201 replies to this topic

[Candidatus]

@Strangelove

 

Thanks as always! I had a close look at the device and the effects they claim it has are spectacular... as is the price. I'll try to contact them for a used device and see if they can offer a discount. I'm not in a position to spend another $750 on sleep hacking, although if their claims are true, it may be the best investment I've ever made in this area. If it could double my Deep sleep duration from a measly 1h average/night to 2+, then it's worth a fortune since a dose of Deep sleep is much like a dose of cerebrolysin to me. Btw. I've found what BigPapa has to say about it and I'll definitely contact him before making any moves.

 

@Neuralis

 

Thanks! And don't worry, I'm all in in this project. Also looking forward to see the outcomes!

 

Day #15

 

As ironious as it gets, I had probably the poorest sleep today. Less than 30min Deep and also not much REM. What is surprising, I was able to beat the 8-back resistance once again in the evening. And it seemed easy. I could stay on the 9-back for the rest of my session. Also, the neurofeedback was quite good. I've started the 3rd round of my NFB training and done three 4-channel sessions. Better mood and apparently better concentration, since I've played the -back right after it. Quite good Coherence training session in the morning as well. (900+/15min). 

 

 

 

 

[Candidatus]

Day #16

 

Another day with poor sleep. Actually, 38 minutes of Deep sleep in 6 hours total (7 hours in bed) and I already felt a bit sleep deprived today. I could function normally, much better than before on 6 hours of sleep, but I felt that it's suboptimal.

 

That lead me to do some research in the sleep area and I've came a cross a very interesting website about DIY pulsed electromagnetic field device. Basically, for $25 you can create a PEMF device normally costing $1390. All you need is a mp3 player. I don't know if it was discussed here before, but in short:

 

- you connect the coil which you buy for $25 with your mp3 player through a standard jack

- either create or download tracks with corresponding frequencies

- put the coils under your pillow, adjust volume (which means strength of the electromagnetic field)

- go to sleep and (hopefully) experience much deeper sleep due to the freqencies your brain is tuned into

 

I have purchased the coils today so I'll let you know if it really works. Good thing is that I don't have ZEO for sleep tracking since the PEMF could disrupt the EEG signals. 

 

Otherwise, I've written my #2 Brain Training Weekly Report, which you can read here if you are interested. Total brain training time in the second week was 21h 13 min. This includes Dual-n-back, Neurofeedback, HRV Coherence training, Meditation and Focus training with nir-HEG.

 

[Candidatus]

Day #17

 

I know I may be a bit obsessed with sleep these days, but today was the best day do far in regards to sleep quality. I slept 9h 14min (including 90min nap, which should have been only 20min) and managed to get 2h 34min of REM and 2h 04min of Deep sleep. And the difference is remarkable. Consistent Dual-9-back scores, great Neurofeedback session, great nir-HEG session. The only downside is that I have not been in ketosis in the morning, or only slightly (less than 0.5 mmol/l). I don't knoe if it is linked somehow, but yesterday, I went to bed really early (9:13p.m.), haven't done any evening meditation (which I reasoned may tune me into different brainwaves than I want), switched off all electrical devices except Aura, made sure there is no noise or light in the bedroom and ate only a light meal.

 

I wanted to experiment with binaural delta waves but didn't manage to download the files. So perhaps today?

 

I came across a very interesting website http://themonthproje...lyphasic-sleep/ about a guy trying to sleep polyphasically for a month and giving up. But that's not the interesting part. He shows his ZEO sleep data in a regular monophasic sleeping schedule and manages to get impressive 38% of Deep, 36% of REM and only 25% of light sleep in 7.5 hours, on average. Just wow, this is something to strive for.

 

Anyone of you experience similar data? Could you share your routines, supplements, nootropics?

Edited by Candidatus, 12 November 2014 - 06:56 PM.

[Strangelove]

I wanted to experiment with binaural delta waves but didn't manage to download the files. So perhaps today?

 

 

Light / sound entrainment has some usefulness, but for me the benefits are far below the most succesful interventions discussed in Longecity.

