I am sometimes asked about the best headphones to use for listening to meditation and other entrainment audios. I wrote about this here: best headphones and have recently updated that article.

In fact all you need from headphones is that they are relaying the music in stereo which I think all of them do these days. Still it is nice to get a recommendation from users. So I have suggested the some good headphones at various prices from expensive to very cheap. I have also reviewed ear phones as many people prefer them.

Meditation is often called mindfulness these days because it sounds more secular. It is known to make a great difference to ones mental and physical health. Do try it and not just for a couple of days. If you commit to to a mindfulness session every day for a month you will be surprised to find that it has made you feel much calmer and happier too. Worth doing don’t you think?

You can download a meditation like the one in the video from here: Meditation mp3 download.

Older people  have been thought to have problems sleeping. That is what the text books and various web sites about sleep tell us. But a large survey published in the journal  ’Sleep’ showed that sleep problems in older adults are a bit of a myth. In fact sleep problems and tiredness were found to be worse  for middle aged women than for older age groups.

“Where there were sleep problems these were associated with illness or depression rather than age. Complete-case analysis included 155,877 participants who responded to questions related to Self-Reported Sleep Disturbance and Self-Reported Tiredness/Lack of Energy.” 

“Advancing age was not associated with increased Self-Reported Sleep Disturbance or Self-Reported Tiredness/Lack of Energy. These results suggest that the often-reported increase in sleep problems with age is a nonlinear phenomenon, mediated by factors other than physiologic aging.

This is useful information for older adults. If your sleep is disturbed this may be caused by underlying health problems which need to be investigated and treated. So don’t let your doctor tell you otherwise. If your doctor thinks your insomnia is due to your age politely show him or her the evidence of this study.

In the difficult financial times we are going through many of us are desperately looking for methods to relieve anxiety. Learning how to relieve anxiety is very important.  Anxiety is not just something that you can brush aside but is a crippling condition of the mind which can perpetuate itself and cause physical problems such as poor memory .

Being under stress producing anxiety causes cortisol to be released which can damage the hippocampus, the part of the brain concerned with memory. In fact the hippocampus shrinks under the constant influence of cortisol and according to Canadian scientist Donald Hebb those with longstanding stress and anxiety have lost up to a quarter of the volume in their hippocampus leading to problems with retaining new information.

“Anxiety becomes a disorder when the symptoms become chronic and interfere with our daily lives and our ability to function. People suffering from chronic anxiety often report the following symptoms: Muscle tension, weakness, poor memory, sweaty hands, fear or confusion, inability to relax, constant worry, shortness of breath, palpitations,upset stomach and  poor concentration.  These symptoms are severe and upsetting enough to make individuals feel extremely uncomfortable, out of control and helpless.”

Well maybe there is a way out. In “Just One Thing: Developing A Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, Ph.D describes down-to-earth ways to build up a “Buddha brain” for more peace of mind in stressful times, greater inner strength and confidence, and an unshakable sense of contentment and worth.

“Each day we are pushed around by external forces – from the economy to the people we live and work with – and by reactions to these that come from ancient reptile/mammal/primate/caveman circuits inside our own brains. But now, with the power of modern neuroscience, we can take charge of the brain and gradually change it for the better.”

On his website Dr. Hanson writes that:

“The original meaning of the word “Buddha” is one who knows how to be truly happy and effective. Developing a buddha brain is for anyone – Christian, Jewish, atheist, etc.—who wants this kind of brain.

The book presents 52 practices – simple actions inside your mind – that light up neural networks of deep well-being and resilience. And because “neurons that fire together, wire together,” each time you do a practice, it strengthens key neural circuits like building a muscle in the gym.

Each practice is grounded in modern neuroscience, positive psychology, Rick’s background in the very real world of business and raising a family. Each bite-size chapter introduces a new practice, explains why it’s important, and shows you how to do it….Bottom line, it’s the law of little things. A small thing repeated each day adds up over time to produce big results; a small thing that is in your power to do – in a world in which so many things are not. Just one small thing that could change your life!”

