Brain waves: the science behind meditation

Meditation is almost the word du jour. Meditation helps reduce stress. Meditation enhances our immune system. Meditation promotes creativity. But there is very little discussion on why meditation is so beneficial.

What actually happens when we meditate?

Turns out it’s all about brain waves. Beta, alpha, theta and delta to be exact. And no these are not sororities. I am talking those electrical waves we learned about in high school physics class. And since I only got through physics because my lab partner (and still my dear friend thirty years later) managed to get our teacher to do all our experiments for us, we’ll do a quick terminology review:

Frequency – the number of times an event repeats itself in a fixed period of time.
Amplitude – the maximum displacement from value zero during a single oscillation

So, if you are looking at a graph of an electrical wave, the number of squiggles is the frequency and the height of the squiggles is the amplitude.

Brain activity is measured in brain waves. Each type of brain wave pattern is based on a range of frequency and amplitude, and is associated with a state of consciousness. As we move from one state to the other, the frequency increases and the amplitude decreases, or vice versa.

Delta Brain Waves

Delta waves have the greatest amplitude, but lowest frequency, pulsing up to 4 cycles per second.

These brain waves occur when we are in a deep dreamless sleep. Mind you, this state is pretty much the realm of babies and small children. By the time we get to be adults pure delta state is hard to achieve. Add in menopausal insomnia and this state becomes rare indeed.

Theta Brain Waves

Theta waves are moving a little faster here at 4 to 8 cycles per second. When we are sleeping, we experience theta brain waves while dreaming and the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep stage. Awake, theta brain waves occur when we are in automatic pilot, when the task we are performing is so routine our mind disengages from our actions.

In my case, this occurs while I’m driving. No, just kidding. More like vacuuming.

Alpha Brain Waves

This is our meditative state. The brain waves cycle at 8 to 12 per second. We are awake, but extremely relaxed. It’s our daydreaming state. Personally, my best daydreaming is done in our hot tub.

Beta Brain Waves

This is our engaged and fully conscious state of mind. Our normal awake state. When we are conversing, the brain waves average around 14 cycles per second, but can cycle much faster than that if we are stressed or panicked.

As I was writing this, the cat chose to throw up. I kid you not. The beta brain waves sped up a little. Likely for the cat too.

Back to those Alpha Brain Waves

So, the goal of meditation is to deliberately quiet down those beta brain waves to an alpha brain wave state, without relaxing ourselves right into theta brain waves and sleep.

Alpha brain waves are considered to be the healthiest brain activity range. Small children have dominant alpha brainwave patterns, but as we move into our teens and adulthood, we spend more time in beta state. This is due to constantly being engaged and reactive. As well, we are reacting to stress, fear, and anxiety. Or cats throwing up.

Children have it figured out

A state that comes naturally to children during play has to be deliberately induced by us. Thus all this promotion of meditation.

Ideally, it means just sitting quietly and clearing our minds. However, given lives run at a frantic pace, this is easier said than done. Hence the need for meditative practices that remind us how to relax.

Physiologically we start out with extremely healthy brainwave patterns. We spend most of our waking states in alpha with some in beta. But then life takes over, and our brain spends more time pulsing out beta brain waves. We become hyper aware, and eventually stressed and anxious.

In theory, if we lived life in a more childlike state, we would be very healthy indeed. Instead, we deliberately quiet our minds with learned techniques and say that we are meditating.

After all, meditating sounds is so much more grown up than playing.

Your thoughts:

• Do you do formal meditation, or do you just sit quietly to slow down those brain waves?
• How often do you engage in play?

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