasing this brainwave may make you feel more sleepy than you normally do. The delta brainwave is found in individuals that are sound asleep. Drowsiness and extreme sleepiness will occur if the delta brainwave is displayed while a person is awake. When increasing your delta brainwaves, it is extremely common to fall asleep as your brain is being trained. You will wake up feeling refreshed though. It is very difficult to stay aware in the delta state of consciousness unless you are advanced in the practice of meditation.

• Hyperactivity – Because the brain is functioning at the slowest possible brainwave pattern, the central nervous system uses up virtually zero energy. All of the energy that you’ve accumulated throughout the day from eating food needs to be put to use somehow. Having too much delta brainwave activity allows your brain and CNS to get by with very little energy. Since the brain and CNS use less overall energy, the excess energy is expressed in some people through hyperactivity.

Healthy ways to increase delta brainwaves:

• Brainwave entrainment - As I mention a lot, brainwave entrainment is great for fine tuning your state of consciousness and awareness. If you want to easily and naturally experience delta brainwaves, I recommend trying any of the programs in my “recommended products” section. Brainwave entrainment is an easy process that involves simply listening to a tone (stimulus) and your brainwaves will automatically, naturally shift in order to match the desired frequency associated with the acoustic tone. While delta brainwave states usually occur in deep sleep, it is possible to train yourself to remain awake while experiencing the delta brainwave.

• Getting a good night’s sleep – Delta activity is present in stages 3 and 4 of sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep is important for staying healthy, keeping a healthy, powerful brain. Though delta brainwaves will not increase when you wake up the next day, they are highly prevalent in your brain while you are deeply asleep. Most non-dream, deep sleep is linked to an increase in delta brainwave activity, whereas dream-sleep is mostly linked to theta brainwave activity.

• Meditation – The goal of most types of meditation is to lower the brainwaves into the alpha-theta brainwave range. A very safe, healthy way to attempt to increase your delta brainwaves is to make the act of meditation a daily habit or start up a meditation routine. If you are already meditating, great – you’ll naturally increase your flexibility to travel through the alpha brainwave range, possibly through the theta brainwave range, and into the depths of the delta brainwave range.

• Hypnosis / Self-hypnosis – The goal of all hypnosis and self-hypnosis programs is to target the lower brainwave ranges (i.e. alpha and theta) and implant new beliefs. If you practice frequent enough, and long enough, you may find that you are able to tap into your inner delta brainwave awareness.

• Yoga – Like meditation, yoga is yet another activity that promotes relaxation and wellbeing by shifting your brainwaves to the calming patterns of alpha, theta, and sometimes delta. The yogic phenomenon of suspended animation has been claimed to only take place in the delta brainwave range. Though there are many different types of yoga, if they are practiced correctly, they can be utilized to slow brainwaves to tap the delta awareness and insight from within.

Unhealthy ways to increase delta brainwaves:

• Skipping sleep – Depriving yourself of a good night’s sleep or completely skipping sleep will increase the amount of cortisol (a hormone associated with stress and aging) and will flood your brain with a combination of unfocused brainwaves: mostly theta, some delta and in some cases high-beta. If you have ever pulled an “all nighter,” you’ll know that skipping sleep makes you feel extremely unfocused, dizzy, and confused. This is due to to a combination of unbalanced chemicals, hormones, and brainwaves. Not a wise idea to skip sleep to increase your delta brainwaves.

Final evaluation of delta brainwaves:

I personally think that delta brainwaves are very unique to experience and everyone has a different reaction. The deep spaced-out connection associated with delta activity can feel great. You should be the judge as to whether or not increasing delta is the brainwave you want to experiment with. If you are already experiencing many of the listed “benefits,” your delta brainwave could be within it’s healthiest range.

Are you already a mentally fogged person? If so, chances are good that your brain could be naturally producing some delta brainwave activity. However, most people do not have large amounts of the delta brainwave unless they are in the deepest sleep stages. If you are experiencing too many of the listed negative effects, you may want to consider speeding up your brainwaves into the beta range.

I personally recommend entraining the delta brainwave to see how you react. Most people don’t produce large amounts of delta naturally. There is no evidence that the delta brainwave can even be entrained, but there are people who claim that sessions help heal the body and brain during sleep if entrained with Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional. If you purchase Neuro-Programmer 2 or any of my recommended brainwave products, you can create a customized delta brainwave session or use a specialized one that’s already built into the library. The built in delta sessions are great — I’ve personally had success with them. If you are confused about your brainwave pattern, consider giving Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional some experimentation and seeing how your brain reacts and your reality is shifted.

If you’d like to experience Delta brainwaves:

If you have ever given delta brainwaves a shot, I’d really like to hear your experience in the comments section. If you are interested in experiencing some delta brainwaves or have any questions for me, feel free to send me a message through my contact form. I appreciate when you buy products through my referral ads to help me pay for blog hosting services and the promotion of this blog! Increasing your delta brainwave pattern is definitely an experience that has potential to boost your brain power and help you connect with your deepest, spiritual sense of awareness.

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What are theta brain waves?

Theta brainwaves are considered extremely relaxing brainwave activity that is commonly associated with sleep and dreaming. Theta brainwaves are high in amplitude and cycle within the range of 4 – 8 Hz and are usually generated in the brains right hemisphere. Theta waves kick in when we feel emotional, relaxed, daydreamy, unfocused, or are asleep. Theta brainwaves are generally thought of as the brainwaves that are dominant in people with A.D.D., high levels of relaxation, high levels of creativity, and random thinking. The theta brainwave is considered the brainwave pattern that is dominant in deeply relaxed, dream sleep.

Benefits of increasing theta brain waves:

• Deep levels of relaxation – Theta brainwaves while a person is awake is extremely uncommon. However, advanced meditators and children are 2 groups of people that are able to enjoy the deeply relaxing benefits of the theta brainwave. Remember what you felt like when you were a kid? The theta brainwave is a carefree state of mind that makes you feel emotionally connected with others.

• Emotional connection – The theta brainwave range is associated with strong, powerful emotions. The cool thing about theta brainwaves is as they increase, so does the intensity of your emotions. Often times beta brainwaves can block out our emotions or not allow us to fully experience our natural emotions. As theta brainwaves return or are strengthened through relaxation techniques or brainwave entrainment, we can learn to feel and understand our emotions better.

• Advanced intuition - Ever have a powerful gut-instinct that helped you make a good decision? Or a gut-instinct that you should’ve followed? If we get ourselves too caught up in the upper brainwave patterns of beta, our intuitiveness becomes severely damaged. As you increase your theta brainwaves, your intuition will increase as well as your ability to recognize those feelings in your “gut.”

• Subconscious connection – Though the alpha brainwave is capable of bridging the gap between conscious thoughts and the subconscious, the theta brainwave allows us to deeply connect with our subconscious mind. The subconscious mind, or our brain’s right-hemisphere becomes activated when slower brainwaves like alpha and theta waves kick in. If you spend too much time in beta, it may feel incredible to finally relax and allow yourself to connect with your subconscious mind.

• Peak levels of creativity - The theta brainwave is often found in highly creative individuals. Many talented musicians, inventors, and artists are found to have extremely higher than average amounts of theta brainwaves. Musicians and artists are also able to utilize software like Neuro-Programmer 2 in order to help them increase their creativity when it runs dry. Utilizing the theta brainwave will definitely enhance your overall levels of creativity!

• Advanced problem solving skills - The problem associated with having too much of the beta brainwave pattern is the inabiltiy to problem solve and get past “mental blocks” by thinking creatively. Ever get writer’s block? Increasing your theta or alpha brainwaves will most likely help you keep “flowing” right through your paper or article without getting “stuck.” I’ve heard cases of alpha brainwaves used to help prevent writer’s block and I’ve also read that theta waves were very effective.

• Lower anxiety, stress, and neurosis - Lowered levels of stress and anxiety is yet another benefit that the theta brainwave can bring to your life. Not all people with large amounts of theta waves are relaxed, but the theta brainwave band has been linked to lower levels of anxiety, stress, and neurosis. Increasing the total amount of theta brainwaves will help slow rapid thoughts and will make you feel more comfortable in your own body.

• Learning a new language – There has been plenty of research done on language learning and development. The claim that children are able to pick up new languages so quickly is because of their increased amount of theta brainwaves. Adults and students of a new foreign language may greatly benefit from shifting their brainwaves to the theta range.

• Bridges the spiritual connection – Many consider the theta brainwave to be a bridge between the physical body and spiritual body. The theta brainwave has been associated with deeper spirituality and a deep spiritual connection. According to some, the theta brainwave range provides enhanced spiritual awareness and profound insight. Many spiritual experiences and phenomena are commonly experienced in the theta brainwave state.

• Ability to program subconscious mind - There is some evidence to believe that by targeting the lower brainwave patterns and using affirmations or positive self talk, you can change some of your deepest unconscious beliefs or emotional blockages. In the theta brainwave range, the brain is extremely open to suggestion and new ideas. It is the openness of the brain in the theta frequency range that constitutes the ability to re-program the brain.

• Paranormal Experiences – People are especially open to psychic experiences, OOBE’s (Out Of Body Experiences), visions, ESP, and other phenomenon in the theta brainwave range. Though most paranormal and psychic experiences can be argued to be real or fake, there is evidence that most people tend to have them when their brain is full of theta brainwaves. Psychics are supposedly able to tap the theta brainwave range in order to connect with higher spirits and the divine.

