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.
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As I sit typing this article we are only a few days removed from the dawn of 2011. At the beginning of every year people tend to look at their lives and decide what needs to be changed and improved. These are either written down or noted mentally as New Year’s Resolutions. Whilst the most common resolutions tend to be losing weight and giving up smoking there is another nasty little habit that many people have, and it can be just as difficult to quit as smoking. I’m talking about nail biting.
Nail biting is a habit that millions of people around the world share. It typically starts in childhood during anxious or nervous periods. Many psychologists believe that nail biting starts as a replacement for the pacifier since it satisfies the need to have something in your mouth. In later life this can also take the form of smoking and overeating.
Whilst at first glance it seems to be a pretty harmless habit there are a few problems that biting your nails can cause. It is considered to be impolite socially and from a health perspective it can lead to infections and quite severe pain if the nails are bitten to an extremely low point.
Like most bad habits nail biting can be very tough to quit. It is an anxious compulsive habit which means that you may have no conscious intention to bite your nails, but without even realizing it you find yourself with your finger in your mouth, biting down on the nail. That is why it is tricky to stop without some form of treatment.
In scientific studies the treatment that has the best success rate is hypnosis. Many people don’t fully understand hypnosis and think of it as a mere parlor trick suited more to stage shows than a treatment room. However time after time scientific tests have shown hypnosis to have very real, and very positive, effects. In one recent study at Hull University in the UK scientists were actually able to see the difference in brainwave patterns between people who had been hypnotized and those who had not. Hypnosis is no placebo and people are starting to realize it. Now you can find online hypnosis stores selling MP3s and CDs recorded by hypnotherapists that help to cure or relieve any number of issues, including nail biting.
Hypnosis attacks the nail biting habit in two ways. Firstly it relaxes the patient very deeply. They aren’t asleep as it is often portrayed on TV or in movies, but they are very calm and relaxed. This in itself helps to reduce anxiety levels which inevitably lead to bitten nails. Most important though is the way that hypnotic suggestions seep into the mind. They are taken in by the subconscious level of the mind which is where all your deepest thoughts, feelings and ingrained habits reside. These suggestions work to “reprogram” your mind in much the same way you might change the settings on your GPS or on a videogame so it is customized to the way you want it. In this case your subconscious mind will be guided on an experience that will help it conclude that you no longer desire to bite your nails.
So if you want to finally quit biting your nails then hypnosis may just be the answer you’ve been looking for.
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? ?requency following?response, encouraging the brainwaves to align to the frequency of a given beat.
This ?requency 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 ?ntrain?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, ?ind-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? starting position, entrainment can be rather ?it and miss?
If brainwave entrainment leaves you with unwanted side-effects (see below) or discomfort, you?e 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? strengths and weaknesses are, and see what (if any) brainwaves could use some encouragement.