 

Nevertheless the very best in my opinion entrainment software is neuro-programmer 3, you can trial it for free here.

 

http://www.transpare...om/products/np/

 

Delta binaural beats have helped people get easier to sleep (you need headphones with binaural though) alternatively you do not need headphones with isochronic tones (both available in neuro-programmer). They way they work I could only imagine helping you get asleep and not improve sleep quality.

 

 

I came across a very interesting website http://themonthproje...lyphasic-sleep/ about a guy trying to sleep polyphasically for a month and giving up. But that's not the interesting part. He shows his ZEO sleep data in a regular monophasic sleeping schedule and manages to get impressive 38% of Deep, 36% of REM and only 25% of light sleep in 7.5 hours, on average. Just wow, this is something to strive for.

 

Anyone of you experience similar data? Could you share your routines, supplements, nootropics?

 

 

http://www.stevepavl...lyphasic-sleep/

Not objective data just a report I read a while ago from someone been sleeping polyphasic for many months.

Edited by Strangelove, 12 November 2014 - 08:57 PM.

[Candidatus]

@Strangelove

 

Thanks again!

 

I am somewhat familiar with neuro programmer 3, but didn't have a chance to try much of their designs. Glad to hear you recommend them. I'll try them this week and see.

 

On the other hand, I'm much more familiar with S.Pavlina, having read a lot of his content back in 2006-2008. This guy is borderline crazy, borderline genius. I believe him on his polyphasic ventures, just have no intention to recreate them. Did you try sleeping polyphasically?

 

My belief (based on some research) is that polyphasic sleep is, for most people, inferior to normal monophasic sleep (or monophasic + nap/siesta). Doing something like an Uberman schedule must be downright brutal to the brain in the long-term, although definitely managable. I can function on 2h REM+Deep somewhat well and see no reason why someone else couldn't if they can squeeze it 100% into the uberman scheule, but this total disruption of circadian rhythm and whatnot... well. Enough off-topic ramblings! Just for a reference, for anyone interested, check out the www.polyphasicsociety.com

 

Anyway, how's the Cerebrolysin going?

 

Day #18

Another night with a rather good sleep, but despite that, I did not have much mental energy. I blame it on my diet. I have experienced very weak ketosis for the past three days and I don't feel that great mentally for the same period of time. Well, I feel much better than before starting, just not on top. And I think that the disrupted ketosis is the culprit - just not enough energy.

I slipped to dual-8-back once more, but enjoyed very good Neurofeedback session. I have to say that I like the TLC7 more and more. 

I decided to track more things beginning next month - more deteiled reports of NFB, especially after starting the TAG protocol, also tracking Focus training based on % increase of bloodflow and recording meditation sessions on EMOTIV headset for a future reference.

 

PEMF: I have written about DIY PEMF but provided a broken link, so the website is diypemf.com

 

 

[Candidatus]

Day #20

 

Several observations have been made:

 

Diet

1. I think I experienced potassium deficiency. I wrote that I did not feel that well for several few days and I thought it was because the mild ketosis or poor sleep. Then I was checking my values on cronometer.com (invaluable tool really) and it struck me that I don't have enough potassium. I've done some googling and came up with the fact that many ketogenic dieters end up potassium deficient and that it causes weakness, tiredness and so on. I immediately went to a local pharmacy and bought some potassium, only to find out that about 30-60 min after taking a rather large dose, all of those symptoms were alleviated. Wow, how simple. So if you are on a ketogenic diet, definitely watch potassium as well as magnesium and sodium levels (although those 2 are not so easy to get deficient in). Now I feel much better than before, I would say I feel on my peak mentally since starting my project.

 

Neurofeedback

2. I've done the Alpha Up and Alpha Theta training on P4 yesterday. I experienced similar after-effect as the first time - markedly improved mood, better mental clarity and a very content feeling in general. Nice but not new. Today, I went to play badminton with my friend (we are not pros but we're definitely on a high level). What I noticed was very interesting. Normally, when I do some unforced errors, when I have a set point or the opponent has, I start to experience a form of performance anxiety. But, not this time. I was even able to reverse a set from 7:14 to a winning 16:14, which is unheard of for me. 9 points in a row without hesitation. I don't want to claim that this is a direct cause of my neurofeedback practice, but it's the most probable. Also, I experienced very high focus throughout the game, which helped me win a few sets. On the low side, ketogenic diet doesn't really help with "peak" energy. If you've ever played badminton on a higher level, you know how strenuous it is. And I could really feel like my capacity to sustain a very intense level is diminished.

