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Your brain has 86 billion neurons. They communicate through a network of electric impulses that create certain brain wave patterns. Every thought, action, or emotion is controlled by this network. So, what role does neurofeedback play in this process? How does neurofeedback work?

In simple terms, neurofeedback shows you what happens behind the curtains. It gives you real-time feedback on how your brain reacts to certain stimuli. Over time, you can train your brain to regulate emotions better, reduce stress, improve focus and concentration, and even strengthen your mental health.

Today, we'll discuss how neurofeedback works, different types of neurofeedback, at-home neurofeedback, and potential benefits and side effects.

Key Takeaways

• Neurofeedback therapy is a non-invasive treatment that analyzes the brain's responses to certain triggers, at the same time providing real-time feedback. It helps us learn how to control our brain activity.
• Neurofeedback works through operant conditioning, meaning our ability to associate a behavior with its consequence. By being rewarded for desired patterns, we learn to reproduce them. Because of our brain's neuroplasticity, it can be trained and changed via operant conditioning.
• The most common type of neurofeedback is EEG neurofeedback, which analyzes brainwaves. However, there are other innovative therapies, like fNIRS and fMRI, which analyze blood flow and oxygenation.
• Neurofeedback can potentially help people improve their focus and concentration, promote relaxation and overall well-being, and reduce stress and anxiety. It is also clinically used to manage conditions like anxiety, ADHD, and autism.

How Does Neurofeedback Actually Work?

Neurofeedback is a type of biofeedback that targets brain activity. Biofeedback is a non-pharmacological technique that helps us become more aware of how our bodies work. It is done through various devices. The ultimate goal of biofeedback is for us to learn how to manipulate our body's responses at will. In some ways, biofeedback is a kind of self-regulation or profound mindfulness.

Today, neurofeedback is a part of the biofeedback branch that specifically targets brain function. It is a non-invasive method that trains the brain to respond differently to certain stimuli. As such, neurofeedback has everything to do with a learning process called operant conditioning or instrumental conditioning. This means that we have the ability to change our behavior by associating it with reinforcement or punishment.

In other words, during a neurofeedback therapy session, you can see how your brain responds to some triggers. For example, you're watching a movie. When you get tense - the movie stops. You relax - you can continue watching it uninterrupted. This way you learn what helps you relax, focus, and feel better. Over time, you can reproduce particular activities that make you feel that way. At the same time, neurofeedback offers you an inside perspective on what makes you stressed, agitated, or anxious, so you can manage these feelings.

You can perform neurofeedback sessions either with a neurofeedback specialist or at home using a wearable device. If your goal is to alleviate the symptoms of a mental health issue like anxiety or ADHD, you should undoubtedly work with a therapist. However, if you just want to improve your focus or learn how to relax, you can try an at-home neurofeedback device.

Types of Brain Waves and Why They Matter

The most common neurofeedback technology is electroencephalography (EEG). It measures brain wave patterns and provides immediate feedback. However, the EEG neurofeedback method is only the standard - or, let's say, conventional - method. Recent advancements in neuroscience have brought to light more types of neurofeedback, including fMRI, fNIRS, and MEG (more about them below).

Still, EEG is the most common neurofeedback therapy, so let's clarify how it works. EEG measures brainwaves - rhythmic patterns or electrical signals occurring in our central nervous system. Our brains produce five types of brain waves: gamma, beta, alpha, theta, and delta. Each is associated with different types of cognitive functions:

• Gamma waves are activated when we're extremely concentrated and involved in strong mental activities.
• Beta brain waves manifest when we feel alert and mentally engaged, such as during a conversation.
• Alpha waves are activated when we're feeling relaxed and peaceful. If you've just finished a presentation and feel relieved, you're in an alpha state. When you practice mindfulness techniques, you're also in an alpha state.
• Theta waves are slower brain waves activated when our minds are deeply relaxed. Let's say you're going for a run and suddenly find yourself not remembering the last 10 minutes of running. During those 10 minutes, you were in a theta state. The same happens when you brush your teeth, for instance, or with any other activities done automatically that allow you to disconnect mentally. You're also in a theta state when you're feeling sleepy.
• Delta waves manifest when you're sleeping, particularly before and after REM sleep. They are associated with our bodies' recovery stage.

Let's look at this from a different perspective. It's a Saturday night, and you're in bed, watching your favorite movie. You're in the beta state. If you turn off the TV and close your eyes, you enter the alpha state. Then the theta state. And eventually, the delta state. The same happens when you wake up, only in reverse. From delta, you enter alpha. And then, you enter beta when the alarm goes off. If you go back to sleep after this, you descend back to theta or delta.

How Do Brain Waves Help in Neurofeedback?

