Alpha Waves

As you may know, binaural beats work by presenting each ear of a listener with a slightly different tone. The difference between the two tones is picked up by the brain of the listener and that difference is what causes the effect of the binaural tones.

For example; if one ear is listening to a tone set at 200 Hz and the other ear receives a tone of 209 Hz, the difference, in this case 9 Hz, is used to determine the effect. In this example, the difference of 9 Hz would be in the Alpha range.

Alpha brainwaves are the waves that are normal within the human mind when it is stress free. Alpha waves occur between 9 - 14 Hz.  Children usually have higher normal Alpha waves than adults.  Through the use of biaurals in the Alpha range, the listener can expect to promote a reduction in stress, a relaxed but alert state of mind and the able to absorb learning material more readily. 

Some interesting Alpha waves frequencies are:

     9  Hz   Feeling of floating

   10  Hz   Associated with the sacral chakra

10. 6 Hz  A relaxed but alert state of mind

     12 Hz  Learning frequency

More FREE Beats

Here is the latest crop of sites that offer free downloads of brain entrainment.

Once again, they are in no particular order.  If you know of any other sites with FREE binaural beats please add to the comments.

LucidQuest   You have to become a member to download, but membership is free.   I like this one.

Thoughts for Awake People    Limited selection but free without membership

AuroraHealth   Free mp3 download for meditation with binaural beats.

Binaural Beats and Chemical Reactions

Recently I have read a number of questions on various forums about using binaural beats to synthesis THC or DMT or some psychotropic substance.  

I just want everyone to know that binaural beats do not change the chemistry of the body and it will not recreate 'trips' or get you stoned as much as you may want them to do so.   

Here is an amazingly ridiculous article that I came across dealing with the misconceptions associated with binaural beats and brain entrainment in general.  While it is clear from the article that the author has very limited experience with brain entrainment, it is still disturbing that this misrepresentation of brain entrainment was published in The USA Today, which is a widely read newspaper by mostly, individuals with lower levels of education. Just the kind of people that might actually believe that brain entrainment is the next evil drug.

Theta Waves

As you may know, binaural beats work by presenting each ear of a listener with a slightly different tone. The difference between the two tones is picked up by the brain of the listener and that difference is what causes the effect of the binaural tones.

For example; if one ear is listening to a tone set at 200 Hz and the other ear receives a tone of 206 Hz, the difference, in this case 6 Hz, is used to determine the effect. In this example, the difference of 6 Hz would be in the Theta range.

Theta waves occur at the Hertz range of 4 - 7 Hz.  This is also the range of a skilled meditator during deep meditation.  Wavelength at this frequency can produce increased sex drive,  vivid memory recall, inner peace, reduced blood pressure and they are even claimed to promote psychic ability.

Some interesting frequencies in this range include:

4.5 Hz  Shamanic State of Consciousness 

   5 Hz  Unusual problem solving

5.8 Hz  Fear reduction

   7 Hz  Healing

Sleep LESS Experiment

A real problem for me is that I love to sleep.   

I sleep excessive amounts; averaging over 10 hours a night. 

I came up with an idea to do a little experiment on using binaural beats to decrease the amount of sleep I need and still feel well rested.   

A record of my experiment can be found here.   It is not scientific, but might prove to be of some interest.