• 300% boost in learning ability – Though the alpha brainwave spectrum (8 – 12 Hz) has been associated with “super learning” abilities, the theta brainwave frequency range has been heavily linked to profound learning benefits. As your mind is able to enter the frequencies of the theta range, you will be able to retain over 300% more information than you can while in the beta brainwave state. The theta brainwave allows people to learn large amounts of information in a much quicker time than the beta brainwave state and may even be quicker than the alpha brainwave for some activities.

• Boosted immune system - Increasing your theta brainwaves can lead to a boosted immune system due to the fact that theta brainwaves are associated with vitality and usually zero stress. Stress and too much anxiety can do harm to the immune system by releasing harmful chemicals such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and too much of the hormone: cortisol, associated with the adrenaline release. The theta brainwave releases pleasant chemicals and neurotransmitters to help keep your immune system at it’s peak.

• Improved long-term memory – As theta brainwaves increase, the ability of the brain to recall and store long-term memories increases. The hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory processing and storing memories, has a normalized theta brainwave rhythm passing through this area. As we become more stressed out, the beta brainwaves throw the normalized theta brainwaves of the hippocampus out of sync. This is why stressful people usually have poorer ability to recall long-term memories. Often times therapists and hypnotherapists try to slowly open up traumatized clients to the theta range in order to recall repressed memories. The therapists help the client shift to this brainwave range in order to recall the repressed memory and help talk them through the event.

• Ability to hyperfocus – Many people with high amounts of theta brainwave activity are able to “get in the zone” and stay intensely focused and motivated with one idea. Many people with ADD or ADHD attribute their success in certain areas of life to their ability to hyperfocus. Hyperfocus is a unique phenomenon that can really only be experienced in the theta brainwave range. Some meditators have also claimed to have learned the hyperfocus ability.

• Healing of body and mind – The theta brainwave rhythm is well-known to rejuvenate, replenish, and heal the body and mind. The theta brainwave is known to reset your brains sodium / potassium ion ratio. When you get yourself heavily involved in the upper frequencies of the beta range, your brain’s sodium / potassium ion ratio is severely thrown out of sync. Due to the deep levels of relaxation that the theta brainwave brings, the body and mind is easily able to restore itself after a tough mental or physical workout.

Who has high amounts of theta brainwaves?

• Extroverts - Compared to introverts, extroverts have more lower brainwave patterns in the alpha and theta ranges. Extroverts with low traits of neurosis and anxiety were found to have high levels of certain theta brainwave frequencies that introverts did not.

• Meditators – The goal of many meditation practices is to increase the amount of slower, alpha and theta brainwave patterns. After a lot of meditation experience, you can eventually learn how to shift your brain from the beta range, through the pleasant calmness of alpha, into the extraordinary theta range. Experienced meditators can recognize and control this state of awareness. Like any practice, the more you do it, the easier it will become to pass through alpha and into the theta brainwave range through meditation.

• Children – Children tend to have extremely high levels of theta brainwaves compared to adults. Though everyone has some degree of theta activity, most adults have an extremely tiny amount. Though the theta brainwave is very mysterious, it is a relatively safe brainwave. Virtually all children and people with A.D.D. have large amounts of theta brainwave activity. As we age, the beta brain wave pattern tends to increase and dominate the other patterns. That’s why many adults would definitely benefit from a theta or alpha brain wave boost more than young people.

• Individuals With ADD or ADHD – Individuals with ADD or ADHD tend to have brains that produce too much theta brainwave activity and not nearly enough beta activity. Having too much theta brainwave activity explains why ADD people aren’t able to concentrate well and have a tougher time staying on task. On a personal note, I have been able to cure my ADD by staying disciplined to a set of 5 daily steps.

• Extremely stressed individuals – The most advanced stages of stress (i.e. being extremely stressed out for more than a few months) will cause your brain to eventually enter the theta brainwave state due to a burnout of the central nervous system. As you produce too many high beta brainwaves for longer than a few months, your brain will eventually be extremely low in alpha brainwaves, extremely low in low-beta brainwaves, and full of desynchronized theta and high beta activity.

Just like any of the other brainwave patterns, too much of a dominant rhythm can cause problems. By no means would it be recommended to increase a brainwave that you already have high levels of. In fact, you may experience some negative affects from the theta brainwaves.

Problems associated with too many theta brainwaves:

• Inability to focus - Like I mentioned earlier, not everyone will benefit from a theta brainwave increase. The theta brainwave range has been specifically linked to lack of focus and ADD. In most cases, theta brainwaves are associated with mental fogginess, daydreaming activity, and random thinking. If you are already extremely unfocused, increasing your theta brainwaves is not a good idea!

• Too many daydreams – Like the alpha brainwaves, as you increase theta brainwaves, you may have too many daydreams without any control over it. Higher than average amounts of theta brainwaves is never beneficial and too many daydreams is a prime example of why you may not want to entrain theta.

• Depression – High amounts of theta brainwaves are found in individuals’ brains that have been diagnosed with clinical depression. Usually, individuals that have too many lower brainwaves tend to feel more depressed: increasing the amount of beta brainwaves will help them out! If you are depressed from being overstimulated, theta or alpha brainwaves can help your condition improve, but if you are too understimulated, I suggest staying away from alpha or theta brainwaves and sticking to beta.

• Sleepiness – The theta brainwave pattern has been linked to dream sleep. The theta brainwave is found in individuals that are sound asleep or extremely tired. Sleepiness and drowsiness occur when theta brainwaves are found in people that are fully awake. When increasing your theta brainwaves, it is extremely common to fall asleep and wake up feeling refreshed. It is very tough to stay aware in the theta state of consciousness unless you are training through meditation.

• Lack of excitement – Excitement is associated with beta brainwaves and the adrenaline that they produce. It is not uncommon to feel unexcited, or extreme feelings of boredom while in the theta range. If you are currently finding yourself bored with new activities, it is time to work to increase your beta brainwaves and stay away from increasing theta.

• Extreme impulsiveness – Since a lack of conscious thought is associated with theta brainwaves, it is not uncommon for extremely impulsive people to be high in theta brainwaves. One symptom of ADD is being overly impulsive. It isn’t at all a surprise that increasing the total amount of theta brainwaves correlates with higher levels of impulsive behavior.

• Hyperactivity – Because the brain is functioning at such a slow brainwave pattern, the central nervous system is using up less overall energy. All the energy that you accumulate from food you eat needs to be put to use somehow. Having too much theta brainwave activity allows your brain and CNS to get by with less energy. Since the brain and CNS use less overall energy, the excess energy is expressed in the individual through hyperactive behaviors.

• Overly receptive mind – In the theta brainwave state, your brain may be overly receptive to suggestions and new information. Being overly receptive isn’t always a good thing and can make your subconscious more open to accepting negative suggested beliefs. Many hypnotherapists target the theta brainwave range to help you implant new beliefs into your mind.

Healthy ways to increase theta brainwaves:

• Brainwave entrainment - As I mention a lot, brainwave entrainment is great for fine tuning your state of consciousness and awareness. If you want to easily and naturally experience theta brainwaves, I recommend trying any of the programs in my “recommended products” section. Brainwave entrainment is an easy process that involves simply listening to a tone (stimulus) and your brainwaves naturally shift in order to match the frequency associated with the acoustic tone.

• Playing Nintendo – Playing Nintendo literally shuts down all brainwave activity in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, an area which is responsible for producing beta brainwaves to help keep you focused. As an individual plays Nintendo games, his or her brain shifts from focused thinking to the unfocused, visual, theta brainwaves. Those who play Nintendo for longer periods of time on a consistent basis tend to have much more theta activity than those who don’t.

• Listening to music – Virtually all genres of music (besides classical) target the brain’s right hemisphere and increase theta brainwave levels. Ever wonder why music makes you feel more emotional or provokes an intense emotional reaction from within? Music brings emotions to the surface because when we listen, our brain naturally increases it’s theta brainwaves!

• Getting a good night’s sleep – Getting a good night’s sleep is important for staying healthy, keeping a healthy, powerful brain. Though theta brainwaves will not increase when you wake up the next day, they are highly prevalent in your brain while you are sleeping. Most dream-sleep is linked to an increase in theta brainwave activity, whereas dreamless sleep is mostly linked to delta brainwave activity.

• Meditation - The goal of most types of meditation is to lower the brainwaves into the alpha-theta brainwave range. A very safe, healthy way to increase your theta brainwaves is to make meditation a daily habit or start up a meditation routine. If you are already meditating, great — you’ll naturally increase flexibility with to travel through the alpha brainwave range to experience the depths of theta.

• Hypnosis / Self-hypnosis – The goal of all hypnosis and self-hypnosis programs is to target the lower brainwave ranges (i.e. alpha and theta) and implant new beliefs. Doing self-hypnosis on a consistent basis or seeing a hypnotherapist will definitely help you reduce stress by increasing your theta brainwaves.

• Creative Visualization - Every time that you close your eyes and do creative visualization, the amount of natural theta brainwave increases. Though it is tough to maintain awareness in a brainwave state predominantly comprised of theta waves, it can be done. Creative visualization will give your theta brainwaves a nice, healthy boost while you are engaged in this eyes-closed, extremely-relaxed process. If you are the type of person that often shuts your eyes to visualize, you probably have higher than normal amounts of theta brainwave activity. Visualization can go hand-in-hand with a meditation practice, but if you’d rather only visualize, you’ll still be boosting your theta brainwaves.

