The brain controls everything that happens in our bodies, so what if we could train our brains to work better? This could not only lead to clearer mental functioning but also address a long list of physical ailments. Neurofeedback is a non-invasive therapy that optimizes the brain to overcome these ailments.
What Is Neurofeedback?
Today's lifestyles are increasingly focused on health and wellness, and our physical bodies are the beneficiaries. We work the heart with cardio exercises, build muscle with weights at the gym, gain flexibility through yoga. The most important organ in the body is the brain, without which none of our other bodily functions would be possible.
When the brain is out of balance, many physical problems can present themselves. These range from cognitive issues such as attention disorders and mood swings to physical issues like migraine headaches and tremors. Imbalances in the brain can cause a wide range of issues that affect mood, sleep, concentration, and behavior. Neurofeedback is a way of re-training the brain to bring these problems under control.
The Plastic Brain
Neurofeedback is based on electrical brain activity, which is monitored by a clinician for patterns and abnormalities. The measured electrical activity is known as an electroencephalogram or EEG; sometimes the actual therapy goes by this name too. The essence of the treatment is to train the brain to regulate itself properly. Optimal brain regulation allows the body's central nervous system to function better.
Our brains already perform many learned, adaptive behaviors without us being aware of it. Take, for example, our filtering of noise. Our ears are barraged 24/7 with sound from our environments, particularly when we leave our homes. Traffic, airplanes, dozens of conversations and announcements in public places: do we actually "hear" all these? Yes, we do, but the brain allows us to filter them out. If it didn't, we wouldn't be able to concentrate on any one sound, such as conversation.
The brain is a remarkable organ that's literally able to change how it works over time. The brain's neurons and neural networks can switch themselves in response to new information or stimulation. This ability to alter itself, called neuroplasticity, is brought on in response to repetitive experiences. The correspondingly changed (plastic) neural relationships and functions can re-shape the way we behave, think, and act.
How Does the Mental Affect the Physical?
Neuroplasticity is the brain-building mechanism that allows the brain to continually learn and adapt. It's what lets us recognize new faces and remember names. It's what lets us drive "automatically" without paying full attention down a route that we take home every day and have learned.
Activity and processing that the brain engages in through repetition grows stronger, while connections we no longer use grow weaker. This is why we forget information we no longer use. If we were to apply targeted "learning" to the brain through repetition, we would be able to alter its circuits. This re-learning process is the central idea behind neurofeedback therapy.
Re-training the brain lets people solve a broad range of mental and physical problems. Through neurofeedback, people have been able to overcome attention deficit disorders, learning disabilities, and other cognitive issues. Patients have been able to recover movement and speech after strokes and other injuries. Neurotherapy has been shown to be able to change mood, undo the effects of depression, and allow people to overcome addictions and other compulsive behaviors.
How Does It Work?
Neurotherapy is the process of monitoring brainwave activity and then "teaching" the brain a new pattern so that the brain will alter itself in a beneficial way. During the treatment, several electrodes are attached to the scalp. Specialized technology measures the electrical patterns coming from the brain and displays it. The process like a doctor listening to a heartbeat, only more sophisticated.
When patients can see their brainwaves on a computer screen in real time, it gives them the ability to interact with their brainwave activity and ultimately alter it. Using a software program similar to a movie, video game, or music file as "stimulus," the stimulus material that the patient sees and hears only plays smoothly when the brainwaves are functioning within an optimal range. Smooth playback (no gaps or glitches) are the "reward" for correct brainwave response.
The Carrot and the Stick
If the brainwaves are not functioning within the optimal range, the patient receives negative feedback from the software program in the way of annoying pauses or other artifacts. The brain naturally seeks to overcome these annoyances, which signify that brainwave activity is out of balance. Correcting these wave patterns through interaction leads the brain to “figure out” how to return to a gap-free movie, music, or game.
Over the course of a neurotherapy program, the brain builds on this feedback. This new "muscle power" becomes a lasting change. The brain learns to operate consistently within the re-trained optimal range, even after the training sessions are over. At first, the adaptations are short-lived, but they gradually become more enduring. With continuing feedback, coaching, and practice, healthier brainwave patterns can usually be retrained in most people.
Brainwaves
The electrical energy generated by brainwaves present themselves at various frequencies Some are fast and some are quite slow. The key clinical names for these frequency ranges are delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma ranges. They are all measured in cycles per second or hertz (Hz).
