We talk a lot about the role of brainwaves in controlling your mood and the function of your mind. We’ve discussed, for example, their role in the frequency following response (FFR). But we haven’t actually talked about what brainwaves are.
The Discovery of Brainwaves
Brainwaves were discovered over 90 years ago by German psychiatrist Hans Berger, who invented electroencephalography (EEG). EEG records voltages in the brain. Although Berger at first had only very primitive methods of recording (two wires placed under the scalp), he was nonetheless able to detect the rhythmic pattern of brain activity. The first wave he named was the alpha wave, although it was known for a long time as “Berger’s wave.” Berger also detected that people generated these alpha waves when resting with their eyes closed, but when they opened their eyes, they immediately jumped to higher frequency brain activity, “beta waves.”
Looking at his EEG, he was the first to be able to describe what happens in the brain during a seizure.
How Brainwaves Work
Individual brain cells, called neurons, have the potential to fire rhythmically, and they often do so just to organize their own function. But it’s when groups of neurons fire together that brainwaves are generated. It’s important to note that the neurons aren’t firing at exactly the same time. They are firing in a probability distribution, so that most neurons are firing at the center of the wave, with fewer firing before or after.
Brainwaves allow groups of neurons in one part of the brain to communicate with other parts of the brain. The brainwave carries information between the brain regions. And one of the most important messages they carry is: “this is how fast you should be firing.” Brainwave frequency emanating from one region travels to the next region and tells it to either speed up or slows down accordingly.
Brainwaves beyond the Brain
Technically, brainwaves are known as neuronal oscillations. That’s because they’re associated with nerve cells, not just the brain. These neuronal oscillations are found in all the nerves of the body. They help regulate many different nerve activities, including regulating the speed of your heart and controlling muscle coordination.
Brainwaves and NuCalm’s Effects
NuCalm is so successful in part because the multiple approaches it uses to regulate brainwave frequency allow for a very rapid response time from the brain. That’s why NuCalm can cause you to move into and out of near-sleep states much more quickly than you normally do, allowing you to get the benefit of hours of sleep in a fraction of the time.
NuCalm is able to have powerful impacts beyond the brain because the neural activity progresses throughout the nervous system. Most people are aware of the impact NuCalm has on their brain right away, but they may not notice for a long time how NuCalm’s effects are also progressing through the body. But over time, using NuCalm does have these effects, and you’ll notice how the prepossessing calm can be felt in every part of the body, leading to many positive impacts.
If you want to learn how NuCalm can impact your life, please contact us today.