BIOFEEDBACK
Brain Training
By Stephen Sideroff, Ph. D.
You ate reading an article and your thoughts drift-suddenly
you have lost the focus of what you are reading...
You are I listening to a person giving a
speech thread of the speaker's argument.....
You put your keys down and then don't remember
where you left them
Sound familiar? We find all kinds of
excuses to explain our lapses of thought: "I'm getting
old," "I'm too stressed and distracted," or
simply, "My mind isn't working well today."
When your body gets flabby, it's easily noticeable. Your body
sends you the message that it needs conditioning. Although
over 90% of your behavior is controlled by your brain, your
tiny yet frequent mental lapses never seem to signal, "I've
got to get my brain back into condition," or "My
brain needs exercise."
When it comes to thinking, remembering, problem solving and
decision making, we don't immediately consider sharpening
our brains. But, if the mind is so important, why not spend
more time training it?
In fact, there are not many ways available to exercise your
mind. Furthermore, there have not been any good ways of determining
that you are successful, even when you try. But in the last
5 to 10 years, a new procedure has been quietly gaining clinical
respectability for the enhancement of brain function. It is
called EEG (electroencephalogram) biofeedback or "neurofeedback."
This procedure is the first that lets you to train the brain
directly, and verifies how successful you are.
Neurofeedback is a procedure for training brain waves. Brain
waves are a representation of the electrical activity, or
means of communication, of many nerve cells in the brain.
Neurofeedback "brain training" may help you in a
variety of ways: you could improve your athletic performance
in a specific sport, for example, or improve your ability
to stay focused for your job or creative projects. It can
also be valuable in treating specific physical and emotional
problems.
Neurofeedback allows us, for the first time, to know when
the brain is in specific mental "states" that make
it more efficient and sharper. It can also help individuals
go into states that facilitate other types of functioning,
such as giving access to the subconscious.
Initially found to be effective in reducing seizures in epileptics
by Dr. Barry Sterman and colleagues at UCLA, this procedure
was then found effective with attention deficit disorder (ADD,
by- Dr. Joel Lubar and others.
Getting Hooked Up
What's it like to have a neurofeedback session? At a trained
professional's office, an electrode is attached to a specific
arta of the scalp, with tv,-o other electrodes that serve
as reference and ground, attached to each ear. The electrode
picks up the minute brain electrical signals through the skull
and the skin.
The brain wave or EEG signal is then fed into a computer that
is able to separate out its different components, such as
theta, or slow wave activity (which is a less focused, more
relaxed brain state), or beta activity (a faster wave activity
which is common during periods of focused attention). This
information is then displayed on the computer monitor, moment
by moment.
Now, wouldrA it be great if you were able to control these
brain wave states, to either relax yourself and de-stress
, or think more clearly and with greater focus? Well, with
neurofeedback, you can!
Wouldn't it be great if you were able to have
more control over these brain wave states, to either relax
yourself and de-stress, or think more clearly and with greater
focus?
Using software specifically designed for this
purpose, you might hear a pleasant sound when your brain waves
go above a certain level. Or, your success might be represented
by a Pac Man-like image going faster on the screen and gobbling
up more little figures. The more successful you are at achieving
the desired brain state, the more success you will have at
the computer game on the screen.
Neurofeedback does two valuable things: 1) It lets you know
when you are in the right brain state, thus yielding an important
awareness, and 2) It lets you know if you are doing better
at getting into the correct brain state. You can even see
it on the computer monitor as it is happening.
People who have participated in neurofeedback sometimes notice
an enhanced sense of clarity They may also experience increased
energy. If they are experiencing pain, they may notice a reduction
or elimination of that pain. For the full benefits o the treatment,
10 to 40 sessions are generally recommended. In some cases,
additional sessions are necessary.
When To Use Neurofeedback
One of the important pieces of information we have about EEG
is that children-and adults-with ADD, have an excessive amount
of the low frequency theta brain waves. These brain waves
are between 4 and 7 cycles per second.
When a child or an adult is trained to suppress the lower,
theta frequencies, and at the same time learns to increase
the higher, beta frequencies of 15 to 18 cycles per second,
it coincides with a shift to a greater ability to focus and
stay alert. This change is frequently accompanied by an increase
in IQ score. In my office I have worked with both children
and adults to improve focus and concentration.
Just as neurofeedback can help a person with ADD be more focused
and attentive, it can help people without this deficitincluding
athletes-to be more focused.
If you want to play a better game or be more alert and focused
for any purpose, you can use neurofeedback to learn how to
produce the correct brain waves for concentration and focus.
By training athletes to be able to go into the higher frequency
brain wave activity more readily, I have helped them improve
their accuracy in shooting basketballs, hitting a golf hall
and even hitting the perfect spike in volleyball.
Which Brain Waves Are Best?
One way of determining the most effective brain
wave pattern for specific situations is to study top performers
and see how they do it. Dr. Barry Sternian, a colleague at
UCLA, studied Air Force pilots to determine what their brains
did when they needed to be most alert, efficient and accurate
while flying an F- 15 jet. These pilots' brains would go into
alpha rhythm, between 8 and 12 cycles per second, and a very
focused calmness in preparation for a task.
When I reinforce this same type of brain wave
activity in tennis players, it prepares them to receive a
serve by helping them be highly focused and ready to respond.
Although much still needs to be learned about
neurofeedback, it is a process that holds tremendous promise
for improving the functioning of the mind. And since the mind
controls the body, this approach also helps the body to function
more effectively, including facilitating the healing process.
If you think neurofeedback might help improve your health
or physical performance, consider discussing the option with
a psychologist.
Stephen I. Sideroff, PbD,
is a licensed clinicalpsychologist in private practice in
Santa Monica. He is also Assistant Professor in the Department
of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences of UCLA's School
of Medicine. For more information or to experience neurofeedback,
call (310) 828-1113.
Quote:
When it comes to problem solving and decision making, we don't
immediately consider sharpening our brains. But, if the mind
is so important, why not spend more time training it?