Observing this brain wave activity helps you understand how your brain reacts to triggers. This also helps you learn how to achieve specific mental states. For example, if you have an excess of beta waves, you're likely too stressed. So, you may need to activate more alpha or theta waves. In other words, EEG neurofeedback gives you the opportunity to learn how to regulate your brain wave activity.

If your therapy goal is to treat a specific disorder, the doctor you work with will focus on particular brain patterns. This will help them develop a therapy protocol. For instance, some patients with ADHD have too much slow brain wave activity. This is why they can't really focus and are often daydreaming. On the other hand, patients with anxiety disorders may have an excess of rapid brain waves. Real-time feedback shows specifically what activates the waves that are insufficient. This way, patients can train their brains to harmonize these waves.

Neurofeedback Based on Blood Flow and Oxygenation

Nowadays, neurofeedback isn't performed only via EEG and implicitly via measuring brain waves. Recent discoveries have shown that blood flow carries just as much information that can be used in neurofeedback. Two of the most recent and revolutionary types of neurofeedback that analyze blood flow are fNIRS and fMRI neurofeedback.

fNIRS, or functional near-infrared spectroscopy, is a brain monitoring technique that uses near-infrared light to analyze local blood flow and oxygenation as a response to neural activation. More precisely, it measures changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin and offers a bigger picture on how much blood flows to a particular area. The idea behind this is that the more active a brain area is, the more blood and oxygen it gets. It is just as good as EEG - the difference lies in the technique and the purpose of the therapy. In addition, fNIRS therapy isn't as restrictive as EEG when it comes to movement and sounds, which means you can move and speak while performing fNIRS neurofeedback.

fMRI, or functional magnetic resonance imaging, is often compared to fNIRS, as it analyzes similar physiological changes, although their investigation method differs. fMRI, as its name implies, uses MRI scanning technology to measure brain activity depending on blood flow-related changes.

Last but not least - MEG or magnetoencephalography neurofeedback records magnetic fields produced in the brain by electric currents.

Neurofeedback Therapy Sessions

As mentioned, neurofeedback sessions are typically done at a clinic, especially if their goal is to treat certain diseases.

Generally, a neurofeedback therapy session begins with outlining treatment goals based on the patient’s condition and needs. Typically, EEG neurofeedback therapy is based on various protocols, depending on the disorder that is being targeted, so your doctor will try to find the best protocol for you.

Then, you'll start your sessions per se, which will likely take place 2-3 times a week, up to 30 minutes each. However, their frequency really depends on your goals and progress. Usually, patients start noticing results after 5 sessions, although the overall impact becomes clearer after 10-20 sessions.

During neurofeedback sessions, you'll just sit in a chair, have some electrode sensors placed on your scalp, and engage in activities like listening to music, playing video games, or watching something. The clinician is there to observe the procedure and the patient's brain waves.

Other types of neurofeedback training are performed at the hospital. fMRI, for example, is performed by neuroradiologists.

Neurofeedback At Home?

Recent advancements in neurofeedback technology have made at-home training accessible to the general public. Among the emerging devices gaining traction is Mendi, a neurofeedback system that has garnered attention for its user-friendly design and potential cognitive benefits.

The Mendi device is a headband equipped with non-invasive sensors that rely on the fNIRS technology to measure blood flow and oxygenation in the prefrontal cortex - this is the forefront of your brain, the center of the most important neural networks filled with information gathered from all around the brain.

The sensors in our device detect neural activity and then transmit the data through Bluetooth to an app on your smartphone. This way, you get real-time feedback on how your brain responds to changes in activation - all of this through an interactive game on the Mendi app!

Our headbands are easy to use and require just 10 minutes of your time three days a week. The app game makes the process more engaging and rewarding. You can track your progress through our score, which takes into account your Performance and Commitment. Ultimately, these sessions can potentially help you strengthen your focus and concentration, as well as the ability to regulate emotions.

Remember that at-home neurofeedback devices like Mendi serve only for wellness purposes. They do not replace medical advice and treatment.

What Does Science Say About Neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback therapy shows promising results in treating various mental health disorders, particularly anxiety, ADHD, and depression, but also chronic pain. It helps individuals manage their brain’s responses to triggers, aiding emotion regulation and reducing anxiety symptoms.

Here's what research says about this therapy:

• A study on the effects of neurofeedback therapy in patients with depression showed that it can reduce symptoms of depression by more than 40%.
• A study on the effects of neurofeedback on improving brain functions and triggering specific functional and structural brain changes has shown that this training can be an efficient cognitive training tool.
• A study has shown that neurofeedback can be helpful for emotion regulation and potentially reduce symptoms long-term for various mental disorders associated with the inability to regulate emotions, like depression, anxiety, and even PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
• A study has shown that individualized fNIRS neurofeedback training can potentially improve attention levels.
• A study has shown that neurofeedback can be clinically effective at reducing ADHD symptoms in children.
• A study aimed at improving the executive capacities of seven children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders through neurofeedback has shown that this treatment can indeed potentially alleviate executive function impairment.
• Two studies have shown that neurofeedback can potentially help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder through cognitive control improvement.
• A study has proven that neurofeedback treatment shows promise for patients with traumatic brain injury. Even the use of at-home neurofeedback devices can potentially lead to improved motivation and mood in traumatic brain injury survivors, as well as reduced negative symptoms related to attention and mindfulness.

