Using Brainwaves to Increase Brain Power : Brain Power
Article by Eric Thompson
Why Brainwave Activity is Important and How it Shapes Our Daily Lives
Virtually every activity we engage in throughout our daily lives has a unique brainwave pattern. Science has increased our understanding of how brainwaves influence our lives and how they help us increase brain power. In fact, through science we have discovered that we have the power not only to decide which state we want to be in, but also to effectively move into such a state. As such, understanding how brainwaves increase brain power can help us create greater results and more life fulfillment.
With that goal in mind, let’s look at what brainwaves are, how they impact our lives and how they increase brain power.
How Brainwaves Help to Increase Brain Power
Fluctuations of electrical energy in the brain emerge as distinct brainwave patterns. As neurons fire on and off, and as electrical impulses travel from neuron to neuron, rhythmic patterns become apparent. These rhythmic patterns can increase brain power when they are synchronized with one another, effectively amplifying communication within the brain. Imagine, if you will, one drummer playing by herself. Now imagine one thousand drummers all playing in unison. Get the idea? This is a perfect illustration of how synchronized brainwaves can increase brain power.
Because the rhythms of the brainwave spectrum range from the very slow to the very fast, each brain rhythm helps to increase brain power in unique ways, depending on the task at hand. These rhythmic patterns are typically measured in hertz, or the number of electrical oscillation-cycles per second. Depending on the task at hand, it may be necessary to either increase or decrease the brain’s electrical oscillations in order to increase brain power and facilitate optimal performance. Furthermore, regardless of whether such rhythms are sped up or slowed down, some degree of synchronization of such rhythms across fairly large areas of the brain is almost always necessary to increase brain power.
How Specific Brainwave Patterns Increase Brain Power
Cognitive neuroscience distinguishes between five basic categories of brainwave patterns, all of which can help increase brain power: gamma, beta, alpha, theta and delta.
* Gamma – 40 Hz – 99 Hz – Gamma can increase brain power by supporting higher levels of brain organization, which together facilitate a kind of binding action. Schizophrenic patients exhibit a noticeable lack of gamma-band activity. This brain rhythm, a vital component needed in any effort to increase brain power, supports an above-average integration of sensory information, enhanced self-awareness and clarity of mind. The fact that it is completely suppressed when anesthetic is administered supports the widespread neuroscientific belief that gamma activity deeply influences waking consciousness and perception. Its prominence in highly developed practitioners of Tibetan Buddhist compassion meditation clearly demonstrates its capacity to positively increase brain power.
* Beta – 13 Hz – 39 Hz – Beta activity is prominent in sensorimotor awareness when we are wide awake, alert and focused. In terms of what it means to increase brain power, beta enables us to rapidly analyze and assimilate new information. However, it cannot be sustained indefinitely. In fact, prolongation of beta can actually frustrate the effort to increase brain power because it leads to exhaustion, anxiety and tension. Short bursts of beta have been used for improving cognitive intelligence.
* Alpha – 8 Hz – 12 Hz – Alpha has been associated with accelerated learning, relaxed alertness, Zen meditation and the release of the mood-stabilizing neurotransmitter serotonin, making it a powerful ingredient to increase brain power. It is also the first stage in the sleep cycle, the initial onset of drowsiness.
* Theta – 4 Hz – 7.5 Hz – Theta is correlated with the hypnogogic state, dreaming sleep, enhanced creativity, vivid imagery and deep meditation. In addition, its deep involvement in long-term memory makes it essential to increase brain power.
* Delta -.5 Hz – 3.5 Hz – Delta emerges in deep dreamless sleep, when the body is most profoundly immersed in its healing and recuperative capacities. Its ability to increase brain power is also evidenced in its association with human empathy and extraordinarily deep meditation.
Dr. Jeffrey Thompson used modified electroencephalogram equipment to categorize three additional brainwave patterns. Though they aren’t generally recognized by cognitive neuroscience, they serve as a great window through which to see the higher reaches of what it means to increase brain power.
* Lambda – 200+ Hz – Lambda, a power-house fuel to increase brain power, may be involved in a phenomenon wherein certain Tibetan monks are able to walk barely clothed for days in the freezing, high-altitude Himalayas. They are difficult to measure, and are believed to be carried on the very slow moving epsilon waves, another powerful factor to increase brain power.
* Hyper-Gamma – 100 Hz – 199 Hz – An important element found to significantly increase brain power, hyper-gamma activity is very rare and correlated with ecstatic states of consciousness, exceptional integration of sensory information, deep feelings of love and joy, exceptional focus, and overcoming barriers to personal development.
* Epsilon (Sub-Delta) –