 

Verbal fluency

1. Once more, I could see that my verbal fluency and general "outgoingness" is much improved. I think it's very similar to the effect of piracetam after abstaining from it for a long time (I know several people reported this effect, so it's not just me). Now, I like to talk, make jokes and it feels effortless to the level I really enjoy observing it.

Edited by Candidatus, 15 November 2014 - 04:14 PM.

[Strangelove]

I am somewhat familiar with neuro programmer 3, but didn't have a chance to try much of their designs. Glad to hear you recommend them. I'll try them this week and see.

 

 

Neuro programmer is a much better value than a light/sound "mind machine". You can have the same effect with a fraction of the cost. There are people having experienced improvements in ADHD symptoms and get better from anxiety over time. Having said that (after reading extensively the forum of the company) you are not going to see any mind blowing description of positives as in the NFB threads here in Longecity.

 

I would recommend to try sessions with a variety of frequencies going up and down and not use just a "Beta session" e.t.c. It could possibly interfere with your NFB sessions.

 

On the other hand, I'm much more familiar with S.Pavlina, having read a lot of his content back in 2006-2008. This guy is borderline crazy, borderline genius. I believe him on his polyphasic ventures, just have no intention to recreate them. Did you try sleeping polyphasically?

 

 

Some years ago, its really not for me.

 

 

Anyway, how's the Cerebrolysin going?

 

After getting better from a chronic health issue both my brain and body are not in best shape. I found cerebrolysin at even 5 ml being too much. I started to experience some positives and adverse effects that some people experienced in higher doses. I am not going to split my 10ml ampules into even lower doses, due to fear of infection. I gave the cerebrolysin to a friend that had a very serious concussion last year and I am going to try again in the future.

[Candidatus]

@Strangelove

 

Thanks for the suggestions and hope you get better for the Cerebrolysin cycle. I think it's a wise choice not to split the ampules even more. In the end of my second cycle some time ago, I also had the 10ml and had to split them into 3 doses because even 5ml started to be too strong (cumulative effect) so I know very well what you are talking about regarding the fear of infection. 

 

Day #24

 

For the past few days, I experienced a terrible sleep quality in regards to deep (slow wave) sleep. I averaged something about 30 minutes, which is just not enough. Although I don't feel tired during the day, my mental performance and especially creativity suffer - writing stuff is not as effortless as I would like it to be. I'm still awaiting my supplements and PEMF device, for which I have very high expectations. Hope they will be met.

 

But I mostly think that the sleep quality is influenced by 2 factors: diet and brain training.

 

Ketogenic diet consistently shows improvements in slow wave sleep:

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC2769009/

In keeping with adenosine’s role as a sleep-promoter, and the potential for a ketogenic diet to increase ATP and extracellular adenosine, the ketogenic diet has been shown to improve sleep quality and quantity in children with epilepsy, especially normalizing the ultradian cycling between slow-wave and paradoxical sleep [83]. Sleep electroencephalograph (EEG) changes were observed consistently with ketogenic diet therapy, and normalization or improvement in sleep EEG was correlated with an improvement in seizures [153]. In control subjects without a diagnosis of epilepsy, effects are typically moderate and include reports of an increase in the latency to enter rapid eye movement (REM) sleep [106] and an increase in slow-wave sleep [2]. Whereas a high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet increased slow-wave sleep, a high-carbohydrate, low-fat isocaloric diet decreased slow-wave sleep [159].

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/18681982

In healthy, good sleepers, the VLC diet over the short-term promotes increases in the percentage of SWS (deep sleep stage 4) and a reduction in the percentage of REM sleep ('dreaming' sleep) compared to the control mixed diet. The sleep changes may be linked to the metabolism of the fat content of the VLC diet.