• Yoga – Like meditation, yoga is yet another activity that promotes relaxation and wellbeing by shifting your brainwaves to the calming patterns of alpha and theta. There are many different types of yoga, and if practiced right, they’ll definitely slow your brainwaves and allow you to experience a much greater sense of awareness and insight within the theta range.

Unhealthy ways to increase theta brainwaves:

• Skipping sleep – Depriving yourself of a good night’s sleep or completely skipping sleep will increase the amount of cortisol (a hormone associated with stress and aging) and will flood your brain with a combination of unfocused brainwaves: mostly theta, some delta and in some cases high-beta. If you have ever pulled an “all nighter,” you’ll know that skipping sleep makes you feel extremely unfocused, dizzy, and confused. This is due to to a combination of unbalanced chemicals, hormones, and brainwaves.

• Taking Valium (diazepam) – Valium is a sedative that is commonly used to treat anxiety, stress, and panic. Taking the drug Valium will increase your brain’s lower frequency brainwaves: mostly theta. The theta brainwaves are what makes a person feel tired and deeply relaxed. If you have ever taken Valium, you know what a kick of the theta brainwaves feel like.

• Drinking Alcohol – Though drinking alcohol primarily increases the total amount of a person’s alpha brainwaves, it definitely has an effect on the theta range too. In extreme cases of alcoholism and drunkenness, the theta brainwave pattern can dominate the brain and leave the individual extremely confused and impair all memory functions.

• Hallucinogenics (i.e. Magic Mushrooms / LSD / Acid) – Hallucinogenic drugs like Magic Mushrooms, LSD, and Acid are definitely not wise to take. They are things that kill your brain cells and can cause a user to have extremely negative reactions that result in huge emotional upheavals and possible psychotic episodes. In my opinion, Magic Mushrooms are the safest of the three mentioned, but they all should be avoided. With that said, if you have ever taken them, you have entered the theta brainwave range with a drugged perspective.

Final evaluation of theta brainwaves:

I personally think that theta brainwaves can feel awesome and are great to experience. The emotional intensity that is associated with high amounts of theta feels great. With that said, theta can be an intense brainwave to experience. If you find yourself overemotional and depressed, the theta band is not recommended. You should be the judge as to whether or not increasing theta is best for you. If you are already experiencing many of the listed “benefits,” you probably don’t need much of an theta brainwave booster.

Are you already an overemotional person? If so, chances are good that your brain naturally produces large amounts of theta brainwave activity and you may not need a boost. If you are experiencing too many of the listed negative effects, you may want to consider speeding up your brainwaves into the beta range.

I personally don’t recommend entraining the alpha brainwave or the theta brainwave if you currently know that your brain already produces large amounts of theta. If you are going to do theta brainwave entrainment with Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional, I recommend trying the 7.83 Hz frequency. If you purchase Neuro-Programmer 2 or any of my recommended brainwave products, you can create a customized 7.83 Hz theta brainwave session or look for one that is already built into the library. If you are confused about your brainwave pattern, consider giving Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional some experimentation and seeing how your brain reacts and your reality changes.

If you’d like to experience Theta brainwaves:

If you have ever given theta brainwaves a shot, I’d really like to hear your experience in the comments section. If you are interested in experiencing some theta brainwaves or have any questions for me, feel free to send me a message through my contact form. I appreciate when you purchase products through me. It helps me pay for blog hosting services and the promotion of this blog. Increasing your theta brainwave pattern is definitely an experience that has potential to boost your brain power and help you connect with your emotions.

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What are alpha brain waves?

Alpha brain waves are considered relaxed brainwave activity. Alpha brainwaves are brainwaves that cycle within the range of 8 – 12 Hz and are usually generated in the brains right hemisphere or in a synchronized pattern between both right and left hemispheres. Alpha waves kick in when our mind and body are completely relaxed and free of stress.

Alpha is generally thought of as the normal brainwave that is dominant in people who are relaxed, creative, and have a clear mind. Alpha is considered the “normal” brainwave pattern and is dominant when people close their eyes. Children tend to have much higher levels of alpha brainwaves than adults. Alpha brainwaves are considered the healthiest brainwave range and 10 Hz has widely been accepted as the “safest” brainwave frequency to train.

Most children and younger teenagers have a dominant alpha rhythm. There isn’t a single brain wave pattern is better than the others – so don’t think alpha brainwaves are a “cure all.” If your brain is deficient in the alpha brainwave pattern, increasing them can feel awesome! I can personally testify based on my experience.

Benefits of increasing alpha brain waves:

• Relaxed body and mind - The alpha brainwave is associated with a completely relaxed body and mind. The brain’s thought process is slowed and the mind is clear. The body is completely relaxed and free of all tension and nervousness. Boosting the alpha brain wave is a great way to enjoy the feeling of relaxation and a great way to let go of all worries and tension.

• Higher levels of creativity - The alpha brainwave rhythm is generally associated with above average levels of creativity. Alpha brainwave levels are found to be much higher in artists, musicians, and creative thinkers. Creative problem solvers are what many employers currently need to think of new, creative, innovative ideas for their companies. If you’d like to boost your creativity, consider giving alpha brainwaves a boost. Scientists have shown that highly-creative individuals tent to have different brainwaves than normal and less creative people. In order to be creative, your brain must be able to produce bursts of alpha brainwaves: mostly in the left-hemisphere. Why? Producing them on the left hemisphere shuts down the left-brain and allows the more creative, right-hemisphere to expose new ideas!

• Improved ability to problem-solve - The problem associated with having too much of the beta brainwave pattern is the inabiltiy to problem solve and get past “mental blocks” by thinking creatively. Ever get writer’s block? Increasing your alpha brainwaves will most likely help you keep “flowing” right through your paper or article without getting “stuck.”

• Balanced mood (emotional stability) - The alpha brainwave, especially the 10 Hz frequency, is associated with a balanced mood and stable emotions. Many overanxious and hyperactive, unstable people could greatly improve their brains by increasing their alpha brainwaves. Feeling emotionally stable means not overreacting to stressful situations and being able to maintain a calm state of mind. The alpha brainwave state is associated with a very stable state of mind.

• Peak-performance – The 10 Hz alpha brainwave frequency is commonly referred to as a “peak performance” state of mind or being “in the zone.” There has been conclusive evidence from studies with professional basketball players and golfers that show alpha brainwaves increasing in their “left hemispheres” just before making a free-throw or shooting a great golf shot. In players that did not make the shot, beta brainwaves flooded their left-hemisphere. It seems that “over thinking” (beta brainwaves) or “under thinking” (theta brainwaves) are detrimental to gameplay. The study was also proved by comparing elite marksmen to novice marksmen. The elite marksmen showed a big burst of alpha in their left-brain hemisphere before their perfect shots. Professional athletes are much more likely to show the alpha rhythm, while novices and intermediate players show virtually none! It seems that the 10 Hz alpha brainwave is the best brainwave for athletes and marskmen looking to improve their performance and overall game.

• Lowered levels of stress & anxiety - Lowered levels of stress and anxiety is a huge benefit that the alpha brainwave can bring to your life. Know anyone suffering from chronic stress or rapid, anxious thoughts? Suggest brainwave entrainment to them and have them read over this article to see whether or not they’d like to try to increase their alpha brainwaves.

• Flow state of consciousness – A state of “flow,” refers to a mental state that all events and things seem to pass without problems. You are able to deal with life’s problems easily and aren’t overanxious or too relaxed. You are somewhere in between overstimulation and understimulation. In essence, you’re mind is “balanced” and in an optimal state of functioning.

• “Super learning” ability – The alpha brainwave spectrum has been associated with “super learning” and being able to remember and retain information with less overall effort. The alpha brainwave state mostly improves one’s natural ability to passively absorb large amounts of information. Basically, you don’t need to make as much of an effort to learn a new ability, language, or skill.

• Boosted immune system - Enhancing your alpha brainwaves can lead to self-healing and prevention of illness. This is due to the fact that alpha waves are usually associated with “lack of stress” and “relaxation.” Stress and too much anxiety can do harm to the immune system by releasing harmful chemicals such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and too much of the hormone: cortisol, associated with the adrenaline release.

• Positive thinking – There has been some research that has found the alpha brainwave rhythm, especially the 10 Hz frequency, to be associated with a positive state of mind (i.e. positive thoughts), a positive mood, and an overall feeling of wellness. In my experience with alpha brainwaves, the positive thoughts and mood definitely were due to my enhanced level of relaxation.

• Increased levels of “serotonin” – Alpha brainwaves are associated with the neurotransmitter serotonin being released. Low levels of serotonin have been one factor that some researchers have linked to depression.

• Deep self-introspection – Alpha brainwaves are associated with an increased awareness of your self: body and mind. Where as beta brainwaves cause the mind to focus more on external events, the alpha brainwaves enhance the overall awareness of one’s self.

Who has high amounts of alpha brainwaves?

• Extroverts - Compared to introverts, extroverts have much more alpha brainwave activity. Researchers in the Faculty of Science at the University of Technology Sydney have discovered that the type of brainwaves in the prefronal cortex has correlated to introversion and extroversion. According to the results from their study: “If you have high amounts of alpha brainwaves, you are at least three times as likely to be an extrovert.”

