How brainwaves help us find balance
Some people seem to hate inactivity. They expect you to be working all the time. It’s how you succeed. In contrast, there are others who suggest we need to find balance, take breaks and get rest. How do we know who’s right here? Thankfully, we have a handy referee on hand. It’s called biology.
When we’re thinking about how we should balance things out, I think it helps to look at brainwaves and understand them.
If you hook someone up to an electroencephalogram (EEG machine) it will show you what’s going on in their brain. It measures the electrical signals and displays the timing and the intensity of them. They are literally presented in waves on a screen.
There are typically five types of brainwaves:
Gamma
This is the highest frequency. if you looked at the waveform on an EEG machine, you’ll immediately see it’s large and highly condensed. The brain is really working hard when we’re in this state. It’s likely to be a time when our mind is highly focussed and solving problems. It’s on overdrive, and it’s probably drawing on a lot of resources in the body as well.
If you compare this to your laptop, it’s a point where the battery is quickly draining and the fan is whirring away. It’s getting very hot to touch. Just doing one more thing could easily cause it to crash, and it’s not a good idea to leave it in this state for long.
Beta
There’s still a lot going on. The waveform will show more space between the waves though and less intensity. Someone actively working is likely to be in this state. Not going flat out, but busy and engaged.
Again, if we compare this to a laptop it’s working hard. While it’s warm and the battery is depleting a little more quickly than normal, it can be sustained for a lot longer.
Alpha
Things are starting to calm down. Although the waves are still quite big, there are gaps between them. In this state, we’re relaxed. More importantly, we’re not actively working. This is also the state we’re in when we’re meditating.
In terms of the laptop, it’s on but it’s not doing much. Maybe it’s playing you some relaxing music from an app that doesn’t take much power and refreshing your email every now and then. The battery is only taking what it needs and it can go for hours. The lifespan of your laptop will probably be extended if it spends a lot of time in this state, and it should be far less likely to break down.
Theta
In this state, we’re not asleep, but we’re almost there. Deeply relaxed. If we look at those waves, the gaps are even longer and they’re smaller. We’ll feel tired and drowsy.
When we compare this to the laptop, it’s not doing anything significant. The screen saver is on and it’s ready to be shut down for the evening. It’s cool to touch and while that battery gauge is hardly moving, it needs to be recharged. It wouldn’t be a good idea to start putting it under pressure at this point.
Delta
This is the lowest state of activity a healthy brain will be in. You won’t see much on the EEG. We enter this Delta state in deep sleep, when the body and mind repairs and restores us. The brain will literally just be doing enough to keep us going. We need to be ready to wake if something disturbs us though, and obviously we need to do things like breathe and maintain our heartbeat.
Our laptop would be on sleep mode at this point and the battery would be charging. There’s still some activity. If you had it set up to monitor important things like a security camera, you wouldn’t want to turn it off completely. You’d need it to spring back into action if it was needed.
Interestingly, we go back into a Theta state in REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. When we’re dreaming. If we again compare this to the laptop, it’s as if it was organising all its files and optimising storage while it’s inactive. This is pretty much what’s happening in the brain. It’s amazing.
I hope this helps and as you see, it’s far more than a biology lesson. It’s a reminder that our brains and our bodies are not built to be going flat out all the time. We need balance. You probably need to be a lot easier on yourself.
There are a couple of things you can do now:
Firstly, get used to noticing what state you’re likely to be in. Keep asking yourself if it’s sustainable and if you need to make any changes.
Secondly, work out how much of your downtime is likely to be spent in the Alpha state? Condition yourself to be mindful of this.
The main thing I suggest is that you remember all of this when you see those unhelpful posts on social media trying to shame you. Making you believe that not working is some form of weakness. Again, we have a handy referee on hand. It’s called biology.
If you’re interested, I explore sleep a lot more in my guide, Get great sleep