 

Interestingly enough, I experience the exact opposite - 2x REM sleep and 1/2 Deep sleep when compared to the sleep data from before starting my project.

 

So either I'm a complete outlier or my disproportionate sleep has something to do with the heavy brain training I do. For this reason, I decided to cut down on nir-HEG Focus training from each day to EOD and also cut down a bit of dual-n-back - doing only 1 session on the days of nir-HEG. And I'll reiterate from there. I've taken a complete break from brain training today, doing only meditation and coherence training.

 

Also, 3 weeks are over so I've written a report with included data. If you are interested, you can read it here. Total brain training time: 19h 40min.

 

Edited by Candidatus, 19 November 2014 - 01:37 PM.

[Godof Smallthings]

Good that you are relaxing the schedule a bit.

 

If I were you I would also consider doing the meditation sessions 'raw', without any entrainment audio, i.e. the old school way.

 

My hunch is that this will both allow you to get better acquainted with more subtle body and mind sensations, as well as allow your body and mind to calibrate without external influence. They do that quite well.

[Candidatus]

@Godof

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm doing my meditation sessions without any audio right now and it feels like my brain/mind prefers it this way, so I'll keep it like that for some time.

 

Otherwise, my PEMF coils arrived so I had a chance to sleep with them this night. So far, nothing conclusive but it definitely does something. I've tracked with 2 sleep sensors - Sleep Time which is a mobile App, which showed excellent sleep depth and my Aura, which didn't show anything spectacular. However, I forgot to recalibrate Aura (they released new update and I played with it a bit, forgetting to re-set it up properly). So I guess the next night or two will show some hard data.

 

I'm using the coils from here http://somapulse.com/store/ with iPad Air as an mp3 player and this 8h music track (basically raw delta waves)  http://www.diypemf.com/getting-a-better-nights-sleep/

Edited by Candidatus, 21 November 2014 - 04:29 PM.

[Vimy]

Possible Zeo replacement: https://neuroon.com/

 

 

[Stuart Hayward]

Subscribed

[Candidatus]

@Vimy

Thanks! I actually know about these guys. They were initially trying to make a device suited for polyphasic sleepers (they claim to be polyphasic themselves) but after a great success on Kickstarter, they are pushing it to another level. Problem is that they have severe problems with meeting the deadlines, so I expect the device to be for sale maybe next Autumn. Which is a long time to wait. But the design and technology is intriguing, no doubt about it!

 

@Stuart

Thanks! I'll be happy for any suggestions or other contributions!

 

Day #28

I had a chance to test my PEMF for the last 3 nights. Sadly, I can not make any conclusions just yet because my Aura and SleepTime readings diverge A LOT. Aura doesn't show anything spectacular while SleepTime says I spend 2/3 of the night in either Deep or REM sleep. In order to solve this problem, I decided to buy myself some early Christmas presents for pseudoscientific purposes. 

 

1. Zeo Sleep Manager - EEG sleep monitor, the golden standard among consumer grade sleep monitors. Should be min. 6/7th as precise as actual sleep study. I found one on ebay for a good price so I went for it.

2. Basis Peak - this is a new activity tracker from basis which tracks heart rate, motion and blood oxygenation in order to give you sleep readings. The previous version was found very accurate in comparison to actual sleep study - http://www.huffingto..._b_4792760.html

3. Sleep Rate - it's a mobile App which tracks sleep stages through HRV. Needs Polar chest strap to work and should be also pretty accurate.

4. MotionX-24/7 - should be the best motion based technology available in an smartphone App. 

5. Withings Aura

6. SleepTime

 

I should get the first 2 in about 2-3 weeks, so then I'll sleep for several nights with PEMF and several without, using all of those sleep trackers. This little experiment should reveal some pretty decent data. But so far, it seems that the PEMF does something. Subjectively, I feel better rested, don't feel tired during the day at all and don't want to fall asleep during meditation sessions.