• Meditators – The goal of many meditation practices is to increase the amount of slower, alpha and theta brainwave patterns. Naturally your brain will enter a state of alpha awareness and calmness. Experienced meditators can recognize and control this state of awareness. Like any practice, the more you do it, the easier it becomes to enter alpha through meditation.

• Children – Children tend to have much higher amounts of alpha and theta brainwaves than the average population. As we age, our beta brainwave pattern tends to increase and dominate the other patterns. That is why many adults would definitely benefit from an alpha brainwave increase more than a younger person.

Just like any of the other brainwave patterns, too much of a dominant rhythm can cause problems. By no means would it be recommended to increase a brainwave that you already have high levels of. In fact, you may experience some negative affects from the alpha brainwaves.

Problems associated with too many alpha brainwaves:

• Lack of focus - Like I mentioned earlier, not everyone will benefit from an alpha brainwave increase. Though the alpha brainwave isn’t usually linked to lack of focus and ADD, in some cases it can created a foggy state of mind. If you are already very unfocused, increasing the alpha brainwave pattern is usually not recommended.

• Too many daydreams – As you increase your alpha brainwaves, you may have too many daydreams without much control. Some daydreams are fine, but higher than average amounts of alpha brainwaves wouldn’t be of much benefit if you are already daydreamy.

• Depression – High amounts of alpha brainwaves in conjunction with relatively little beta brainwave activity has been linked to depression. Though peak-performers are able to generate a big burst of alpha in their left hemisphere right before their best shots, too much alpha activity in the left-hemisphere of the brain has been linked to depression. If you are depressed from being overstimulated, alpha will probably help you out, if you are too understimulated, I suggest staying away from alpha and sticking to beta waves.

• Tiredness – The alpha brainwave pattern has been linked to tiredness and drowsiness in some individuals. If you are working to increase your alpha and you notice yourself becoming tired or drowsy, it may be temporary and your brain is most likely readjusting to fit the new pattern. With that said, alpha brainwaves are the brainwaves that are naturally produced right after you close your eyes to fall asleep.

• Lack of excitement – Though it is usually rare, some people may run into the problem of not feeling excitement for awhile. After my personal experience with alpha brainwaves, I felt super relaxed and unexcited for a couple weeks. It definitely helped calm my mind, but I did miss the feeling of excitement.

• Lack of visual acuity – Alpha brainwaves are associated with a lack of visual acuity and visual awareness. Beta brainwaves are associated with heightened visual awareness and acuity. When slowing your brainwaves down to the alpha range, the visual area of the brain is also much less clear.

• Overly receptive – In the alpha brainwave state, your brain may be overly receptive to suggestions and new information. Being overly receptive isn’t always a good thing and can make your subconscious more open to accepting negative suggested beliefs.

Healthy ways to increase alpha brainwaves:

• Brainwave entrainment - As I mention a lot, brainwave entrainment is great for fine tuning your state of consciousness and awareness. If you want to increase your alpha brainwaves, I recommend trying any of the programs in my “recommended products” section. Brainwave entrainment is an easy process that involves simply listening to a tone (stimulus) and your brainwaves naturally match the frequency associated with the tone.

• Meditation - The goal of most types of meditation is to lower the brainwaves into the alpha-theta brainwave range. A very safe, healthy way to increase your alpha brainwaves is to make meditation a daily habit or start up a meditation routine. If you are already meditating, great! You’ll naturally increase flexibility with your alpha brainwaves as you continue the process.

• Self-hypnosis – The goal of self-hypnosis is to target the lower brainwave ranges (i.e. alpha and theta). Doing self-hypnosis on a consistent basis will definitely help you reduce stress by increasing the natural amount of your alpha brainwaves.

• Visualization - Every time that you close your eyes and visualize, alpha activity significantly increases. If you are the type of person that often enjoys shutting your eyes to imaging or picture things, you’ll have a naturally higher amount of alpha brainwave activity than others. Visualization can go hand-in-hand with a meditation practice, but if you’d rather only visualize, you’ll still be boosting your alpha brainwaves!

• Yoga – Like meditation, yoga is yet another activity that promotes relaxation and wellbeing by shifting your brainwaves to the calming patterns of alpha and theta. There are many different types of yoga, and if practiced right, they’ll definitely allow you to tap into your alpha awareness.

• Deep-breathing – Deep breathing is not only great for improving overall oxygen levels in the brain and body, it is great for achieving a state of relaxation. When you make deep-breathing a habit, you will begin to feel more relaxed and your brainwaves will shift from the somewhat stressful beta brainwaves to the alpha rhythm.

• Saunas / Hot Tubs – Not only do saunas and hot tubs cause your entire body to feel completely relaxed, they cause your mind to quiet and drowsiness to kick in. The brainwave associated with those feelings of relaxation like you’ve been sitting in a hot tub or in a steamy sauna are the alpha waves. Same would apply for laying in the sun tanning on a nice warm beach — feeling the hot sun soak into your body is deeply relaxing. That feeling of deep relaxation is due to an increased amount of alpha brainwaves.

• Watching T.V. – After just 30 seconds of watching T.V., your brain’s alpha brainwaves kick in. Even if you happen to be reading captions or text on the T.V. screen, the alpha waves still kick in! Normally, beta brainwaves kick in while reading, but not while reading on T.V. All radiant light from cathode-ray technology in T.V.’s and other appliances automatically cause the brain to idle and shift to the alpha rhythm. I personally don’t consider watching T.V. to be the best way to increase your alpha brainwaves, but I’m not going to put it in the unhealthy category.

Unhealthy ways to increase alpha brainwaves:

• Drinking alcohol – In moderation, alcohol probably won’t kill your precious brain cells, but it isn’t a healthy activity for your body or your brain. Alcohol is a huge alpha brainwave booster. Are you a person that is constantly getting drunk to relax? Alpha brainwaves are the reason that tense and stressed people turn to alcohol. When you are drunk, your brain produces lots of alpha brainwaves and lowers your inhibitions.

• Smoking marijuana - Though there is controversy as to whether or not smoking marijuana is good or bad, I personally don’t consider marijuana or any other illegal substance to be healthy. Smoking marijuana does increase alpha brainwaves, which is why smoking marijuana makes people feel relaxed. Marijuana will not give you the aware, synchronized, peak-performance alpha brainwave that most people are striving for.

Final evaluation of alpha brainwaves:

I personally think that alpha brainwaves feel awesome to increase and the 10 Hz brainwave is the safest brainwave to entrain. However, you should be the judge as to whether or not increasing them is best for you. If you are already experiencing many of the listed “benefits,” you probably don’t need much of an alpha booster.

Are you already a relaxed, laid back person that feels emotionally stable? If so, chances are good that your brain naturally produces large amounts of alpha brainwave activity and you may be perfect in the alpha range. If you are experiencing too many of the listed negative effects, you may want to consider speeding up your brainwaves into the beta range.

If you are over anxious, tend to worry a lot, and aren’t emotionally balanced, chances are good that you’d benefit from the alpha increase. If you are going to do alpha brainwave entrainment with Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional, I highly recommend trying the 10 Hz frequency. If you purchase Neuro-Programmer 2 or any of my recommended brainwave products, you can create a customized 10 Hz alpha brainwave session – it isn’t built into the session library. If you are confused about your brainwave pattern, consider giving Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional some experimentation and seeing how your brain reacts and reality changes.

If you’d like to experience Alpha brainwaves:

If you have ever given alpha brainwaves a shot, I’d really like to hear your experience in the comments section. If you are interested in experiencing some alpha brainwaves or have any questions for me, feel free to send me a message through my contact form. I appreciate when you buy products through my referral ads to help me pay for blog hosting services and the promotion of this blog! Increasing your alpha brainwave pattern is definitely an experience that has potential to boost your brain power.

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1) Sniffing paint — Yes, sniffing paint will give you a “high” for awhile, but it can really inflict severe brain damage. Avoid inhalants like paint and keep your brain cells healthy. Even worse than just killing your brain cells is the fact that sniffing paint has the potential to kill you — even on your first time. Stay away from this stuff and get help now if you are addicted.

2) Taking cocaine – Thank you captain obvious, right? It’s possible that not everyone out there knew that cocaine killed brain cells. Cocaine doesn’t just kill random brain cells either, it wipes out the brain cells in your brain’s pleasure center — brain cells that make you feel good and are triggered with positive emotion and pleasure. Want to keep having fun in life and feel pleasure? Stay away from cocaine.

3) Too much stress — A little bit of stress is healthy for everyone. It keeps you motivated and motivated to achieve goals. When stress gets out of hand to the point where you’re having adrenaline rushes, your body produces an excess of the chemical “cortisol.” Too much of that cortisol is what kills brain cells. Please don’t stress after reading this.

4) Getting a concussion – Unfortunately most people don’t have much control over getting concussions. The fact is, concussions are neuronal killers and should be avoided if at all possible. There are special precautions to take to avoid concussions such as: wearing a helmet in contact sports, wearing a helmet when riding your motorcycle, even wearing a helmet when riding your bike.

5) Rapidly shaking your head – Rapidly shaking your head around back and forth causes axons to tear, which causes brain cell death. A very easy way to prevent brain cell loss is by NOT shaking your head. You have complete control over the shaking of your head; don’t do it!

6) Eating junk food — What happens to your brain cells when they aren’t provided with the healthy nutrients they need to survive? They starve and die! A little bit of junk food won’t hurt, but unhealthy food on a consistent basis without any healthy food will cause brain cells to die. Again, you have complete control over what you choose to eat. Pick healthy foods and give your brains the adequate nutrients that they need to flourish.

