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.
meditation program | kundalini meditation
Hypertension, high blood pressure, affects 1 in 3 North Americans and could be a testament to the effects of too much stress in our lifestyle today.
While there is no cure, some risk factors, for getting hypertension, can be changed, or at least diminished. Therapy with brainwave entrainment, in combination with lifestyle changes and antihypertensive medication, can keep blood pressure levels low enough, so as not to cause damage to the heart, kidneys, or eyes.
Stress is considered to be one of the main components of hypertension.
Brainwave entrainment introduces sound wave patterns to the brain with the intention of changing its dominant frequency. The brain mimics these pulses and changes its main brainwave frequency to match that of the stimulus, lowering blood pressure.
The most beneficial brainwave frequency for hypertension is alpha wave.
Alpha wave-electromagnetic oscillations in the frequency range of 8 – 12 hz, arising from synchronous and coherent electrical activity of large groups of neurons in the brain.
Reducing stress, through deliberate relaxation with the alpha wave, has shown a blood pressure reduction of 4.7 mm in systolic and 3.2 mm in diastolic. This is a substantial reduction. Doctors recommend this brainwave for reducing high blood pressure.
The Effects of Hypertension-The Silent Killer
• Very high pressure can cause a break in a weakened blood vessel, which then bleeds in the brain. This can cause a stroke. If a blood clot blocks one of the narrowed arteries, it can also cause a stroke.
• Hypertension can cause blood vessels in the eye to burst or bleed. Vision may become blurred or otherwise impaired and can result in blindness.
• High blood pressure is associated with the hardening of plaque in the arteries. This, in turn, causes the heart and kidneys to work harder and can lead to heart disease and angina.
• Hypertension can narrow and thicken the blood vessels of the kidneys. The kidneys filter less fluid, and waste builds up in the blood. The kidneys may fail altogether and die.
• High blood pressure is the number one risk factor for congestive heart failure, a serious condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood to supply the body’s needs.
Scientific research has proven that entrainment has been recognized as a very effective method for reducing the effects of stress.
Brainwave Entrainment Reduces Hypertension
• Regular practice helps maintain a healthy blood pressure without the assistance of medication or at least, a decrease in medication.
• Concentrated attention to the sounds of the pulses, calms the mind and body.
• The main objective is to direct attention inward to the mind which controls the body.
• Dissolves the mind-free of mind chatter and the stress response.
• Easy to do and maintains a consistent alpha wave level.
• Especially helpful if you have trouble achieving a meditative state on your own.
• Enhances body stability.
• Addresses the mind, body, and spirit.
Reducing stress can significantly reduce the damaging effects of high blood pressure.
Brainwave entrainment is scientifically recognized as being a successful method for reducing stress.
Listening to a brainwave entrainment recording regularly, can help you stop or minimize the need for medication in the treatment of hypertension.
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.