The PEMF coils available here for $25: http://somapulse.com/store/

 

Brain training

I have decreased the amount of nir-HEG focus training from every day to twice a week and I feel it's better this way. The device is great but it's not intended for daily use - just too taxing for the brain. Twice a week seems ok though. Otherwise, I'm keeping up with all the other brain training and I'll add TAG-Sync and Image Streaming next week.

 

Edited by Candidatus, 23 November 2014 - 02:20 PM.

[platypus]

Impressive dual-n-back results, have you noticed any benefits from the training in your everyday life? Has your working-memory grown? BTW; do you use a "system" in dual-n-back or do you just wing it?

[Candidatus]

@platypus

 

Well, I would say that the biggest impact from the regular dual-n-back training is in single-pointed focus (this is also true for nir-HEG training, actually, the two are pretty similar in some way). I can do something without my mind diverting to another thoughts as much as before. Which is a plus. Working memory - I didn't test it properly yet with the digit span test http://www.cambridge...test/digit-span but I guess I can remember string of numbers better, such as phone numbers or bank account numbers. But this can also be because I'm actually aware of it so I try more.

 

I experienced great progress in the first 2 weeks, then I hit a plateau. But I actually think it's a good thing - will be interesting to observe if I can make rapid improvements when introducing nootropics, LLLT and so on.

 

As for "system" - I guess I do chunking. I remember 4+4 in 8-back and 5+4 or 3+3+3 in 9-back. This comes naturally so I don't want to fight it, but I read some time ago an interview with Jaeggi who said that this is not a bad thing. It would be worse to use some mnemotechnics.

[Candidatus]

Day #29

 

So I went all in with the sleep-trackers and purchased also a S+ from ResMed - http://www.amazon.co...ords=resmed s+ 

 

It has a completely novel approach in tracking sleep - it sends a signal and captures the echo in some kind of sensor, then analyzes your breathing patterns and gives you the data about sleep stages. Actually, former CTO/CEO of Zeo is working for them and in itself, it's a medical company specializing in sleep apnea, so they know a thing or two about breathing while you sleep.

 

So I'll have 8 trackers - 3 mobile Apps, 3 wearables and 2 non wearables + I might plug my head to Q-WIZ with BioExplorer to measure the actual Raw EEG to get some reference, but I'll see.

 

I wanted to ask you about any suggestions for the actual measurements? I'm planning to do 

• 1 week nothing special - just to see how are the trackers accurate (Zeo being the reference, or the BioExplorer with Q-Wiz)
• 1 week with DIY PEMF
• 1 week ice-baths 1 hour prior to bed - Ferris claims it has a big effect on him http://fourhourworkw...ng-your-sleep/ 
• 1 week with a low-ish dose of Melatonin (1mg or so)

Than I had some thoughts about nootropics (Phenibut? It a little scary substance to me), CES device (which I don't own and it's expensive, so I would need to find a used one), Binaural beats (possibly Neuroprogrammer) or even having sex every night before bed (due to hormonal changes).

 

Why am I doing it? Well, I've found that sleep quality is super-important when it comes to cognitive performance, so I want to enhance it as much as possible.

 

Otherwise, my 4th week brain training report is available here if you are interested.

[Crowstream]

Great project! I enjoy reading your progress reports on this.

 

I am a bit curious since the project seems to be about brain enhancement, have you been able to find any studies on how meditation might work to enhance brain function? I am mostly interested in studies looking at IQ and meditation.

 

I found this study: http://www.ncbi.nlm....nd Intelligence

Where they had 34 participants meditate for 15 minutes daily over a month, and they found about a 10 point IQ increase from the start to the end of the study.

I became a little bit cautious about this study though because it claims that many studies have reported IQ increases from meditation, and it links 3 studies to support this, one of which is a meta-review of meditation studies. I didnt read this meta-review yet but in the summary it says that the effect on cognitive functions is not supported by the evidence so it makes me wonder how these researchers were thinking...I might just have missed something though, I will read through it later on.

 

This study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.... Mind Wandering

Found that a 2-week mindfulness program can increase working memory and reading comprehension while reducing mind wandering, through a deactivation of the default-mode network.