7) Drinking too much alcohol — How many brain cells does one beer kill? Chances are good that drinking just one beer won’t kill any. Getting drunk probably won’t even kill any brain cells. Alcohol can cause a temporary chemical imbalance and structural changes. If you are an alcoholic or you frequently “drink too much alcohol,” you will most likely kill brain cells. MRI’s of alcoholic patients show a decreased brain volume.

8) Taking ecstasy (MDMA) – Common-day club drug, Ecstasy literally puts holes in your brain. Brain scans have compared healthy brains to brains of those who’ve used ecstacy and have found that the “brains on ecstasy” had holes in them. Ecstasy depletes serotonin manufacturing cells, which are important for keeping a positive mood and promoting relaxation. If you frequently go “clubbing” make the choice to stay away from “X,” as it is very common in clubs. Avoid this drug, and your brain will be much healthier than if you didn’t.

9) Dehydration – Without sufficient levels of water in the brain, ions get disrupted and the result is brain damage. Replenish your body and brain with necessary water levels to avoid dehydration and keep your brain cells healthy.

10) Using methamphetamines – Taking methamphetamines is probably the most uneducated decision you could possibly make. Not only are they one of the most addicting groups of drugs, they destroy lives and kill brain cells. The sad part is, methamphetamine use results in severe to permanent brain damage even long after the drug has been stopped. In my opinion, methamphetamines are the most dangerous group of drugs to get involved with. Stay away from them, get help now if you use them, and help a friend if you know they are a user.

11) Getting a contusion – A contusion is a severe bruise within the brain. It does cause neuronal death (brain cell death). Unfortunately, most people that have contusions couldn’t really do much to avoid them. Sports like boxing where taking jabs to the head is common, influences the development of contusions. Safety precautions: wear a helmet or hardhat when debris or other objects have potential to damage your head. The great-est Mohammed Ali suffered brain contusions from his heavy involvement in boxing.

12) Having a stroke – A stroke results from temporary loss of blood-flow to the brain. Usually, the damage from having a stroke is centralized in just one side of the brain. Strokes can cause anything from small lesions, to widespread cell death. Unfortunately strokes cannot be avoided, but there are things that you can do to reduce your risk: lowering stress levels and staying active are just a couple healthy activities that reduce risk of a stroke. An interesting fact: millions of brain cells die each minute a stroke is left untreated.

13) Avoiding exercise — The act of avoiding exercise doesn’t kill brain cells, however, the effects that are associated with lack of exercise happen to be killers. Exercise reduces stress levels, chance of brain damage, and even creates new brain cells. If you are avoiding exercise, you happen to be setting your brain cells up for an early death. Make time in your schedule to exercise and reap the benefits; exercise should never be avoided.

14) Sensory deprivation – We know from my “hearing voices” article that sensory deprivation may cause you to have auditory hallucinations. When your brain undergoes sensory deprivation for longer periods of time, you lose brain cells. When cells are not stimulated for long periods of time, your brain reorganizes itself; you naturally lose the unused, understimulated cells.

15) Taking absinthe — Most types of absinthe contain extremely high amounts of ethanol and a chemical called thujone; both of which can cause brain cell death. Thujone has the opposite effects of barbiturates like Xanax and in high doses can cause seizures and possibly death. It is definitely best to avoid absinthe and not put your brain at risk of damage.

16) Drinking too much water — The act of drinking too much water in too short of time period will actually flood your nervous system and kill off brain cells. How exactly does this work? When the ratio of water to sodium escalates, your brain swells and brain cells die in the process. Individuals on low-sodium diets may be especially vulnerable to “water toxicity.” It is important to stay hydrated, but be reasonable; you know what’s right for your body. Don’t go overboard and kill off your brain cells!

17) Being a chronic negative thinker — The act of simply thinking negative will not cause any sort of brain cell loss. Most people have negative thoughts that creep in their consciousness from time to time. It is when the negative thinking takes over, gets “out of line” and causes stress, and you to make unwise decisions such as taking drugs like Ecstacy to improve your mood at the club when you are probably losing brain cells. The side-effects and byproducts from negative thoughts are what make you more likely to engage in activities that kill brain cells. Negative thinking is an indirect killer; surround yourself with positivity and a healthy circle of friends!

18) Post traumatic stress disorder – Victims of post-traumatic stress disorder unfortunately deal with memory problems, anxiety, flashbacks, and happen to lose brain cells in the process. Post traumatic stress disorder causes the brain to produce a surplus of the stress hormone “cortisol,” which kills brain cells. Like other stress related disorders, they don’t lose a huge amount of brain cells overnight, but they definitely can lose a significant amount if they don’t get adequate assistance and treatment.

19) Head trauma – The scary thing about head trauma is that it not only kills brain cells, it also damages the brain’s ability to repair itself after the damage. Head trauma is linked to Parkinson’s disease and poor sensorimotor processing within the brain — always try to protect your head whenever engaging in a contact sport, working construction, riding a motorcycle, etc.

20) Elevated testosterone levels — Having too high of testosterone levels has been proven to be detrimental to your brain’s health and does kill brain cells. If you are taking supplements that increase testosterone levels, be aware that too much of the supplement could potentially cause the death of your brain cells!

21) Chemotherapy — Unfortunately for those who have undergone chemotherapy, the process not only kills the cancerous cells, but many of your good brain cells. In order to avoid cancer, take steps to reduce your risk of developing cancer such as: eating healthy, exercising, getting proper sleep, etc. Not everyone is able to avoid cancer, but you can certainly make an effort to try.

22) A single stressful event — Yes, you read correct — just ONE stressful event has the potential to kill off brain cells. If you live in a high-stress environment, are always on the go, and never take time to just chill, your mind is most likely overactive and you are losing brain cells. If you know that you will be exposed to stressful events, I recommend learning stress coping methods like meditation, deep breathing, guided imagery, yoga, etc. There are many things you can do to lower your stress response to hectic events.

23) Smoking cigarettes — The act of smoking cigarettes is not only detrimental to your physical health — it could be taking a heavy toll on your mental health. The fact is, scientists have found that “smoking” kills brain cells and stops the production of new brain cells (neurogenesis). If you are a smoker, work hard to kick the habit. If you are smoke-free, stay that way and encourage smokers to quit.

24) Taking steroids — Taking steroids is terrible for your brain and body. Steroids elevate testosterone levels and increase stress levels: 2 activities [mentioned earlier] that are known to deplete brain cell. Steroids cause early death, an increased suicide risk, and give the user absolutely ZERO fulfillment in the long-term. Take the time to lift the necessary weights and don’t expect to get “ripped” overnight; you will be better off in the grand scheme of life.

25) Extreme anxiety and panic — Anxiety and panic in extreme situations will definitely provoke feelings of stress, release cortisol, and will kill your brain cells in severe forms. Light and moderate forms of anxiety and panic may feel uncomfortable, but will probably not damage your brain. Learning valuable coping techniques by visiting a psychotherapist, using relaxation techniques consistently, and considering medication are all things that will stop you from losing brain cells from anxiety and panic.

26) Food additives — Food additives contain a group of compounds commonly referred to as “exotoxins,” which slow and destroy cognitive development in the brain. “Exotoxins” are not just present in a few foods, they are present in virtually ALL processed foods. To avoid future health problems and keep a healthy brain, your best bet is to eat healthy, non-processed foods.

27) Oxycodone abuse — Oxycodone abuse kills brain cells, heart tissue, damages kidneys, and has terrible side-effects. If you or someone you know abuses Oxycodone, seek help immediately! Your brain and body will thank you in the long run — Oxycodone is nothing to fool around with.

28) Exposure to electricity — Short and long-term exposure to electricity has terrible effects on your brain. Electricity doesn’t just cause you to lose a few brain cells either, it causes you to lose millions! If you or anyone you know works with electricity on a consistent basis, you may want to take special precautions or reconsider!

29) Exposure to lead — It is known that the early exposure of lead may lead to later brain aging in life. What about brain cell loss from lead exposure? Scientific evidence shows that exposure to lead leads to brain cell loss and damage years later. Scientists figure that a single exposure is equivalent to at least 5 years of brain aging. Avoid lead exposure at all possible costs and do what you’ve got to do to keep your brain healthy!

30) Mercury toxicity — Chances are good that you probably know that avoiding exposure to mercury is recommended. When a person is exposed to mercury, they can develop what’s known as “mercury toxicity” in the brain. Mercury toxicity is a known brain cell killer. I find it interesting that many old, tooth-fillings could be releasing mercury into your body and you could be a victim of mercury poisoning. To watch a boring, yet informative research video about mercury poisoning, check out this video.

31) Carbon monoxide poisoning — Yes carbon monoxide itself can kill brain cells, but the reason brain cells die in carbon monoxide poisoning is mostly due to the fact that inadequate amounts of oxygen get to the brain. To avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, take necessary household precautions such as installing a detector and check for burning.

32) Getting Lyme disease — Severe forms of Lyme disease cause memory impairments and brain cell loss if left untreated for a long period of time. Lyme disease is usually carried by deer ticks, but can be found in other types of ticks. To avoid Lyme disease, it is recommended to always check your body after long expeditions through the woods.

