Monday, September 19, 2011

Got Stress ?

Did you know that it has been estimated that nearly one-third of the visits to primary care physicians are actually mental disorders, not physical illness? What the brain dictates, the body demonstrates!

In medical terms, stress is the body's physical reaction to change. It begins primarily when your brain sends out signals that over-activate your sympathetic nervous system (leading to a "fight-or-flight" response) or over-activate your parasympathetic system (leading to a "freeze" response). In many ways, these deeply engrained, primitive responses keep us safe. But, big trauma - and the little traumas of daily life - can over-activate us to the point that they controls us, instead of the other way around because they get used to an unhealthy degree or for an unhealthy period of time which cause them to get "stuck."

Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. Like stress, some level of anxiety can be helpful, but similarly, when anxiety becomes an excessive, irrational dread of everyday situations, it can become a disabling disorder. Psychologists typically classify anxieties in the following ways:

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder

  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

  • Panic Disorder

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

  • Social Phobia (or Social Anxiety Disorder)



    As we do our Audio Visual Entrainment, our clients report that they begin to sleep better, they feel more well-rested, they are stronger physically, have regular bowel movements and less food sensitivities. Personal relationships are stronger and healthier. They find themselves to be more interested in life and more able to explore things. Some have expressed a sense of feeling more "free" and less "tied up in knots."



    For a FREE demonstration, please call 480-295-5972 or email us at brainastics88@yahoo.com Thanks!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

The Physiology of Audio Visual Entrainment ( AVE )

In order for entrainment to occur, a constant, repetitive stimuli of sufficient strength to "excite" the thalamus must be present. The thalamus then passes the stimuli onto the sensory-motor strip, the cortex in general and associated processing areas such as the visual and auditory cortexes. The illustration to the right shows the visual pathway with the retina of both eyes becoming excited and sending pulses down the optic nerve, through the optic chiasm, and into the lateral geniculate of both thalami. From here, the visual signals are passed onto the visual and cerebral cortexes for further processing. There is very little delay from the onset of the flash to the response in the optic nerve, a delay of approximately 100 msec occurs by the time the visual evoked potential (VEP) is elicited in the visual cortex. This delay may be why entrainment occurs best at the natural alpha frequency -- as 100 msec equates to 10 Hz, a frequency that produces sensorial relaxation as seen in the meditative state.

Visual Pathways

The way in which visual information travels from our eyes to our brain is different from the way sensory and motor information travels to the brain. Unlike the body, where the nerves on the left side are connected to the right hemisphere of the brain the right side are connected to the left side of the brain, our eyes are wired so that the left visual field of our total vision (both eyes) goes to the right side of the brain and vice versa.

The visual neural pathways in humans start with rods and cones, located at the back of the eye and end at the visual cortex, located at the back of the brain. The visual signals travel from the rods and cones via two to four synapses (nerve cell connections in the brain) in the ganglion cells, located behind the retina of the eye. These nerve impulses from the ganglion cells leave the eye via the optic nerve. By this time, a certain amount of visual analysis has taken place in the brain, delaying the signal for a few milliseconds. The nerve impulses from each eye travel down the optic nerve (a bundle of approximately one million nerve fibers) on their way to the brain.

The visual neural pathways in humans start with rods and cones, located at the back of the eye and end at the visual cortex, located at the back of the brain. The visual signals travel from the rods and cones via two to four synapses (nerve cell connections in the brain) in the ganglion cells, located behind the retina of the eye.The optic nerve from each eye splits into the optic chiasm. The optic chiasm is the nerve network that routes the visual image from the right visual fields of both eyes (left half of each retina) to a nest of neurons called the left lateral geniculate and on to the visual cortex. The reverse holds true for the left visual field (right half of each retina). Therefore, the flash of light seen in the left visual fields of both eyes is represented on the right side of the retina of both eyes. The impulse caused by the flash then travels to the right geniculate and right visual cortex. This means that visual input seen in both fields of each eye goes to both the left and right side of the brain.

The geniculate cells are attaché physically and by synapses to the thalamus, the brain's main sensory coordinating area or "gateway." Photic stimulation evokes potentials into the thalamus. Because the thalamus relays sensory information into the neo-cortex, the visual impulses are therefore distributed into the neo-cortex. This often produces more brainwave entrainment at the frontal and central areas of the brain than in the visual cortex. The visual signals continue from the geniculate to the visual cortex, where they meet millions of synapses. From the visual cortex the visual messages are sent to several further destinations, neighboring cortical areas, as well as, several targets deep within the brain.

Photic Driving

Every flash of light enters the eye imprints itself on the rods and cones. This in turn evokes a response in the optic nerve. When this electrical firing from the optic nerve stimulates the primary visual cortex, a response known as the visual evoked response is produced. When the visual stimulus approaches 4 Hz, the start of the response from the next stimuli performs a vector addition on the tail of the previous evoked response. At this point, the many individual visual evoked responses become the cortical frequency following response. In other words, the response of the brain is to match the frequency of the flashing light. This frequency following response is now referred to as brain wave entrainment or audio visual entrainment (AVE).

Audio Visual Entrainment ( AVE ) from Bioenergetics Solutions Llc



Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, it was found that visual entrainment, or as some called it "photic driving" was later termed "brain wave entrainment" (BWE) and was found to have many applications. Such as: being used as an anesthetic during surgery, a relaxation aid and as an alternative to freezing nerves during dental work. Unfortunately, most of this research went unnoticed by the medical community. However, commercial brain wave entrainment devices were being made as early as 1958. In the last few years, there has been a huge paradigm shift around our health and well being. People now want to take charge of their bodies and health. Powering up your brain can be as simple as beginning with Audio Visual Entrainment. AVE really began to mature in 1985 and has been growing in popularity ever since. The scientific understanding and research in the neuroscience of AVE has grown by leaps and bounds. Since the mid-1980s, there have been a number of manufacturers offering "light and sound" devices. The term "audio-visual entrainment" (AVE) more accurately describes this technology when used for the purpose of affecting brain waves. With improvements in miniaturization of electronics and improved eyesets, these AVE devices are becoming more and more accessible to the public. This technology is finally getting some attention and recognition of leading researchers who are discovering new applications all the time. (Dave Siever)

The following chart gives you brainwave frequency ranges for each mental state.

For inquiries, please call 480-295-5972 or email us at brainastics88@yahoo.com

Thank you.

A NON-PHARMACEUTICAL APPROACH TO INCREASED WELL BEING

Audio-Visual Entrainment (AVE) uses flashes of lights and pulses of tones to gently and safely guide the brain into various brain wave patterns to boost your mood, help with sleep, sharpen your mind and increase your level of relaxation. It is an effective, inexpensive alternative modality for many disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), ADHD, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), fibromyalgia,chronic pain,anxiety, insomnia and depression. Our AVE devices are also used successfully to boost physical performance for athletes, academic performance for students and cognitive performance for seniors. AVE is also commonly referred to as brainwave entrainment (BWE).

We also offer Cranio-Electrical Stimulation ( CES ) devices for pain relief and sleep.

We offer BOTH the Products and the Service ! Call 480-295-5972 for details or email brainastics88@yahoo.com !