Brain Entrainment for Better Sleep and Health

By Bruce Meleski, PhD, Intelligent Sleep Consultant (part 2 of 2)

The human body has many pulses, rhythms, and frequencies that can be measured and recorded.  Heart rate is one of the best known, represented by beats per minute.  Depending upon the efficiency of the heart, there can be wide variations in one’s heart rate.  Certain conditions also impact heart rate such as exercise, stress, or anxiety.

The brain has electrical frequencies that can be measured and changes during the day are normal.  Sleeping slows the brain frequency to a very slow rate allowing the body to rest.  Sleep brain waves are known as delta brain waves.  During the day, brain waves have a higher frequency known as beta brain waves.  The state of relaxation creates alpha brain waves that we may experience at the beach while we relax in the sand and listen to the waves wash upon the shore.  Theta brain waves occur in a subconscious state just prior to sleep.  So there are four brain waves: beta, alpha, theta, and delta.

In our modern world, we are bombarded with many stimuli that often keep us in a state of high beta brain waves.  This helps contribute to anxiety, lack of sleep, and stress.  This can create an imbalance in our state of well-being leading to chronic disease, depression, or fatigue.  The normal pattern of rest, sleep, work, and relaxation we experience in generations past is replaced with patterns of short interactions, high information exchange, and fast response.  This results in the need to have new ways to balance the brain and attain equilibrium.

Brainwave entrainment offers a viable approach to achieve brain balance.  Wikipedia defines brainwave entrainment as “any practice that aims to cause brainwave frequencies to fall into step with a periodic stimulus having a frequency corresponding to the intended brain-state.”

If you ever sit around a campfire and stare at the flame, your brain will entrain to relaxed state, peaceful and quiet.

Another common approach, binaural beats, discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, allows the creation of specific brain state control by using different sound frequencies in each ear.  For example, in one ear a frequency of 100 cycles per second and in the other ear a frequency of 110 cycles per second allows the brain to perceive a rhythmic, soothing pulsation of 10 cycles, an alpha brain wave.  The result is relaxation.  Similarly, delta brain waves will be perceived with a 2 cycle difference between the two ears and sleep is achieved.

Entrainment technology may also include light as well as sound.  At Intelligent Sleep, we use a light and sound machine to entrain the brain.  It involves LED lights in goggles and head phones that provide a strong consistent brainwave entrainment.  Our device has more than 50 programs to achieve different brain state for varying lengths of time.

Used by sleep specialists, neurologists, oncologists, and psychiatrists brainwave entrainment has many healing qualities.  Applications for sports, creativity, mental focus, relaxation, and sleep are also viable.

Rhythms and frequencies are everywhere in our lives.  By being aware of how these affect our bodies, we use brainwave entrainment to create new patterns that allow us to live in a higher state of fulfillment.  Many of the seminars by Intelligent Sleep demonstrate the use of brainwave entrainment, visit our website at www.intelligentsleep.com for more information.

© 2011,  Bruce Meleski, PhD, all rights reserved