33) Exposure to pesticides — It is always important to take the necessary precautions when working with pesticides or being in an area around pesticides. Pesticides kill brain cells quickly and cause abnormal mental and physical development. If you are in an environment where pesticide exposure is common, get out, save yourself, or report the company and people using the pesticides to proper authorities. Pesticides are linked to Parkinson’s disease and many other forms of mental illness!

34) Certain types of cosmetics – Certain types of cosmetics have been proven to have an adverse interaction with mental health. Some forms of shampoo have ingredients that have been shown to kill brain cells. Be aware that certain types of cosmetics have ingredients that will kill or damage your brain cells.

35) Using cleaning solvents — Taking a good whiff of a solvent can really knock you out! If “sniffed” with the purpose to get high, solvents can cause severe brain damage and possibly death. They can cause severe learning impairments, declined social functioning, and reduce the capacity of your short-term memory. Most cleaning solvents, when used properly for their intended purpose (to clean), will not cause any harm. If you know someone that is abusing solvents, get them help! You are not only helping their brain, you are helping their life!

36) Ingesting aspartame — In case you didn’t know, aspartame is an artificial sweetener found in gum, candy, and Nutra-Sweet. Several studies made connections that link aspartame to brain cell destruction. It is a very controversial substance that has been proven to be bad for health in some studies, and has been proven safe in others. Either way, I’d avoid aspartame; it’s nothing to risk your brain cells over.

37) Indoor air pollution — Indoor air pollution affects the spinal cord, kidneys, blood cells, central nervous system, and the brain. Depending on the type of indoor air pollution, effects can range from being unnoticeable to causing brain cell loss. It is important to keep the air inside of your home and business clean and safe to breathe. Don’t underestimate the potential of indoor air pollution to be detrimental to the health of your body and mind!

38) Lack of quality sleep — We all know that when we don’t get enough sleep, we cannot properly function the next day! Not only does lack of quality sleep interfere with learning and social functions (left-hemisphere), it does kill brain cells. In order to prevent brain cell loss from lack of sleep, it is recommended to get good quality sleep. Some people run effectively on just 6 hours of sleep, while some need 9 to keep a clear head. You be the judge of what works best for your body and brain!

39) Using heroin – As you probably expected, using heroin will kill your brain cells. Heroin has been linked to Alzheimer-like brain damage. Opiate use has been associated with sped up aging in the brain. Heroin causes nerve-cell damage in essential parts of the brain. Don’t let a drug like Heroin ruin your brain and your life!

40) Paint remover — When you put paint remover on paint, it eats it away. When you inhale paint remover, it eats away at your brain! Paint remover, when sniffed, crosses the blood-brain barrier and eats away at your brain tissue and cells. Make the decision to help others that have a problem with “sniffing” or “huffing” paint remover by getting them psychological assistance and being around for support.

41) Welding fumes — Exposure to welding fumes is an extreme health hazard. Welding rod fumes have been linked to Parkinson’s disease and many other illnesses. Most fumes from welding are produced during “arc-welding.” The fumes enter and damage your lungs, nervous system, and deplete brain cells. If you are a welder, you may want to check out this informational guide from the American Society of Safety Engineers.

42) Outdoor air pollution – Like indoor air pollution, outdoor air pollution can have terrible side-effects. Places like Mexico City have so much air pollution that many citizens chose to wear masks and filters to protect themselves. Depending on the type and severity of the air pollution, you can potentially lose a lot of brain tissue. Chemical gases build up quickly and mix with each other, those gases get trapped in the environment, people inhale the gases, and brain damage / cell loss is a result.

43) Microwaving “popcorn” — It doesn’t really matter what you are microwaving, if you stand close enough to the microwave or have a “microwave” leakage, you are killing your brain cells. By just standing close to a microwave that is fully sealed while operating, you do risk losing some brain cells — but not nearly as many as if there were a microwave leakage. It is important to always check up on your microwave and to repair any possible leaks. It is recommended to always stand a minimum of 2 feet away from microwaves while they are cooking.

44) Having narcolepsy – Having narcolepsy — a disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and uncontrollably falling asleep at random times. Research has shown that having narcolepsy kills “hypocretin” brain cells which are located in the hippocampus. Individuals without narcolepsy have around 70,000 hypocretin brain cells, while narcoleptics have have between 3,000 to 10,000 (a significantly lower amount). Luckily new advances and treatments are constantly being developed to help with narcolepsy!

45) Formaldehyde — Formaldehyde can be found in forest fires, automobile exhaust, and tobacco smoke. Formaldehyde can deplete brain cells and decreases cell counts within the brain. Formaldehyde exposure can cause burning of the eyes and nose, coughing, difficulty breathing, and could possibly cause leukemia. For great physical and mental health, formaldehyde exposure should be avoided.

46) Radiation treatment — It is not surprising that radiation treatment damages brain cells. After all, radiation treatment works to damage the DNA of cancerous cells. Some other cells happen to get hit with the radiation intended to take out the cancer cells, and healthy brain cells die. Most medically accepted treatments of cancer involve the killing of both healthy and unhealthy brain cells.

47) Taking the chemical MPTP — MPTP is a neurotoxin that causes permanent symptoms of Parkinson’s disease by killing neurons in the substantia nigra area of the brain. It’s scary that there’s an illicit drug like this… Hopefully you never even hear about MPTP other than on the internet.

48) Laughing gas a.K.a. nitrous oxide — When nitrous oxide is used in a controlled setting like the dentist’s office, it is fine and will not cause brain damage — the amount of the substance is carefully monitored. It is when nitrous oxide is illicitly used and abused that results in brain damage and cell loss. No need to freak out the next time the dentist uses this stuff. Don’t use this stuff in a non-medical setting and you’ll be fine.

49) Using ketamine – The use of ketamine, a common type of anesthesia, prevents brain cells from picking up “glutamate” — a protein which is essential for cell communication and survival. Like nitrous oxide, ketamine use should be limited to medical professionals. Using the proper amount of ketamine probably won’t do much damage.

50) Taking PCP – Most commonly referred to as “angel dust,” the drug PCP (Phencyclidine) can cause memory problems, inability to control thoughts, and compulsive action. PCP has been correlated with frontal-lobe brain damage and like most drugs, aids in the process of brain cell death. PCP is dangerous, triggers dangerous behavior, and should be avoided to keep a healthy brain.

There are more drugs and activities that weren’t mentioned that kill brain cells. I recommend checking out the article: “50 Ways To Boost Your Brain Power” to keep your brain healthy and to avoid unnecessarily killing brain cells!

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What are beta brainwaves?

Beta brainwaves are considered “fast brain wave” activity. Beta brainwaves are brainwaves that cycle within the range of 12 – 38 Hz and are usually generated in the brain’s left-hemisphere.

Beta waves kick in when logically thinking, feeling stressed, and feeling tense. Beta is generally thought of as a “normal” rhythm and is dominant in people who are alert, anxious, or have their eyes open. Beta brainwaves are considered to be the normal brainwave pattern in healthy adults.

Most children and teenagers have dominant theta and alpha brainwave patterns. There isn’t a single brain wave pattern is better than the others – so don’t think beta brainwaves are some sort of miracle that your children need! If you happen to be deficient in the beta brain wave range, increasing them may feel like a miracle!

Benefits of increasing beta brainwave activity include:

• Ability to think quickly – When a person is high in beta brainwaves, they are able to think fast, generate new ideas quickly, and live in a high-state of functioning. Quick thinking and mental processing definitely helps when applying for a job in the 21^st century and preparing for exams. Studies have shown that people who think quickly feel more confident, happier, and actually live longer than slower thinkers.

• Being more social – When a person talks, their beta brainwave range naturally increases. If you are interested in becoming more social, an increase in beta brainwaves may be the ticket. In most people, an increase in beta activity boosts conversational energy and ability to keep conversation going. I’ve had personal experiences in the high beta brainwave range and you are more social period.

• Feeling excited – Ever get that nice healthy adrenaline rush or feeling of excitement in the pit of your stomach? That feeling is caused by an increase in the amount of beta brainwaves. Beta waves kick in when people get excited and definitely feel invigorating.

• Goal oriented – When people are in the beta brainwave state, they naturally feel more goal-oriented. It could be due to the fact that they have more energy, are more social, and have high levels of focus that cause them to naturally be more goal-oriented. It could also be the fact that an increase in left-hemisphere brain functioning is associated with goals and goal setting. Either way, it definitely will get you more pumped up and inspired to achieve your goals.

• Peak-performance – Though a specific peak-performance brainwave pattern is heavily debated, beta brainwaves can certainly aid in performance ability. When a person’s focus skyrockets, and their energy levels skyrocket, their performance abilities will naturally increase.

• Highest levels of focus – Have some mental fog and a low level of focus? Beta brainwaves may be the ticket to changing that around! People with ADD and ADHD are commonly prescribed stimulants, which cause beta brainwave activity in their brains to increase. Hence, an increased ability to focus, get things done, and all the other things associated with beta waves.

• More energy – Do you lack energy? Are you always tired and wish you had more energy? Well, beta brainwaves could definitely help you out! People low in beta brainwaves feel tired and report less overall energy throughout the day. To get out of a sleepy state and lift some mental fog, consider increasing your beta waves!

• Positive thoughts – I’ve definitely noticed that I feel less depressed and constantly am able to generate positive thoughts while in a high-beta mental state. Positive thinking and an increase in beta waves makes perfect sense because the left-hemisphere is associated with positive thoughts.