 

This study: http://journal.front....00076/abstract

Was the most interesting for me so far I think, they studied controls, yoga and meditation practitioners using modern neuroscience methods. One of the things they found was a lower rate of age-related decline in fluid intelligence in the yoga and meditation practitioners. There were also significant differences in the network properties of the brains of the yoga and meditation practitioners, indicating that they had more efficient and resilient brains overall. They also found a correlation between mindfulness and fluid intelligence (r of 0.292, p = 0.046). This is what the study said about this: "Together these findings indicate that individuals who are more mindful have higher fluid intelligence and more integrated and resilient resting state brain networks."

I guess this cant prove causation though because it might just be the case that more intelligent people tend to practice yoga and meditation in general, it is still pretty interesting though I think at least for me  .

 

 

Anyways, I dont want to hijack your thread  , I am looking forward to hearing more about your progress on this!

 

[Candidatus]

@Crowstream

 

Thanks! Those are great papers... I've actually found several others, but they don't necessarily correlate IQ but other measures of intelligence. 

 

Transcendental meditation and improved performance on intelligence-related measures: A longitudinal study 

 

This two-year longitudinal study investigated the effect of participation in a special university curriculum, whose principal innovative feature is twice-daily practice of the Transcendental Meditation ™ [...] One hundred college men and women were the subjects[---] The experimental group (MIU) improved significantly on the CFIT (t=2.79, P<0.005); choice reaction time (t=9.10, P<0.0001); SD of choice reaction time (t=11.39, P<0.0001), and simple reaction time (t=2.11, P<0.025) over two years compared to the control group, which showed no improvement. Possible confounds of subject's age, education level, level of interest in meditation, father's education level, and father's annual income were controlled for using analysis of covariance and stepwise regression. The results replicate the findings of previous longitudinal studies on intelligence test scores at MIU, and indicate that participation in the MIU curriculum results in improvements in measures related to general intelligence. http://www.sciencedi...19188699190040I

 

Three randomized experiments on the longitudinal effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on cognition
 

Three studies on 362 high school students at three different schools in Taiwan tested the hypothesis that regular practice of the Transcendental Meditation ™ technique for 15–20 min twice a day for 6 to 12 months would improve cognitive ability. [...]Univariate testing showed that Transcendental Meditation practice produced significant effects on all variables compared to no-treatment controls (Ps ranged from .035 to <.0001). http://tmhome.com/be...y-on-cognition/

 

Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training

 

We examined whether brief meditation training affects cognition and mood when compared to an active control group (49 students). After four sessions of either meditation training or listening to a recorded book, participants with no prior meditation experience were assessed with measures of mood, verbal fluency, visual coding, and working memory. Both interventions were effective at improving mood but only brief meditation (20 min each day) training reduced fatigue, anxiety, and increased mindfulness. Moreover, brief mindfulness training significantly improved visuospatial processing, working memory, and executive functioning. Our findings suggest that 3 days of meditation training can enhance the ability to sustain attention; benefits that have previously been reported with long-term meditators. http://jtoomim.org/b..._Meditation.pdf

 

So to say, there is enough supporting evidence for me to continue my meditation practice. And even if there weren't, meditation is different for everybody so I'm actually surprised that the results from those studies are so coherent. And at least for me, meditation actually complement neurofeedback training very well, so it's a keeper! :-)

[Crowstream]

Thats interesting, there definitively seems to be some great benefits of meditation practice. Its good to know that there is a lot of supportive evidence and its interesting to think about the working mechanisms behind all of this...

 

 "Transcendental meditation and improved performance on intelligence-related measures: A longitudinal study", I think this was a 2-year study so the increase on the CFIT was not huge considering the time-frame. I wonder if there are diminishing returns of meditation when it comes to intelligence optimization? It would be interesting to somehow look at measures of advancement in the meditative practice and compare that to intelligence increases, to see if some people improved more in their meditation practice and if that could also increase intelligence even more.

