What is Neuroscience?
NLP and neuroscience are being combined more and more. A great example of collaboration is the work that NLP Master Trainer Ian McDermott and Dr Patricia Riddell have been doing since 2011. Patricia Riddell is a Professor of Applied neuroscience.
What’s the role that the brain plays in getting us to sleep?
Simply put the brain regulates our sleep. The EEG, which shows brainwaves, clearly reflects changes in sleep stages. Training brainwaves using brain entrainment to decrease or increase slow brainwave activity, or to increase specific EEG activation patterns, appears to help the brain normalize sleep. Based on reports from a large number of health professionals, the evidence shows that with brain entrainment impacts sleep regulatory mechanisms, and people sleep better.
The brain regulates our sleep
Recent developments in neuroscience suggest that sleep disorders, such as insomnia, are tied to the impairment of the sleep-wake switching system. This research was discussed here at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
There are certain areas of the brain that do not shut off in insomniacs when compared to good sleepers. Areas in an area of the brain called the cingulum (fibres connecting the connecting the callosal and hippocampal convolutions of the brain) remain active in sleep; the brains are not shutting off effectively. In other words people with insomnia have high brainwave frequencies and more brain activity than good sleepers. In laymans terms their brains are more active even when they’re asleep.
This is not an ideal scenario as one of the benefits of good sleep is that it allows the brain to be less active and the body to rejuvenate. Bran wave entrainment has for many years been used help calm down peoples brain wave activity leading them to become more relaxed, reach the lower brain wave frequency levels and drift more easily to sleep.
There were many myths years ago about how the brain functioned. For example neuroscience has proved that the idea that we only use 10% or less of our brains is not true. The ability of the brain to recreate itself as a flexible network of neural connections is well documented and called neuroplasticity (or brain plasticity). The more we do a certain behaviour more neural pathways are formed making it easier for it to become habitual. This is important in terms of behaviour and habits as it indicates that we can change habits or behaviours which we once thought were fixed.
The more the NLP exercises are practiced the more they will impact and benefit your sleep patterns longer term.
Research has shown that people with abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain are more likely to suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. When neurotransmitters are not working properly, the brain’s internal communication network breaks down, and the brain may react in an inappropriate way in some situations. This can lead to anxiety. Both the brain entrainment and the NLP exercises help to reduce people’s level of anxiety.