• Write easily and quickly – When beta brainwave levels are high, one’s ability to write increases. Beta activity occurs in the left hemisphere which is highly activated while writing. I can personally testify for this one: my ability to write is definitely enhanced when I am able to get into a state of beta.

• Increase in I.Q. – Studies have been done and show that people higher in the beta brainwave range actually have higher I.Q.’s than the average population. It makes perfect sense, since activities like reading and solving math problems can definitely help build a smart brain.

As goes for anything, too much beta activity can be a bad thing. By no means would it be a good idea for you to increase a brainwave that you already have high levels of. In fact, you may experience the horror of beta brainwaves, as they can cause:

• Anxiety – I can personally vouch for this one. Too much beta activity caused me to feel afraid or have thoughts of fear towards things that I’m normally completely calm with. I would imagine that if your brainwaves get high enough in the beta range, you will begin to notice a fear of things that are not normal to freak out over.

• Stress – Though there are many good things that come with beta waves, there is also a huge possibility that they may stress you out. They are linked to increased stress, which is why it is important to learn how to shift your brainwaves when needed.

• Paranoia – Paranoid schizophrenics are actually able to generate much more high-beta activity than the average population. Are beta brainwaves the cause of schizophrenia? No, they are a side-effect and schizophrenia is a much more complex disease. Increasing beta brainwaves will not increase the likelihood of you becoming crazy, but they could make you feel more paranoid than usual. Always checking the locks and worried that someone will break in? It may be time to boost that alpha brainwave pattern and tone down the beta!

• Muscle tension – Another drawback to the beta brainwaves is that your body will feel uneasy and muscle tension increases. Nobody enjoys feeling tensed and unable to relax their muscles. Avoid high amounts of beta activity to avoid tense muscles.

• Increased blood pressure – High blood pressure is usually not anything to be proud of. Beta brainwaves cause an increase in stress and thoughts and naturally increase your blood pressure. If your blood pressure is already high, chances are good that you know what a beta brainwave state feels like.

• Unwanted thoughts – Beta brainwaves can be a source of unwanted or anxious thoughts. Too much beta activity can cause one to experience a mild form of obsessive compulsive disorder. Rapid, random thoughts that are beyond control have potential to haunt the person that is high in beta.

• Insomnia – Want to stay up all night? If so, I recommend increasing your beta activity. It is probably a bad idea to do any beta geared activity right before falling asleep. Keep your brain healthy, get that sleep, and work to prevent insomnia.

• Addiction – Are you addicted to the internet? Chances are that if you have an addiction, you would greatly benefit from a downscaling in your current amount of beta brainwaves! Addiction is a long, bad cycle to go down that I don’t recommend. Look at “how to boost your alpha brain wave” to help you curb and hopefully eliminate your addictions.

Healthy Ways To Increase Beta Brain Waves:

• Brainwave entrainment – Check out my recommended products section and try out Neuro-Programmer 2 if you haven’t already. Brainwave entrainment is definitely a revolutionary technique to help you naturally increase brainwave activity within a certain range. Prepare to be impressed with this technology, if you aren’t already.

• Neurofeedback – Neurofeedback is quite expensive, but is actually very effective at increasing beta brainwave activity for people who have ADD and ADHD. There is a very high success rate for helping ADD in neurofeedback! Consider checking it out.

• Brain training games – Brain training games increase thinking speed and naturally increase amounts of beta activity. Not all brain training games are boring: check out the games Big Brain Academy for the Nintendo Wii or DS and Brain Age 2 for the Nintendo DS and prepare to have some fun. I’ve also heard good things about the Luminosity.Com brain program, so consider checking that out.

• Doing homework – Much of the schoolwork geared towards students in the 21^st century is actually beta-geared. Doing math problems and reading short stories is a powerful, natural way to increase your beta activity.

• Reading a book – Reading is a left-hemisphere oriented activity that everyone should do. Not only may you actually learn something, you will get smarter and increase your beta waves.

• Solving math problems – If you aren’t a student, print out some math problems or buy a book of math facts to get up to par.

• Drink a cup of coffee – The caffeine in coffee definitely gives a jolt of energy to the brain and body. Why? Taking in caffeine increases the amount of beta brainwaves for awhile. The caffeine effect is different for everyone, but you’ll learn that caffeine is definitely a beta brainwave booster.

Unhealthy Ways To Increase Beta Brain Waves:

• Snort cocaine – Drugs are just plain unhealthy, addicting, and life threatening. Cocaine does increase beta activity in the brain – causing adrenaline rushes, rapid heartbeat, and positive thinking. Stay away from this stuff and increase your beta waves naturally.

• Take diet pills – Ahh, good old fashioned diet pills. Pop a few down the hatch and you don’t have to work out or eat healthy to lose weight…right… Diet pills are not good for you. You should know better if you are currently taking them!

• Take some amphetamines (Adderall) – If you need to take stimulants for ADD, then do what you’ve gotta do. If you don’t have a prescription for Adderall, then it is illegal to take and could potentially be very addicting. Just stay away from amphetamines if you don’t need them. Their long-term health effects are brutal!

• Drink a Redbull (or another energy drink) – Energy drinks are just plain unhealthy in my opinion. Yes, they do give you a shocking amount of energy temporarily! After the energy comes, a crash occurs and your energy is completely zapped for the rest of the day! I recommend avoiding these to increase your beta activity.

• Smoke a cigarette – The nicotine found in cigarettes is a beta brainwave booster. Want lung-cancer, a tarred up throat, and to lose money in the process? Nobody does! Stay away from cigarettes!

Final Evaluation of beta brainwaves:

I personally think that beta brainwaves are great, but you need to be the judge as to whether or not increasing them is right for you. Are you already a positive thinker with higher than normal amounts of energy? If so, chances are good that your brain naturally produces large amounts of beta activity and you may even benefit from slowing down your pattern to the alpha range. If you are tired a lot, feeling unmotivated and bored, chances are good that you are a type of person that would benefit from the increase. I recommend giving Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional a shot and doing a little bit of experimentation to find out what’s right for your brain!

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Mostly because I haven’t given this range a valid shot for brainwave synchronization, I’ve decided to do a 2 week trial of listening to the 15 to 18 Hz beta brainwave range. The session I’m using is called “Energy / Motivation” and can be found in the program Mind Stereo‘s built in session library.

Why did I decide to try this?

I’ve decided to try this range for several reasons. The number one reason is that my verbal skills have declined lately. Though I’ve found 10 hz alpha to make a person calmer, beta can definitely make a person more talkative and focused in conversations. I have listened to several higher beta sessions before (up in the 20 – 30 hz range), but never a session around 18 hz. I am hoping that this session will increase my energy and focus on my website projects, and provide my readers with some valuable insight towards this brainwave range.

What’s my gameplan?

I plan on listening to each “15-18 hz session” through the program called Mind Stereo. This program can be found in my recommended products section of the website for purchase. This program allows me to listen to my favorite music while engaging my brain in “brainwave synchronization.” A nice feature of Mind Stereo is that isochronic tones automatically are embedded into your favorite songs [without doing any work] and you literally only hear your song (none of the brainwave tone)! After about 5 minutes of listening to a brainwave synchronization session, you begin to feel the brainwave effects and the fact that the isochronic tones are definitely synchronizing your brainwaves.

Hopefully I will be able to report back to the blog with some positive, brain boosting results!

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Alpha brain waves appear on the E.E.G. in most people when they are in a relaxed state like “right before falling asleep” or immediately upon awakening. Alpha brain waves are common in extroverts with low traits of neurosis and anxiety. Caffeine and stress deplete the amount of natural alpha brain waves produced by the brain. In the alpha brainwave state, the mind is clear and focused, while the body is relaxed and calm. There are many reasons that you should be interested in increasing the amount of natural alpha activity in your brain.

Key reasons being:

• A sense of a relaxed mind & body - The alpha brain wave will calm you down quicker than you’d ever imagined. I really didn’t think the alpha brainwave could do much for my high stress levels, but after about 5 to 10 minutes of listening to a customized brainwave entrainment session, I immediately was calm and relaxed! The alpha brainwave actually increases the neurotransmitter “serotonin” – which is low in people with depression and anxiety.

• Enhanced creativity - The alpha brainwave has been linked to highly creative minds. Most people’s brainwaves shift to the logical “beta” brainwave when involved in a task requiring them to become creative. In creative people’s brains, the alpha activity actually increases when they need to be creative on the fly. Their brains actually ‘shift’ to the alpha brainwave and the amplitude increases.

• A state of “flow” - A state of flow can be described as life moving along quickly because there are really no mental obstacles such as stress or anxiety. To keep it simple: as new situations arise, you are able to successfully deal with them and move on to the next phase of life. Many successful people know how to tap into the state of “flow” when they need to do hard business work. For all writers out there, the state of flow is the exact opposite effect of writer’s block. “Flow” would mean that as a writer, you would be able to quickly produce quality content and not get mentally “stuck;” your mind keeps bringing more information.

• “Superlearning” - “Superlearning” is a phenomena of the alpha and theta brainwave ranges that has been studied by many scientists. The fact is, when you are in a lower brainwave pattern, the brain is able to absorb and learn more new information in a much quicker period of time. The “superlearning” state of mind is optimal for learning a foreign language or a new skill!

