entrain in the membrane

If you didn't get the song reference in my title, don't worry; you're probably better off that way. But what I want to talk about today is brainwave entrainment, the fancy name for what happens when you listen to binaural beats.

I've discussed binaural beats before in conjunction with Virtual Hypnotist, but here's a quick refresher. As far back as the early 1800's, scientists have been studying a strange phenomenon that happens when people hear slightly different tones in each ear for an extended period of time: their brainwaves gradually take on the frequency directly between the two tones. Certain frequencies will make a person more alert, and certain frequencies will make a person more relaxed. That's it in a nutshell; if you want a bit more detail that's still geared toward newbies, click here.

Anyway, "entrainment" is the temporary adoption of a new brainwave frequency in response to binaural beats. But doesn't it sound much more sinister than that? Whenever I hear the word, I imagine a black-clad domme with a riding crop, standing over a victim bound to a table with electric leads running from her head. ;-) But despite what my imaginary domme might prefer, entrainment is only temporary. And it's nothing at all like brainwashing, although it's certainly useful for hypnosis.

It has a host of other great uses, too, as I discovered when I stumbled across this decidedly more clinical article on brainwave frequencies. The most interesting part, to me, was the talk about the "twilight stage of learning" and hypnagogic images. That sounds almost exactly like what I think of as the "nonsense" that fills my head when I'm drifting off to sleep at night, except that my nonsense is primarily words instead of pictures (I have seen some pretty freaky images, though. For instance, I once visualized a dark, narrow room piled high with human hair). It's also exactly what I experience on those rare mornings when I'm able to just lie in bed half-awake and toy with ideas...ideas that often show up later in my EMC stories. Apparently, I'm following a long, proud tradition of artists and inventors who learned to tap into the power of the theta state. Who knew? :-)

I've also discovered another use for binaural beats, entirely on my own. As I've said here before, I suffer from restless leg syndrome; and my symptoms often manifest during the day as well as at night. But I've discovered that if I plug in my earbuds and listen to mid-alpha for about ten minutes, the symptoms disappear - not permanently, but they do disappear. Completely.

Just before I started this entry, I did an online search to see if anyone else had connected binaural beats with RLS, but all I found was a smattering of seriously sketchy ads for products I'm sure don't do an ounce of good for anyone but the people making money off them. Oh, and one report from a guy who says binaural beats gave him restless legs...but he thinks RLS is just as likely to be caused by spiritual enlightenment as a medical condition, so take that with however many grains of salt you feel are appropriate. I can't speak for him, but I am quite sure that my restless legs have a lot less to do with kundalini than with stress and iron deficiency.

Anyway, if you suffer from restless leg syndrome and want to see if binaural beats will give you some relief, there's no need to deal with the sketchy-ad people. You can download all the beats you like for free, right here. Now, I wouldn't suggest listening to one frequency from bedtime till morning, as your mind passes through several different stages of sleep during the night. But do try one or more ten-minute rounds during the day, when your symptoms flare up, and see if the beats help. Let me know if they do!