What are Brain Waves and How Do They Affect Me?

Understanding Your Brain

Five major types of brain waves affect many of us every day. By knowing what brainwaves are and how they affect us, you can improve attention span and better understand brain activity. As you ask, “What are brain waves?”, take in the helpful information below:

Alpha Waves

Alpha waves are directly connected to a child’s concentration, so parents need to understand them. If a child who has trouble paying attention in class learns how to control alpha waves via biofeedback, he can gain control over his attention span. But first, here is some basic information on alpha waves:

1. Alpha waves put out the strongest signal on the EEG, although they are not found in their mature form until children are three years old. They are found in cells of the thalamus and originate in the occipital lobe.
2. These waves oscillate at 8-12 Hz when you are relaxing with your eyes closed. They also occur when you are asleep but feel as if you are awake, also described as wakeful periods during sleep.
3. Those who have chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and depression have higher levels of alpha waves. However, despite the association with sleep, alpha waves are not linked with sleep disorders.
4. Meditators produce more alpha waves when they meditate, as compared to those who don’t meditate.
5. One type of alpha wave is called a mu wave. Mu waves oscillate at 8-13 Hz.  These are reduced in the brain when you decide to move or when you are physically moving.

In daily life, if alpha waves increase to a level of 25% in the brain, the person will make a mistake. Some experts believe that children using biofeedback tools can learn to alter their alpha waves, especially if they have difficulty staying focused, such as with ADHD.

If these children use biofeedback, they may learn how to better pay attention. They can either take note of changes in their bodies, thoughts, and surroundings to identify when higher alpha waves occur, or they can use instruments to automatically identify higher alpha waves. Simply noting the changes often decreases the waves, eventually allowing the child to have more control.

Beta Waves

Beta waves oscillate at 12-30 Hz, and occur during the time we are awake, when we are busy, and when we are anxious.

Delta Waves

Delta waves are another very interesting type of brain wave. Your nutrition can affect these brain waves, and the waves can in turn affect your health.

Delta waves oscillate at 0.1-4 Hz.  They are found in the deepest stages of sleep. Delta waves stimulate hormone release at night, specifically of the growth hormone, prolactin, and the thyroid stimulating hormone.

Here are some quick facts about delta waves:

1. Delta waves occur at the greatest level in newborns, and they are the most prominent brain wave newborns have.
2. Sleepwalking is characterized by high delta wave activity.
3. Alcohol reduces delta waves and also lowers the release of the growth hormone in the body.

The drug Gabapentin also decreases delta waves (used for seizures and neurological disorders). GHB, Gamma-hydroxy butyrate (Ecstasy) increases delta waves and the release of Growth Hormone. Of course, it can also cause death.

Be conscious of your diet, as low carbohydrate diets, including the ketogenic diet (high fat, high protein), increase the delta wave activity in those who are healthy.

Theta Waves

Theta waves oscillate at 4-7 Hz. They are found during times when you meditate, are drowsy, or are sleeping. They are also associated with spatial learning in animals.

Gamma Waves and Learning

Gamma brain waves – it sounds like a technical subject, but we’ll start with the basics. A brain wave is a coordination of billions of nerve cells that perform specific tasks. They are categorized by their frequency, and depending on their categorization. Gamma waves and learning are connected, brain waves can affect children with learning disorders.

You may have heard of brain waves called alpha, beta, delta, and theta waves. You can learn more about these brain waves in our previous post titled, “What Are Brain Waves and How Do They Affect Me?” This post also introduces the idea that children negatively affected by alpha brain waves can learn to control their attention spans through biofeedback machines and brain wave awareness. Now you can learn more about how brain waves affect children with learning disabilities.

What Tibetan Monks Teach Us About Gamma Brain Waves

Gamma brain waves are the predominant brainwave in Tibetan monks and those prone to seizures. It’s thought that these gamma waves integrate subliminal stimuli with visual cues seen by the eye. Gamma brain waves oscillate at 29-52 Hz in the auditory cortex, and scientists generally believe their frequency is 25-100 Hz in the entire brain.

Monks asked by researchers to meditate on compassion displayed electrical brain activity that fired in a coherent rhythm. This suggests that the neurons were firing harmoniously. These same monks had greater levels of gamma brain waves.

What Happened When Monks Had to Focus?

When the monks underwent coherent gamma oscillations, they associated a visual sight with other thoughts and notions. The gamma brain waves allowed them to combine brain actions into one act: perception. Keep in mind this important step for later.

Gamma Waves Affect Language Skills

Gamma waves are also important for the process of parsing words into sounds. Children have to use parsing to identify individual sounds and string them together to pronounce a word. Without parsing, your child can’t learn a language, read, or in most cases speak the English language.

When children’s gamma brain waves were tested, researchers found that those with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and other language learning disorders, had lower levels of gamma brain waves than children without these disorders. This allowed for the possibility that brain waves could affect language learning skills.

How Fast ForWord™ Helps Improve Gamma Waves

Neuroscientists at Rutgers University studied 21 children using the Fast ForWord program. The children had language learning disorders and used the program for 32 days.

The results were spectacular. The children showed increased gamma-wave activity and improved language skills. As gamma brain waves increased, their core language skills improved. Gamma waves and learning were linked. Their expressive language skills increased. And their receptive language skills increased.

Going back to Wikipedia’s description of what happened to monks, we can see a possible similarity between children on Fast ForWord™ and the monks. The Fast ForWord™ program triggered synchronized brain firing (and increased gamma waves). When all the neurons of the brain are engaged in one purposeful action, the memories and associations previously laid down in the brain all come together to generate a new perception – language.

Those who learn how brain waves affect children with learning disabilities can use Fast ForWord™ to help develop functional and effective young minds. Gemm Learning provides Fast ForWord to families at home.