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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Lying in bed not knowing how to fall asleep can be one of the most frustrating experiences you ever have to go through. Insomniacs know the endless cycle of tossing and turning, staring at the clock and worrying about rest that only makes things worse.
One of the most effective ways to beat it is to develop a relaxation technique or even better, a series of them. They will help to prepare your body for dropping off, and help alleviate the problem thoughts that race through your head.
One of the best forms is progressive muscle relaxation. Lie down on your back and concentrate fully on your body. Be as disciplined as you can, try not to let thoughts of any other kind in. Ignore any anxiety or stress. It’s really important to be as focused as you can.
The first few times when you try and clear your mind may be difficult. Keep practicing, if you develop this skill than any form of meditation will be so much easier.
Now think about the muscles in your toes and feet. Tighten them as hard as you can. Focus on nothing but those areas of you r body. Hold for a few seconds, and relax. Then move to the next body part. Concentrate on your calf muscles and repeat the process.
Work your way up your entire body until you’ve tensed and relaxed each muscle group in turn. If you’ve managed to maintain your discipline your entire body should feel a lot more relaxed. If it doesn’t feel like you’re quite there you can repeat the process.
This technique will work best if there are no other distractions in the room particularly of the aural kind, as your eyes will be closed and other senses shouldn’t be activated. This means no TV or radio. Music can help or be a hindrance depending on its mood. Lyrics or a strong melody give your brain something to latch onto and should be avoided.
You can optimize both the relaxation effort and sleep by using brainwave entrainment sounds. These scientifically developed rhythms effectively train your brain to enter its relaxed sleep mode. Best of all they will help and yet be drug free so that when you do wake up, you don’t feel like you have a hangover, an al to common side effect of sleeping medication. Have a look at the links below.
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.