Are Brainwave States A Vital Key to Success?

“Hey I’ve just had a brainwave!” And then he or she would expound upon their amazing insight, as we all looked on in awe. Or we would listen and then dismiss this epiphany of ignorance.

Usually that’s the reaction, and many times throughout my life I have heard someone make that statement. What follows either builds or destroys their credibility.

That got me thinking, is there such a thing as brainwaves? I mean, do we really have anything happening in our brains that can be described as brain waves?

It turns out that our brains emit or generate power. Some scientists postulate that a fully functioning brain can generate as much as 10 watts of power.

The electrical charge of our brains manifests as brainwaves. And what we have discovered is four different classes of brainwaves, and it is important to know what states are required in what circumstances to enhance our chances of success in any given task.

Let’s start with the most active and high-powered beta waves. We reach this brainwave state when we are active participants in a conversation and we enter a high beta state when we are in a debate or doing a presentation or lecturing or teaching.

When we write an exam, we would be in the high beta state. We are fully focused on a task in this state. I have also seen this brainwave state called the gamma state. When we have finished the exam and we decide to walk along a beach afterwards, we can move into an alpha brainwave state. Some forms of meditation and prayer can induce the alpha brain wave state.

Being in an alpha brainwave state means we are more relaxed and reflective, but if we relax even more, we move into the theta brainwave state, and this is where we are best at thinking creatively, this is a state in which we have a free flow of ideas. This is the state that we achieve when we are driving on the freeway and we forget the prior 5 minutes of the journey. Any task that is easy and repetitive can place us in this brain wave state.

While I am writing here in my beta state, I got to thinking that perhaps doing repetitive tasks or taking a hot bath prior to an important brain storming meeting can stimulate our creativity? Purposefully managing our brain wave state to achieve our thinking goals?

When we go for a jog or a peaceful walk on the beach or a stroll in the country, we can move into theta state, and this is where we will receive the free flow of ideas, taking a soothing hot shower can also induce this brainwave state.

When we first wake up from a deep state of rest, also known as the delta brain wave state, we should lie down and let the ideas flow for ten minutes in the morning prior to rushing to get up. Reflect on the day before or on the day ahead. This may just enhance our thinking and creative power. This is something I am going to try over the coming weeks.

When we fall into a deep sleep, we move into the delta brain wave state and during our sleep, we can move from delta back to theta. That may be the time that we have some ideas when we actively dream. That is why many creative and successful people keep a notepad next to their beds.

Now imagine if we could manipulate our brain states to align with our weekly tasks, or follow brain state inducing activities prior to engaging with such tasks.

I am convinced that when we do this; we have the most productive and successful creative days. On the days when we feel like we cannot get past begin, we have not aligned our brain wave states to our daily tasks.

Are there activities or lifestyle changes we can make to change our brains’ states, so that we can be more productive and add more value to our own lives and the lives of others? I think there are.