Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: Chatty Time

Published Categorised as Brain Health, Brain Biofeedback

I used to see a psychologist in the first years after my brain injury. For the last half hour of each appointment, I would lie back in a zero gravity chair, a neurofeedback unit similar to my at-home AVE unit, hooked up to me, shades over eyes, headphones over ears. I never knew what brainwaves he was entraining in me.

One day he chose a program that as soon as it was over started me talking. And talking. And talking. I. Could. Not. Shut. Up.

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For hours I talked.

And talked.

Given the zombie state I was in at the time, it was a dramatic change. And weird. And disturbing. Eventually, the effect wore off.

It never happened again.

Years later I wondered what brainwave he’d entrained in me to produce that result. I tried different ones with my own at-home AVE unit. But to no avail.

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Fast forward to today. I've begun to notice that after my gamma brainwave biofeedback sessions, I get real chatty. I’m usually tired. I may even feel faint or a bit nauseous from the mental effort of increasing my gamma waves. Yet I can't stop talking, even though I know I need to in order to conserve my energy and to get home faster to eat and rest.

Today, I had to stop myself talking. While my mouth was motoring along, my body was objecting mightily. What a strange sensation.

Perhaps that psychologist long ago somehow stimulated gamma waves…

I had a substitute trainer today. The pauses between training screens was shorter (every trainer has their own style), and she built up to four minutes so that last three were four, first three were three-and-a-half minutes. A little easier than doing four minutes at start. The ADD Centre’s current goal for me is to be able to do four minutes consistently and to achieve a ratio of 1.0 or greater in every screen. We worked on that today, and though my ratio dropped with each neurofeedback screen (sigh), I did achieve more +1.0s.

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The results:

Date Baseline HRV EC HRV Fdbk 1 Fdbk 2 Fdbk 3 Fdbk 4 Fdbk 5 HRV EC
27 Jun 0.83 0.88 0.90 0.90 0.91
4 Jul 0.85 0.90 0.91 0.94 0.898 0.90 0.84
10 Jul 0.85 0.92 0.89 0.86 0.84 0.86 0.83 0.86 0.90
11 Jul 0.95 0.94 0.86 0.88 0.93 0.95 HRVEC
0.98		 0.94
17 Jul 0.91 0.97 1.05 1 0.94 0.96 0.97
18 Jul 0.97 0.99 0.97 1.05 0.93 0.94
25 Jul 0.96 1 1.03 1.02 1.01 0.97 1.02

 

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