Nonetheless, it's worth mentioning that the application of neurofeedback treatment in managing and treating these disorders is relatively recent. Further studies are required to confirm all these potential benefits and long-term results.

Furthermore, if your goal is to reduce or manage symptoms of certain mental health conditions, you'll achieve the best results if you're given continued support from a healthcare professional, even if you're using an at-home neurofeedback device.

Safety and Side Effects of Neurofeedback

Neurofeedback therapy is designed to be safe and non-invasive for both children and adults. However, it can indeed cause some short-term side effects, which usually resolve within 24-48 hours. These include:

• Sleepiness
• Lack of focus
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Muscle tension
• Anxiety
• Dizziness

If the training is too intense, sensitive patients may become overly aroused or overly under-aroused, in which case the training sessions should be adjusted accordingly. If you're experiencing any of these symptoms after neurofeedback therapy, you should report them to your clinician, who can modify the treatment protocol to mitigate these effects.

If you're using an at-home neurofeedback device and feel some side effects, try limiting the time you spend training and see if anything changes. Don't forget that it's generally recommended to talk to your doctor before starting neurofeedback sessions, especially if you have a mental health condition.

Long-Term Benefits of Neurofeedback

It has been demonstrated that not all people respond to neurofeedback, although approximately 70-80% will show results, which are noted within the first five sessions. Potential changes are linked to levels of alertness, state of relaxation, levels of anxiety, and mood changes.

Neurofeedback therapy’s potential for long-lasting changes is compelling. By training the brain to adopt healthier activity patterns, neurofeedback has significant and enduring impacts on emotional and cognitive states, leading to lasting improvements in overall brain function.

Research supports the long-term effectiveness of neurofeedback therapy. Studies indicate that benefits can potentially persist for months, with some improvements lasting up to 12 months post-treatment.

Nonetheless, although the evidence is promising, more rigorous studies are needed to conclusively establish the long-term effects of neurofeedback.

Final Thoughts

Neurofeedback therapy is, without a doubt, a promising frontier in the field of mental health and cognitive enhancement. It's a safe way to discover how our brains work and what triggers happiness and relaxation on the one hand and stress and anxiety on the other. Plus, regular neurofeedback sessions, whether at a clinic or at home, can improve our focus and concentration, which are of the essence in our daily routines.

If you're interested in exploring this innovative technique and reaping its potential benefits, you can either work with a qualified clinician or use an at-home neurofeedback device like Mendi. It's imperative to remember that you should consult with a healthcare professional before trying an at-home neurofeedback device, especially if you have any preexisting mental health conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is neurofeedback therapy?

Neurofeedback therapy is a non-invasive treatment that utilizes EEG biofeedback to measure brain waves or techniques like fNIRS and fMRI to analyze blood flow and oxygenation. During neurofeedback sessions, one gets real-time feedback on how their brain responds to certain stimuli, thus training their ability to control brain activity.

What is the downside of neurofeedback?

Generally, neurofeedback doesn't have any long-term downsides or risks. Patients may feel sleepy, have headaches, or experience anxiety immediately after a neurofeedback session, but these side effects usually last only 24-48 hours. If you're experiencing any side effects, you should consult with your doctor, who may need to adjust your neurofeedback protocol.

How long does it take for neurofeedback to work?

Patients usually need at least 5 neurofeedback sessions to feel any results. Some patients see the results within 3-4 weeks, or approximately 8 sessions, depending on how many sessions a week they're having.

How long do the effects of neurofeedback therapy last?

The effects of neurofeedback therapy can last several months, with some studies indicating that improvements may persist for up to 12 months after treatment.

Can neurofeedback be done at home?

Yes, neurofeedback therapy can be conducted at home using devices such as Mendi, but you should consider seeking medical advice if you have any mental health conditions like anxiety or ADHD.

What age is best for neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback has been shown to yield positive results for children, teenagers, and adults. It does not imply taking any medication and is not an invasive treatment, so it's generally considered safe.

How can you tell if neurofeedback is working?

To understand if neurofeedback is working, you'll have to monitor your general well-being and the symptoms you're trying to manage, if any. Overall, you should feel more relaxed and focused and your sleep may improve. If you're using neurofeedback to treat anxiety, for example, you'll start feeling less anxious if neurofeedback is working for you.