Today went the way things are supposed to go. Do something to up gamma brainwaves, and they go up. Deep breathe, and heart rate responds. Start off the whole thing with low muscle tension, good EEG numbers, and the heart rate I began with back in June. Over the last few weeks, the latter has…
Category: Brain Power
Musings on what makes for a powerful brain. This category also includes the sub-category Brain Health, which covers all things related to brain injury.
Gamma Brain Biofeedback: A Rejig
After I discussed my recent results with them, the ADD Centre has changed up my training. As my trainer put it, after seeing how I did after the first couple of screens: you do better if we’re not nice. (Well, everyone at the Centre has always been exceptionally nice to me, but I knew what…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: A Writing Day
I don't know what to make of today’s gamma brainwave biofeedback results. To say they were up and down is a bit of an understatement. I'm going to have to discuss this with the ADD Centre head person on gamma. The good news is the writing section went well. After the usual HRV screens and…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: Performance Appraisal
Today was a little different from my normal gamma brainwave biofeedback session. We did one neurofeedback screen — the hardest one — after the usual opening HRV ones. But then my trainer removed my temp and heart rate sensors, I opened my novel-in-progress, she started up a screen with music off, and I began revising…
Gamma Brain Biofeedback: How Do I Do on a “Bad Day”?
Today was a “bad day” brain biofeedback session. My trainer wanted to see how my brain (and heart) would do on a bad day, that is, a day I don’t come straight from home but after an appointment, walking around, and lots of TTC time. Plus just being out for much of the day. Well,…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: Chatty Time
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…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: First Good HRV Screen
My last brain biofeedback session may've been a washout, but as I mentioned in my blog post, I achieved a huge milestone, one I had thought impossible: my HRV looks like a real one. HRV stands for heart rate variability. Basically, as you inhale, your heart rate rises, and as you exhale, your heart rate…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: Fatigue Catches Up
When your brain doesn't want to work, it doesn't want to work. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. First off, we've had several days in a row of brain-draining high heat. And then with brain injury, doing too much has a habit of catching up to you. Just because my brain shows welcome levels of…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: Videos Nix Thinking
I learnt something new today through experience, not just being told it's so. It began when during my brain biofeedback, we moved from the bowling neurofeedback screen to one with a logo on it. “What's that?” I asked my brain biofeedback trainer. “It's a video screen of a snowboarder,” was the reply. She was going…