 

I found this part particularly interesting:

"The EEG during TM shows an increase of alpha activity,

suggesting a wakeful state in which the brain is at rest, but awake; not actively processing

information but maintaining conscious awareness. Alpha EEG coherence also increases during

TM, indicating that the EEG from various cortical areas have components that are very similar

in frequency. Thus, increased global EEG coherence during TC suggests increased homogeneity

of the brain’s electrical field at that time. Experimental evidence indicates that during such periods

of high EEG coherence the brain is maximally receptive to processing new information"

 

I found another study looking at EEG measures of intelligence, and it found increased EEG coherence to be correlated with intelligence:

A smarter brain is associated with stronger neural interaction in healthy young females: A resting EEG coherence study - http://www.sciencedi...16028961100122X

In that study they propose that functional connectivity in the brain is the basis for the g-factor, they also think that this can be measured in the EEG by looking at coherence in the resting state.

 

I found another study however that found the opposite, that lower coherence was related to intelligence. Understanding these studies is a bit tricky I suppose... but coherence does seem to be highly related to intelligence in all studies I have read.

 

The TM article does have a lot of other articles to back up increased coherence being related to intelligence...:

"Correlational studies in meditators have shown that resting EEG coherence among frontal

and central areas is positively correlated with higher levels of neurological efficiency, full scale

WAIS IQ, fluency of verbal creativity, mathematics achievement, principled moral reasoning, and

lower levels of neuroticism (Dillbeck et al., 1981; Nidich, Ryncarz, Abrams, Orme-Johnson &

Wallace, 1983; Orme-Johnson et al., 1977; Orme-Johnson & Haynes, 1981; Orme-Johnson,

Wallace, Dillbeck, Alexander & Ball, in press)."

 

I will have to dig into those when I have time to try to understand this more completely  .

 

 

The Mindfulness meditation article I think was very interesting because it showed increased executive functioning after only 4 sessions of training. It would be interesting to also see IQ measures, but I suppose that maybe it would be hard to change those after just 4 sessions.

I found this part interesting:

"Mindfulness practice promotes a form of meta-cognitive insight (Ortner, Kilner, & Zelazo, 2007), where MM practitioners learn to emotionally disengage from distracters (frustration; anxiety) (Teasdale,1999). This form of top-down cognitive control leads the MM practitioner to more readily focus on the present task leading to better performance."

 

I think I have read studies on alpha brainwaves being related to similar functions, like top-down inhibition of task-irrelevant stimuli. It would be interesting if this was quantifiable in the EEG, such that you could somehow measure meta-cognitive abilities by seeing changes in alpha levels.

 

 

I am wondering, since you are using brain-trainer, it would be interesting if you could see changes in for example coherence levels in the EEG over time as this could be an indicator of brain development and increased intelligence! 

 

In my own biohacking I am planning to get the brain-trainer TLC7ap Trainers QEEG with autoplan to quantify my brain over time. I have ordered a floatation tank which I will be receiving next month! I am really looking forward to that and I plan to do a lot of meditation in the tank while simultaneously tracking my brain to see if I can produce some changes in the EEG.

[Candidatus]

Excellent article about the EEG coherence and intelligence! One thing that comes to my mind regarding meditation and EEG frequencies is from a book Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves. They basically put experienced tibetan monks into fMRI with EEG electrodes placed over their heads. This was the result:

 

“During the meditation, there was an increase in gamma signal. It rose gradually over the course of meditation for all the monks. Usually, the gamma signal lasts for couple of hundred milliseconds, but in the adepts, it lasted five minutes. […] Most of them showed very large increases, and some showed extremely large increases of the sort that have never been reported in the neuroscience literature […] this suggested that this form of mental training (meditation) leads to heightened brain state associated with perception, problem solving and consciousness […] and even during neutral state between meditations, the practitioners show a large increase in this gamma signal, which is not observed in non-meditators” 

 

Question is, can we recreate this ability with Neurofeedback training or just with meditation practice? I want to believe that especially TAG sync offers a way to do it in less than 20 years of sitting still for a few hours every day.

 

 

As for the brain-trainer, one thing I could do is to record my sessions where coherence is trained and compare them visually with each other. However, I have no idea how would I measure any statistical difference other than "I've been in coherence for a better part of the session so my brain must be getting better". Unfortunately, I'm not so familiar with the back-end tools yet.

