Did you know you are an amazing power plant? That is correct, you are an electrical being, producing electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The question is how?
As you eat food, drink water, breathe, and sleep, your body converts all these elements into energy…you are literally functioning as your own power plant! You can observe this daily. You sleep, wake, drink, eat, and breathe and as the day wears on, despite eating and drinking, by evening, the batteries are getting low and you need to sleep again.
Optimal performance happens when your body creates and manages electrical energy with greater efficiency. At the core of these processes is your brain. The brain operates as the air traffic controller for all the systems running through your autonomic nervous system.
So, the main idea then is to learn how to participate actively in helping your body more efficiently produce and manage electrical energy, so your power plant is running like a swiss watch. Part of the solution is to understand brain waves and optimize them.
Since your brain is an electrical organ, it functions at varying speeds. Speed is measured in cycles per second, known at hertz (Hz). The spectrum of hertz is 1-35 for the six primary classifications. The six major groups are based on the rate of speed or hertz. Each performs different functions and also lead to different symptoms and behaviors.
1-4 Hz: Delta – Deep Sleep
Delta waves are associated with deep, non-REM sleep. If Delta predominates during awake time you will experience drowsiness. An excess of Delta while awake can be associated with psychological and neurological disorders.
4-8 Hz: Theta – Rest
Rest for the brain comes with Theta waves. Proper levels of Theta are healthy because our brains need rest. Too much theta leads to focus problems, not enough leads to exhaustion and a lack of recovery. These lead to poor performance during your day.
8-12 Hz: Alpha – Imagination and Creativity
Alpha contributes to a calm and focused state. A large amount of Alpha can indicate a level of creativity unique to an individual. This can show up as humor, art, or innovation in a person’s field of work.
12-16 Hz: – Sensory Motor Rhythm (SMR) – Sustained Focus
SMR is associated with being “in the zone”, the popular term for when individuals or athletes perform at their best. Timelessness, effortlessness, selflessness, and richness of experience are the characteristics of being “in the zone”. SMR is a major regulating power in the brain between rest and stress states.
16-20 Hz: Low Beta – Intense Focus
This spectrum of brain wave activity produces greater awareness and higher levels of focus. Your critical thinking, new learning and problem solving happens here. If too much Low Beta is present, recovery and sleep become problematic.
20-35 Hz: High Beta – Anxiousness/Stress
Our “flight or fight” response is rooted here. We need this capability at times and High Beta enables us to respond in a crisis. Excessive high beta over time leads to anxiety, poor sleep, and obsessive behavior. It also leads to long-term medical and neurological issues.
The Takeaway
The most important thing to know is that you can actually train your brain to a peak or elite level of efficiency and performance. When brain wave frequencies are dysregulated, it creates interference, which lowers your performance. To reduce interference, you must optimize the electrical activity in your brain so that you gain the benefits of each wave speed and avoid the negative consequences. As you train your brain, it learns to sustain attention and improve time in the zone. By utilizing the brain training system Tiger uses, you are training your brain to enter into the zone. In other words, you can hack getting into the zone by training your brain!