An estimated 50-70 million adults in the U.S. have some form of sleep or wakefulness disorder. So much so, that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is calling it a public health epidemic. People experiencing sleep problems are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, depression, and obesity, as well as from cancer, increased mortality, and reduced quality of life and productivity. So, how does one go about lowering their stress and improving their sleep that doesn't involve popping pills and risk becoming addicted to over the counter or prescription sleep medications?
The answer may lie in something called brain entrainment. What is brain entrainment exactly? Its roots date back to the 1660's, when Christian Huygens, a Dutch scientist, was working on a design for the pendulum clock. He discovered that if two of them were placed on a wall near each other, they would eventually end up swinging at the same rate due to their mutual influence on each other. Later, scientists found this very same principle could be very widely applied.
Doctors around the world have been researching the effect of modified sounds on the subconscious mind and how they can improve different behaviors such as lowering stress, improving sleep, controlling urges to help people lose weight, and increasing a person's motivation and confidence. Entrainment is an aspect of sound closely related to natural rhythms and the way these rhythms affect us. It's based on the way that the powerful rhythmic vibrations of one object cause the less powerful vibrations of another to fall in line, oscillating at the same rate as the first object.
Many remedies in medicine today only focus on a short term fix to a problem. With brain entrainment, the ultimate goal is to put a person's mind in a perfect relaxed state all the time in order to improve the quality of their life for the long term. Research proves that the average person uses only the left side of the brain when dealing with difficult situations. This is the side that is preoccupied with the functional and mechanical aspects of problem solving. On the other hand, successful and happy people manage to use both sides of the brain when faced with a difficult situation. They successfully include the right side of the brain, which deals with the creative and colorful side of their personality. By achieving this perfect mental balance, they achieve a focused and clear mindset that puts them in good stead to tackle difficult situations with a positive disposition and ultimately a more relaxed mind.