• Relaxed, yet “aware” – The nice thing about the alpha brainwave state is you can remain very relaxed, yet still be “aware” of your surroundings and “conscious” of what’s going on. If you dip in to too low of brainwaves i.e. the theta range, you will be very relaxed, but not as aware of your environment. The too much theta activity is found in the E.E.G.’s of people with A.D.D. & A.D.H.D. And the 10 Hz alpha brainwave is considered to be the safest brainwave!

• The “safest” brainwave – If you get up into the beta brainwave range, too much stress and logical thinking can run your mind in circles. Too much theta and you are relaxed, but not very aware. The alpha brainwave can be considered the “perfect mix” or “border” between the beta range and theta range. Some people actually are born with zero alpha activity in their brains. Does this mean that they cannot ever add alpha activity? Absolutely not! In fact, it would most likely highly benefit the person lacking the alpha rhythm.

If you would like to experience the alpha brainwave state, I recommend either purchasing or trying one of my featured recommended products. I personally use all of my recommended products and have had much personal success with them. I still use the software to improve my focus, decrease my stress levels, and to boost my productivity. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have about the products.

Other ways to increase the alpha brainwave include:

1. Meditation
2. Biofeedback/Neurofeedback
3. Yoga
4. Visualization
5. Deep breathing
6. Light & Sound Machines

I had a very unique personal experience with increasing my alpha brainwave pattern via Neuro-Programmer 2. I thoroughly enjoyed it and definitely noticed a change in my consciousness that I may not have been fully ready to experience.

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Want a boosted brain? Ever consider just sitting down and eating a some dark chocolates to enhance brain function?

An expert at the University of Nottingham has found that eating chocolate gives the brain a powerful short-term boost to cognitive skills! A study lead by Professor Ian McDonald found that a cocoa drink rich in “flavanols” — a key ingredient in dark chocolate — boosts bloodflow to key cognitive areas of the brain for 2-3 hours after consumption.

Increased blood flow to these areas enhances overall alertness and task-performance for the short-term. These findings were released @ one of the biggest scientific conferences in America. Ingredients in chocolate are now being studied to treat dementia and strokes. The study also demonstrates that the “cocoa flavanols” could be used to help people fight fatigue, sleep deprivation, and to combat the effects of aging.

How do the “flavanols” work in the brain?

In the study, an MRI was used to show where and how the brain was able to produce increased blood flow due to the “flavanols.” The effect from a single drink of “flavanol-rich” cocoa is linked tothe dilation of cerebral blood-vessels, allowing more blood flow (therefore more oxygen) to reach the key areas of the brain. Professor MacDonald stated, “Acute consumption of this particular flavanol-rich cocoa beverage was associated with increased grey matter flow for two to three hours.”

The brain boosting ingredient, “flavanols” is also found to be rich in Green Tea, Red Wine, and Blueberries. Professor Nottingham emphasized that the level of “flavanols” used in the study was significantly formulated for the study and is not available for sale.

References: University of Nottingham. “Boosting Brain Power — With Chocolate.” ScienceDaily 22 February 2007. 10 January 2008.

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A few months ago, I decided to buy and try out the program Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional. My primary intention when using the product was to create sessions to reduce my anxiety and improve my focus. The program Neuro-Programmer 2 works by changing your brainwaves — patterns of electrical activity in the brain. There are 5 primary types of brainwaves that have been researched:

• Gamma Brainwaves (40 Hz +) — The 40 Hz gamma brainwave is found in advanced sensory processing, heightened focus, and coordinates simultaneous processing of information throughout the brain. Increased gamma activity is associated with a good-memory. Lack of the 40 Hz brainwave is found in people with learning disabilities.

• Beta Brainwaves (12 – 40 Hz A.K.A cycles per second in your brain) — these are associated with external focus and being consciously alert. When we feel afraid, agitated, or tense we are high in beta. People with anxiety disorders are found to have too much high beta activity. Some calming to the alpha brainwave may help.

• Alpha Brainwaves (8 – 10 Hz) — the alpha rhythm is associated with feelings of calm, pleasant relaxation, and daydreaming activity. Extroverts are found to naturally have more baseline alpha activity, while introverts naturally have more baseline beta activity. The 10 Hz brainwave is associated with serotonin release, feelings of “flow”, “superlearning”, positive thinking, and creativity.

• Theta Brainwaves (4 – 7 Hz) — Are very slow brainwaves that the brain produces while we are asleep. Theta activity is usually high in children, people with A.D.D., depression, and learning disorders. The theta rhythm is associated with being extremely relaxed, emotional, unfocused thoughts, paranormal experiences, and enhanced creativity. When most people wake up, theta activity quickly decreases and our brains shift through alpha and to the beta range where we remain most of the day. In people with A.D.D., the theta wave increases when they wake up and when they try to focus, which is why they find it very difficult to focus.

• Delta Brainwaves (1 – 4 Hz) — These are the slowest brainwaves. If you are in this brainwave state, you are in the deepest form of sleep (dreamless sleep) and completely unconscious. Delta brainwaves are very restorative and help to naturally release Human Growth Hormone, DHEA, and melatonin, which all slow the aging process.

Something you all should know is that everyone’s brain produces a combination of all brainwaves all the time. There are only increases in certain brainwaves depending on the activities that are being done. For example: during deep delta activity, there are still traces of beta activity. The traces of beta are extremely small, but they are there.

The opposite is true as well: when there’s high beta activity, there are still traces of delta, but they are extremely tiny. There’s something else that you should know about called brainwave amplitude. Brainwave amplitude increases when there are lower brainwave ranges present (i.e. alpha, theta and delta) and the amplitude decreases with higher frequency ranges (i.e. gamma and beta). If you are entrained to a specific frequency, the amplitude of that frequency increases.

The B.A.T. Triad

Research has been done to find out problems associated with brainwaves. The BAT Triad is a general rule of thumb to follow when training. It says that there should be: increased higher frequency activity in the brain’s left hemisphere (gamma & beta) than the right hemisphere and there should be increased slow wave activity in the right hemisphere and decreased slow wave activity (alpha & theta) in the left hemisphere.

Basically, if there is too much beta activity in the right hemisphere of the brain, the result is anxiety. If there is too much slow wave activity in the left hemisphere (i.e. theta), depression follows. It is generally optimal to have beta in the left hemisphere and alpha & theta in the right.

For more information on brainwaves, I recommend reading the book “Getting Started With Neurofeedback” by John Demos. This book contains a shrine of information about brainwaves… It gets a bit complicated in parts, but it will really help enhance your overall understanding in brainwaves.

How Brain Wave[s] Technology Works

“When the brain is given a stimulus, through the ears, eyes or other senses, it emits an electrical charge in response.” So basically, if I use an isochronic tone, (the most effective tone for brainwave entrainment) set the tone to 10 Hz and play it, I will get an evoked alpha response. If I play the isochronic tone in both ears or through my speakers without headphones, my brainwaves will become synchronized.

Brainwave synchronization is usually healthy and fine, but it doesn’t work out for everyone, which is whytransparent corporation offers individualized hemisphere entrainment via isochronic tones. Other forms of entrainment include binaural beats and monaural beats. Binaural beats, which include 2 tones, require that you wear headphones for them to be effective. The idea of binaural beats is that 2 different tones are applied to each ear, then the difference between the 2 tones evokes a cortical brainwave response.

An example: a beat of 110 hz is applied to the right ear and a beat of 100 hz is applied to the right ear. The difference (110 – 100) = a 10 hz entrainment response. Monaural beats are similar to isochronic tones in the fact that they can be used for entrainment without headphones, but they just aren’t as effective as the isochronic tones.

After buying a package deal of their Neuro-Programmer 2 Professional with the program Mind Sound Stereo, I read up on the different types of brainwaves to see what I thought would be healthy to use. I came across a lot of good articles and research pertaining the “10 Hz Alpha Brainwave.” Since alpha activity correlated with reduction of anxiety, relaxation, calmness, and focus, I felt that I had nothing to lose.

My Experience With 10 Hz Alpha

When I began my journey with alpha, I initially felt highly unfocused, day-dreamy, relaxed, pleasant, and didn’t care what anyone said or thought about me if it was negative. I thought this was very cool. Initially, my overall energy levels decreased and I felt that my thoughts were way too unfocused. Though I felt very weird coming down from an extremely high beta brainwave pattern, it was worth it.

I went through a very tough period of about 2 months wondering if I would ever feel normal again. I woke up each day and my consciousness was different than the day before. I also was able to, for the first time in my life, not wake up in the mornings to eat breakfast. This period lasted for about a month, I would hear my alarm clock and unintentionally drift back to sleep until about 10 minutes before I needed to leave each morning.

I had virtually no time to just brush my teeth, and get ready. When I arrived at work, I felt very pleasant, but unfocused and almost too relaxed. Though I felt this way, I still kept up the entrainment. It was about the 3rd month of my alpha entrainment experimentation and I was not doing daily training. I would do it once about every other week. Eventually I came to a state of focus, relaxation, and what I believe to be a happy, normal state.

I really never thought I would reach this point. Now, I notice that the alpha brainwave kicks in and is stronger than it used to be at various times throughout the day. It seems that my brain is able to shift between alpha and beta throughout the day.  I don’t consciously shift between the 2 (as I would be able to if I was an experienced meditator or did neurofeedback), but my brain automatically shifts to alpha when I am involved in a calm activity where less brainwave activity is required like watching T.V. and falling asleep. Overall, this has been a success story! I will continue experimenting with various brainwaves for set time periods to study their effects on my emotions and state of consciousness.

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