Binaural Beats - A Therapy ?
Anxiety, stress, depression, insomnia. If you’ve associated yourself to any one of the mentioned or related disorders, then this read is going to be super useful to you.
Binaural Beats - What are they ?
In simple terms, it’s a form of auditory illusion. This illusion is created by the brain when two tones of slightly different frequencies are played in our ears simultaneously. For example, if you hear a tone of frequency 500 Hz in one ear and 515 Hz in another, you’ll experience a binaural beat with a frequency of 15 Hz ( 515 - 500 Hz )
Our brain interprets both of the tones as one, due to the very small difference in frequency. But since there’s a difference between both the tones, when our brain aligns both of the tones as one, a beat with a new frequency is produced. This new beat has a frequency of the difference between both the tone’s frequency and is called as the binaural beat. These beats strengthen the brain waves and can place the brain in a certain state where we can learn better, get more creative, get more focused etc.
The 5 Different Brain Waves that affect Binaural Beats :
Imagine yourself throwing a pebble on a pond. Once the pebble hits still water, ripples are formed. These ripple waves will be close to each other initially and then slowly fade away. When the waves are right next to each other, we call them high frequency waves and when they’re distant, we call them low frequency waves. These frequencies calculated in kHz or Hz. Just like this, our brainwaves can range from producing low frequency waves to high frequency waves.
The 5 different brain waves :
- Delta (1-4 Hz) has the lowest frequency and is helpful for deep sleep and meditation.
- Theta (4-8 Hz) is helpful for deep relaxation and creativity.
- Alpha (8 -14 Hz) state of mind keeps the brain more focused and productive.
- Beta (14-30 Hz) is a high frequency wave and is helpful for deep analysis and problem solving.
- Gamma (30-100 Hz) is the highest frequency waves helps in recalling known information, enhancing cognitive skills etc.
Ideally, the Alpha state of mind is where we can get most of the work done.
Binaural Beats Therapy :
Although not clinically proven and still in an experimental phase, binaural beats therapy is used in some places to reduce anxiety and stress. This however, works differently for different individuals depending upon their needs. Some would just wish to reduce their anxiety while the others would wish to increase their concentration, get creative etc. and thus it’s mostly left to the individual to choose music of their choice. There are so many applications online that generate binaural beats and there are also YouTube playlists / videos that does the same. It is mostly the producer / composer of the music who makes suggestions on the use of certain beats as there’s no certified authorities in psychiatric treatment who can recommend binaural beats to an individual.
When to Avoid :
It is true that a higher frequency wave can alert you and keep your brain in a conscious state, but it is best to avoid listening to binaural beats therapy that require full alertness and focus such as driving.
Some people have also reported an increase in depression resulting in overreaction to normal events, increased anger etc after binaural beat therapy. Hence, if this doesn’t work for you, it’s best to drop it then and there and not take the risk of experimenting it again and again.