To give a frame of reference, human hearing can hear sounds from 20 cycles per second (20 Hz) to over 20,000 Hz (for a healthy young person with good ears). So what do these brainwaves do?
Gamma Brainwaves
These represent very fast activity above 30 Hz – fast enough to represent a sound if it were played for the ears. While research into these brainwaves is still in its early stages, researchers have determined that they are associated with highly focused attention. They assist the brain in processing complex payloads of information, often coming from different areas of the brain.
Beta Brainwaves
These small, relatively fast brainwaves (between 13–30 Hz) are associated with a state of intellectual activity (thinking) and outwardly focused concentration. Activity in this frequency range signifies a state of alertness. Activity in the lower end of this spectrum has been shown to represent calm attention.
Alpha Brainwaves
These slow, long waves (8–12 Hz) are generally associated with a state of relaxation. When the brain is operating at this speed, especially the lower, slower half, the brain is shifting into an idling, "neutral" gear, waiting to respond when needed. When patients close their eyes and visualize something peaceful, an increase in alpha brainwaves starts to occur in seconds.
Theta Brainwaves
These extremely slow waves (4–8 Hz) represent a spacey, dream-like state of mind that is associated with mental inefficiency. At very slow levels, theta brainwave activity is a very relaxed state, representing the twilight zone between waking and sleep. The clinical name for this state is "hypnagogic," or the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep.
Delta Brainwaves
Delta brainwaves are very slow but "loud" brainwaves and are what we experience
When we're in deep sleep. These can be as slow as 3 cycles per second when we're in the REM (rapid eye movement) phase of sleep: the deepest sleep.
A Day in the Life of the Brain
When an individual awakes from a deep sleep in preparation for waking up and starting the day, their brainwave frequencies change cycles. Brainwaves will speed from delta to theta and then to alpha and finally, when the alarm goes off, into the beta range. If the individual hits the snooze alarm button, the waves drop in frequency to a non-aroused state of theta or sometimes fall back to sleep in delta.
During this awakening cycle, it is possible for individuals to stay in the theta state for an extended period of say, five to 15 minutes. This allows them to have a free flow of ideas about yesterday's events or contemplate the activities of the forthcoming day. This time can be an extremely productive period of very meaningful and creative mental activity.
How Waves Shape Our Behavior
While different levels of awareness are associated with different brainwave states, some degree of each of these frequencies is always active in different parts of our brain. Delta brainwaves also occur, for instance, when areas of the brain take a break while the person eats a meal. Delta activity also happens to be associated with learning disabilities. If someone is becoming drowsy, more delta brainwaves creep in. If people are somewhat inattentive to external things and their minds are wandering, there is more theta activity.
Conversely, if someone happens to be exceptionally anxious and tense, an excessively high output of beta brainwaves may be present in different parts of the brain. In many cases, this may be caused by too much "inefficient" alpha activity, which are the brainwaves associated with emotional control.
Persons with attention deficit disorders, head injuries, stroke, epilepsy, developmental disabilities, and chronic fatigue syndrome tend to have excessive slow waves (usually theta and sometimes excess alpha) present. Under these conditions, it becomes difficult to control attention, behavior, and/or emotions. People who live with brain activity like this often have problems with concentration, memory, impulse control, and focus.
Does This Treatment Really Work?
Research suggests that significant improvements in behaviors and maladies through neurofeedback can be seen in 75% to 80% of cases. The process is a little like exercising or doing physical therapy with the brain, enhancing cognitive flexibility and control. While in the early stages of therapy, these brain changes are temporary. However, over the course of time, the learning sticks and the adapted response becomes normalized by the brain. It's like learning to ride a bicycle. Even if the skill isn't called for, the skill is still there.
Whether used as a treatment for a neurological or physical issue, neurofeedback can be used as a non-invasive method to train away the problem. Even when there's no problem, the therapy is often used to optimize peak mental performance in normal, healthy individuals. The therapy can enhance concentration, improve sleep and mood, and optimize brainpower.
Getting Started
Many of us suffer from mental or physical problems that are difficult to treat. We are routinely given medications that may or may not work; even if they do, they often include unwanted side effects. Neurotherapy has shown itself to be a safe, non-invasive method of attaining optimal wellness. In many cases, it has been shown to be an effective cure that travels down the self to promote a better attitude, better sleep, better moods, and a happier life.