Brainwave entrainment is a method to stimulate the brain into entering a specific state by using a pulsing sound, light, or electromagnetic field. The pulses elicit the brain’s ‘frequency following’ response, encouraging the brainwaves to align to the frequency of a given beat.
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Out of so many, rarely do the uncommon insomnia causes get discussed. Insomnia is characterized by problems falling or staying asleep. It is a condition that tens of millions have.
Oftentimes, natural events in life such as natural aging and the weather are insomnia causes. Additional insomnia causes are from human reactiona towards events that can cause stress, anxiety and depression. The reason it goes over five hundred is that it is a symptoms of various other medical conditions as well. Rarely is it a condition in itself. Factors that can cause insomnia do come in numbers. Therefore, several can be causing a person’s insomnia at the same time.
Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI)
One of the most rare insomnia causes is a disease called Fatal Familial Insomnia. FFI sufferers go on months of increasing insomnia which ends in death. Increasing insomnia develops into a point wherein the patient no longer gets to sleep.
It can showcase the effects of extreme sleep deprivation. Some FFI sufferers go through panic attacks, hallucinations and dementia after long periods of sleeplessness. A few even lose their ability to speak and a few motor functions.
FFI is a rare prion hereditary disease of the brain. An example of another prion disease would be madcow disease which was unheard of until recently. Similarly, FFI has been discovered in the late 1990’s. There is yet much to know about this disease and a cure is yet to be found.
Sensory-Motor Rhythm (SMR) deficiency
More recent studies regarding sleep have been chemical and biological in nature. The study of brainwaves leads to the discovery of other causes of insomnia.
Something athletes have in abundance that insomniacs and people with ADHD don’t is SMR. Sensory-Motor Rhythm (SMR) is the brainwave that is used for passive intellectual activities.
Increasing SMR of insomniacs resulted into deeper sleep and more energy throughout the day. It also helped reduce anxiety.
Vitamins
In general, vitamins are good. They are an important part of a healthy diet. However, too much or too little of some vitamins can cause insomnia.
Vitamin B12 deficiency (pernicious anemia) is caused by too little vitamin B12 in the diet. It could also be caused by the inability of the body to absorb it. It’s one of few insomnia causes related to vitamin deficiency. This vitamin deficiency is rather serious if left untreated. It causes the production of red blood cells in the body to decrease. That is why it is called pernicious anemia.
Vitamin B1 (thiamin) is important in converting carbohydrates, fats, and alcohol into energy. It cleanses the body of toxins and prevents damage to the heart and nervous system. However, taking more than the recommended 1 mg a day is not a good idea. Too much of vitamin B1 results in toxicity. Insomnia is included among symptoms of toxicity.
There are various vitamins and minerals that can help people get a good night’s sleep. Examples of which are vitamin B6 and vitamin C. Too much or too little of anything is bad. This is also true for these vitamins which the body needs to stay healthy. They can be insomnia causes.
Brainwave entrainment is a method to stimulate the brain into entering a specific state by using a pulsing sound, light, or electromagnetic field. The pulses elicit the brain’s ‘frequency following’ response, encouraging the brainwaves to align to the frequency of a given beat.
This ‘frequency following’ response of brainwave entrainment can be seen in action with those prone to epilepsy. If a strobe flashes at their seizure frequency, the brain will ‘entrain’ to the flashing light, resulting in a seizure.
On the positive side, this same mechanism is commonly used to induce many brainwave states; such as a trance, enhanced focus, relaxation, meditation or sleep induction. The brainwave entrainment effectively pushes the entire brain into a certain state.
Brainwave entrainment works for almost everyone. It is a great way to lead your mind into states that you might usually have difficulty reaching, allowing you to experience what those states feel like.
THE HYPE
There is a lot of marketing hype around brainwave entrainment. It is sold with promises of increasing IQ, promoting weight loss, ‘mind-tripping’, enhancing creativity, concentration, inducing spiritual states and more.
While these claims are not entirely true, they are not altogether false either. In practice, the claims are based on an overly-simplistic view of how the brain and the brainwaves function.
THE RUB
People are very seldom deficient in a certain brainwave type in all areas of their brain. Usually the distribution is much spottier, with an excess in one area and a deficiency in another.
We are all different, especially when it comes to the distribution of our brainwaves. Boosting a certain brainwave state may be beneficial for one person, and emotionally uncomfortable for another. Without knowing each person’s starting position, entrainment can be rather ‘hit and miss’.
If brainwave entrainment leaves you with unwanted side-effects (see below) or discomfort, you’re probably encouraging a range of brainwaves that are already excessive in some area of your brain. The way around this is to get a brain map to see what your brain’s strengths and weaknesses are, and see what (if any) brainwaves could use some encouragement.