Explore the Brain Waves : The potential of thought

Friends, I request to all of you to read each and every line of this article carefully. Because here we are talking about your mind, your thought process. You can be more intelligent, more social, more perfectionist if you catch the clue mention in this article. All are not my exactly views. I have taken from different  sources and merge them. Waiting for your feedback.

Brain has a unique set of brain waves. In neuroscience, there are five distinct brain wave frequencies, namely Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta and the lesser known Gamma. Each frequency, measured in cycles per second (Hz), has its own set of characteristics representing a specific level of brain activity and hence a unique state of consciousness.

Beta (12-30Hz): Beta brain waves are associated with normal waking consciousness and a heightened state of alertness, logic and critical reasoning. As you go about your daily activities you are at Beta. Higher Beta levels translate into stress, anxiety and restlessness. With the majority of adults primarily operating at Beta during their waking hours it is little wonder that stress is today's most common health problem.

Alpha (7.5-12Hz): Alpha brain waves are present in deep relaxation with the eyes usually closed and while day-dreaming. The relaxed detached awareness achieved during light meditation is characteristic of Alpha and is optimal for programming your mind for success. Alpha heightens your imagination, visualization, memory, learning and concentration. It lies at the base of your conscious awareness and is the gateway to your subconscious mind

Theta (4-7.5Hz): Theta brain waves are present during deep meditation and light sleep, Theta is the realm of your subconscious mind.

Delta (0.5-4Hz): The Delta frequency is the slowest and is present in deep, dreamless sleep The following chart shows the EEG (Electroencephalography) graphs of the four major levels of brain.

In everyday life, an average person goes through all the brain wave states. When we are awake we function at around 21 CPS, the beta brain wave frequency. While principally remaining at beta, our brain does dip to alpha about 3 times a minute. However on going to sleep, the brain activity slows down and within 10 to 15 minutes of sleep the average person produces delta frequency predominantly and they are in the state of deep sleep, they are unaware of what is going on externally in their environment.

“Sleep research” further shows that after about 70 to 90 minutes, there is a change in brain frequency that it speeds up and starts producing predominant alpha brain waves. As this is occurring, typically the person is also dreaming. But it only lasts 5-6 minutes in the first sleep cycle for the average person and then brain waves decrease again back down to delta and the person experiences almost another 70 to 90 minutes of delta. Again the brain speeds up for the second sleep cycle producing the alpha brain wave state. This time around the brain functions at alpha a little longer. So throughout the night we find a fluctuation between deep levels of sleep & alpha levels, in and out, all night long with most people sleeping 4, 5 maybe 6 cycles per night.

With the delta deprivation study, the scientists found out that totally depriving a person of delta sleep, he can go up to 30 to 45 days before any notable effects start occurring. But on depriving a person of the alpha portion of the sleep, the scientists found that right after the first night of alpha deprivation, people complained of being fatigued even though they had all that sleep. On depriving those of the second night’s alpha sleep state the people complained that not only they became very fatigued but very irritable. On depriving the test subjects for 3 to 4 days of alpha sleep state, the people complained of losing normal problem solving ability. Some of them started almost hallucinating.

They then found that if they allow those people to go to sleep undisturbed, the following night they had a very large increase in the percentage of alpha functioning, as if they had to make up for the alpha they were deprived of the previous nights. Based on these studies, many scientists have come to a conclusion that it is a necessary requirement for a human being to function at least a few numbers of times at alpha level if they have to be at top physical mental functioning.

Well, it wasn’t very long before scientists came up with the idea of what would happen if, instead of suppressing alpha, we increased it. What will that do? Using bio-feedback training on test subjects they found that by increasing the duration of time a person spends at alpha brain frequency, they reported feeling more better, improved health and lesser anxiety in daily life.

It is interesting to learn how to use more of your mind not only to help yourself in solving the problems but also to channelize your mental energies in a special way and to bring your life more under your own control.