Does Brainwave Entrainment Really Work?

What is brainwave entrainment and does it really work, or is it just a lot of nonsense?

The idea of entrainment has been around for hundreds of years, so isn’t some new age fad. In fact doctors are beginning to realise the benefits of sound therapy as a complimentary medicine.

What is brainwave entrainment

Brainwave entrainment is simply syncing your brainwaves with an auditory sound. This sound is only heard in the brain and is generated as a result of two tones of differing frequencies played through headphones. Syncing is very fast and takes around 6 minutes.

You can actually determine the brainwave frequency you want to achieve by listening to particular tones. The lower the frequency the more deeply relaxed you become.

Higher frequencies make you very alert, with the highest making you anxious and hyper active. In fact abnormally high brainwaves are linked to mental disorders such as schizophrenia.

Most people spend much of their waking day with dominant beta brainwaves. These are associated with problem solving, focusing on work, and learning. Very high frequency beta waves occur if you’re feeling stressed or worried about something.

This is when your body is in a high state of alert, ready to fight or flight. Your mind is flitting from one thought to another and you can’t put your attention on any one thing for very long.

Slowing down your brainwaves to an alpha dominant state will make studying and learning more effective. You will find it much easier to focus, and concentrate as you’re relaxed and in a calmer state of mind..

Why power naps are so effective

Have you ever found that taking a short nap during the day can make a big difference to your focus and productivity? As long as you don’t sleep for more than 20 minutes, you’ll wake refreshed and energised. Any longer and you’ll start drifting into deep sleep.

During a power nap your brainwaves slow down, with alpha and theta waves becoming dominant. This enhances information processing, and you’ll find memory and cognitive skills become sharper. Taking a long nap though will give your body time to enter the deep stage of sleep, and this is why you feel groggy until you have a cup of tea or coffee to wake you up!

This same effect can be achieved with 10 minutes of meditation and listening to Alpha binaural beats. You can simply play an alpha binaural beats audio as you’re working or studying, and your brainwaves will sync in tune within about 6 minutes.

Binaural beats for meditation

Unless you’re experienced, reaching a deep meditative state can take a lot of practice, even years. However if you can enter deep meditation you’ll feel very relaxed, and greatly improve your quality of sleep.

Theta brainwaves occur during the first stages of sleep, and this is often when we get flashes of inspiration.Theta brainwaves also occur during deep meditation. Syncing your brainwaves to a lower frequency is highly beneficial. You will feel completely relaxed and open to creative thinking. You may also feel drowsy, and in a day dreamy mood which is great for brainstorming ideas.

Theta Binaural Beats For Deep Meditation With Tibetan Singing Bowl Sounds

Children spend most of their time in the theta brainwave state. They don’t have the anxieties and worries of adults and so are normally relaxed and very calm. This can explain why they’re so creative with limitless imagination.

It’s only when we become adults and take on responsibilities that we lose that carefree approach to life. Most times it’s knocked out of us as we grow up which is sad.

Binaural beats for anxiety

If you suffer from anxiety and stress you’ll find theta binaural beats will help reduce it, making you feel calm and able to deal with difficult problems far easier.

Chronic stress is all to common, and bad for your health and wellbeing. A large percentage of visits to the doctor are stress related. Medication may help short term, but relying on it for the long term isn’t good.

Meditation is a fantastic way of lowering stress, but if you’re new to it, trying to clear your mind of worrying thoughts can be very hard. You may find you can do it for a short while, but as soon as your mind is clear of all negative thoughts, the odd one starts popping back into your head, and soon you’re back to square one!

Listening to theta binaural beats will sync your brainwaves easily with little to no effort in a very short time. They are a great aid to meditation, and allow you to cut short the time it takes to reach a calm, meditative state.

Brainwave entrainment sleep aid

If you suffer from insomnia, you will probably have spent hours lying awake at night with a thousand thoughts going round in your head. Stress is a major cause of insomnia, and a constant lack of sleep can lead to health problems.

Cutting down on caffeine in the evening can help, as well as exercise and a healthy diet, but if you really want to banish insomnia listening to delta and theta binaural beats can be very effective. You will need to wear headphones, so propping yourself up with pillows in bed will help you feel comfortable.

Some audios have music, or other calming sounds to enhance the effect of binaural beats. Syncing your brainwaves to theta waves will help you enter the first stages of sleep and then drift into deeper sleep This deeper dreamless sleep is essential for healing and growth. Lack of it can lower the immune system, and promote aging.

We cycle through REM sleep and NREM sleep throughout the night, but it’s the deep non rapid eye movement sleep that’s most beneficial. During this stage of sleep our brainwaves slow down to the lowest frequencies, which is in delta range. Listening to delta binaural beats gently lowers your brainwave frequency without the need for medication.

So does brainwave entrainment really work, or is it just wishful thinking? There has been no real evidential proof that listening to binaural beat tones work, but as an example studies were carried out on a group of children with ADHD which proved promising-1

There are plenty of people who will vouch for it’s effectiveness, and you only have to go on a few forums to read testimonials and stories.

It doesn’t cost anything to try as there are plenty of binaural beats audios on youtube.

Take care
Kathy