You can get the book at:  Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Best Brainwave Frequency For Anxiety

Another way to improve anxiety is to listen to brainwave entrainment audios. You can find them on line easily enough but not all a good listening experiences. I have heard brainwave audios that are headache inducing!  The best are buried in background music that makes them pleasant to listen to although  you should always be able to hear the tones.

What is the best brain wave frequency for anxiety and depression? There is no absolute best as this science is still expanding and developing and not all  brainwave frequencies have been subjected to large studies.   Probably the best frequency for anxiety is known as SMR.

SMR is a frequency of 12 to 15 hz that is used to reduce over activity or under activity in one side of the brain.  It can be used to good effect where the right and left hemisphere of the brain are unbalanced. Our Anxiety Reduction sessions use SMR because these conditions often show a dominant brainwave pattern on one side of the brain.

Used together with the step by step instructions in the book mentioned above this could be a great combination to help you to reduce stress and relieve anxiety on an ongoing basis.  Eventually you will be able to do the de-stress routine automatically so that anxiety becomes a thing of the past.

You can listen to a preview so that you can be sure that you find the sound reasonably comfortable to listen to. The audio is very relaxing and in fact is a way to practice mindfulness for a short period each day.

This audio mp3 download includes two anti anxiety audios. The second one is a simple 30 minute alpha relaxation at 8.4 hz.  The idea here is to relax the mind and induce calm.  Listen to each anxiety reduction audio every day and notice how it helps you to become much calmer over time.

Have a listen here: Reduce Anxiety Audio with Binaural Beats.

We have known for some time that drinking alcohol into the late evening will interfere with sleep.  Now another study to be published in the Nov. 2011 issue of  the journal “Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research”confirms this.

If you want uninterrupted sleep don’t drink alcohol. You might fall asleep easily when you have been drinking but you will most likely wake several times during the night and will not feel as rested the following day.

The recent study was carried out on Japan with 100 young men. They were followed for 3 weeks as they drank  3 different kinds of alcoholic drinks during the hour and 40 minutes prior to bedtime. During the period of the study the men’s heart was monitored and it was found that drinking interferes with the restorative functions of sleep.

“It is generally believed that having a nightcap may aid sleep, especially sleep initiation,” said Seiji Nishino, director of the Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology Laboratory at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. “This may be true for some people who have small amounts of alcohol intake. However, it should be noted that large amounts of alcohol intake interfere with sleep quality and the restorative role of sleep and these negative consequences may be much larger during chronic alcohol intake,”

Normally when we sleep at night, the part of the nervous system that is responsible for ‘rest-and-digest’ activities dominates.  But the alcohol seemed to interfere with this, which can result in insomnia, difficulty getting to sleep, early-morning awakening, lack of a sense of deep sleep and difficulty maintaining sleep, the researchers said.  “The results of this study suggest that ethanol interferes with the restorative functions of sleep,” the study’s authors concluded.

Of course we have known this for years but it is good to be reminded again that alcohol may be one of the reasons we are feeling tired. So a good sleep tip is to give up your evening tipple.

A  problem I can see with this study is that the subjects are Japanese. Asian men are known to have a problem digesting alcohol. It would be     useful if theis study could be replicated with non Asians.  It would also be very helpful if for once women were part of such a study. We need to know if women are more or less affected by drinking, especially in the evening.

Brainwave entrainment is a rather long name for something quite simple and natural. It is completely safe when used by a person not subject to a medical condition such as epilepsy.

The “entrainment” part just means that the rhythm that is played is picked up by the brain which synchronizes with it.  This allows us to create audios that have a rhythm that we know can be useful for improving various conditions or reaching desired goals.

You may have heard about binaural beats. These are the best known of the ways in which brainwave entrainment is created. There are also the less well known isochronic tones which in fact are even more effective than binaural beats although I think they don’t sound quite so nice to listen to.

I have posted an in depth article on brainwave entrainment by Timothy Thorpe. If you want to learn more about this topic.