The study found that “these beats induced delta activity in the brain. The Sleep Foundation cites a study through the National Institute of Health that exposed sleeping participants to binaural beats at a delta frequency of 3 Hz. If you’re having trouble falling asleep, by listening to a theta-frequency binaural beat, you could induce a state of drowsiness that could help you fall asleep. Ideally, by listening to a binaural beat between the frequencies of 0.5 Hz and 4 Hz, you’d induce deep sleep. Or problem-solve.įor our purposes, we’ll stick with theta and delta frequencies (since those are the ones associated with sleep). Therefore, you might find it easier to do things that are associated with that frequency. Scientists theorize that, by forcing the brain to create a frequency in the 0.5 to 50 Hz range, your brain activity will synchronize with that frequency. Remember how different brain waves have certain frequencies, ranging from 0.5 Hz to 50 Hz? So, why does this matter? Because of how the binaural beat can interact with your brain waves. If one of the tones is lost (whether because the headphone dies or one earphone is taken out), the binaural beat is no longer created by your brain. This binaural beat is only created when the headphones are both in your ears and playing the different tones. This third tone is called the binaural beat.Įxample: If you listen to a beat at 200 Hz in one ear, and 225 Hz in another, the binaural beat your brain creates is at 25 Hz. As such, the brain responds to the difference between the sounds by creating a third beat at the difference between the two tones. The brain, generally, doesn’t like when things don’t quite line up. When listening to a binaural beat through headphones, a slightly different tone is played in each ear. It’s actually a technique produced with headphones and two sounds at slightly different frequencies. We also know that our brains are incredibly responsive to sound, from the way we process music as infants to being able to pick our own name out of a loud, crowded room.īinaural beats aren’t some new kind of club music or drumming rhythm. Keep all that context in mind – now, we’ll talk about binaural beats. Gamma pattern (30-50 Hz), as the highest-frequency activity, is associated with alertness, concentration, and problem solving.Beta pattern (13-30 Hz) indicates a mind that is active and alert, but can also be associated with anxiety.Alpha pattern (8-13 Hz) indicates a relaxed and restful mind.Theta pattern (4-8 Hz) is the pattern for the lightest stages of sleep, associated with drowsiness and meditation.Delta pattern (0.5-4 Hz), as the slowest rate of activity, is associated with deeper stages of sleep and dreaming.The Sleep Foundation makes the following associations in their article about binaural beats: Certain patterns have, however, become associated with different states of brain activity. Research has shown that, when your brain does different tasks (concentrating, sleeping, meditating, etc.), the patterns of your brain activity change… somewhat reliably.įive general patterns of oscillation have been discovered so far, and their full roles in brain function aren’t yet fully understood. Scientists can measure some brain activity by using an electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures electrical patterns occurring on the surface of the brain by recording electrical activity on the scalp. These waves can be measured in Hertz (cycles per second) and can have frequencies between 0.5 Hz and 50 Hz. These patterns are called “neural oscillations,” also known as brainwaves. However, that electricity is NOT generated entirely randomly scientists have found that the electricity generated by someone’s brain is generated in patterns. Researchers have found that producing different kinds of binaural beats can cause study participants to report different effects.īut what are binaural beats? How are they supposed to work? Here’s the lowdown: Step 1: What are brainwaves?Īs your brain functions, it produces electricity. In theory, this method could help everyone, including those with chronic sleep difficulties, find more restful sleep more reliably. In more recent years, some scientists have studied the possibility of using the brain’s responsiveness to sound itself to help induce a state of sleep. But these additions don’t always have a measurable effect on sleep quality. People have been using external substances to help induce sleep for many, many years – teas and supplements, herbs and incense, meditations and rituals, even alcohol (though it doesn’t work very well). What are binaural beats and can they really help you sleep?
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