 

I was thinking about getting the TLC7ap and even asked Pete if he recommends it, but it was still in beta and I was awaiting my ABCD plan, so I didn't go for it. However, it must be an excellent tool for long term quantification. I'll try to justify the price for myself and see.

 

What kind of floatation tank are you getting? I've read about this http://www.zenfloatco.com/, which seems great for the price. I'm looking forward to your experiences! If I wasn't renting a flat in a 4th floor (you get a bit anxious knowing that 800l of water is floating in your bedroom), I would be immediately in.

[Crowstream]

The gamma meditation study is really interesting  , I think that gamma bursts can be a sign of neural networks being bound together which might be why it has sometimes been considered a "neural correlate of consciousness". 

I think if these monks are producing this kind of gamma activity then it probably means the functional connectivity in their brains are very high, probably thats why it takes so long to achieve this. I am pretty sure that TAG Sync can speed this process up, by how much I have no real idea though   thats an ongoing experiment of mine.

 

With brain trainer I was thinking you could use the TLC7 to get some statistics on coherence, as shown in this video: https://www.youtube....h?v=Mz6reOx6wik

Edit, I guess this is a better video example: https://www.youtube....h?v=C3nPQcQ6m3o

On second thought though I guess you need the auto-artifacting version unless you pay them again to artifact it.

 

The autoplan version is a bit expensive, but I will probably be training other people also so I think it will be worth it for me. Also as you say, it is an excellent tool for long term quantification, which I am very interested in. When I am doing other interventions like using floatation tanks I think its nice to be able to track the changes in my brain also  .

 

I am getting the zen float tent, luckily I have a basement (with water-proofed floor  ) to put it in. After I am done with school this summer I will have a lot of free time, so I might do some extensive experimentation. I am thinking of trying to spend several days in the tank if possible, but I guess I need to go pee sometimes  .

 

I was reading the "Three randomized experiments on the longitudinal effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on cognition" study and it occured to me that they seem to think that it is the "wakeful hypometabolic" state that has the beneficial effects on cognition, they describe this state as "a combination of markedly decreased metabolism, heart rate, respiration rate, etc., as in sleep, together with mental alertness, as indicated by increased EEG alpha power and coherence"

This sounds very similar to the effects you get from floatation tanks, perhaps there is some kind of shared mechanism. 

Edited by Crowstream, 29 November 2014 - 06:29 PM.

[Stuart Hayward]

Hi, 
A bit off-topic, but I've just seen a post on Reddit where you say you used Lumosity along with your N-Back training, yet on here and on your website, there's no mention of it.
I've been interested in Lumosity myself, so I was just wondering why you stopped using it? Is it not particularly effective/do you not think it's worth getting? 

I appreciate you're very busy right now, but if you have the time to respond, I'd very much appreciate it!

[Candidatus]

@Stuart

 

Just a quick answer - I've used Lumosity for 1 month back in 2012 along with dual-n-back, it was "ok" but I was not sure about the effects. So I tried it in the beginning of my project once more and it seemed like a waste of time in comparison to dual-n-back or the other brain training techniques I use. I don't claim it's worthless, just doesn't meet my requirements for a solid brain training tool. Also, after about a month of daily training with Lumosity, you pretty much hit the ceiling (I was in 99 percentile in almost all of the subcategories). So if you want to try it, just get the 1-month plan and don't bother with the yearly subscription.

 

To sum it up, if you would otherwise waste the time, you should certainly try Lumosity. But if time is a scarce commodity for you, don't bother...

[Stuart Hayward]

Okay, thankyou very much for the response!

[anthonyedgar300]

What about adding binaural beats to your project for improved sleep and IQ?

[Candidatus]

@Crowstream

 

Sounds interesting. Are you going to do neurofeedback training as a job or just for fun, offering it to some friends? If you'll have a large enough sample of brain maps from people you personally know, it might reveal some interesting info 

I've read only good things about floating, so I'm looking forward to your experiences. Actually, I'll move to another apartment in about a year so the first thing which will go inside won't be a sofa and TV but rather Zen float tent!

 

@Stuart

 

No problem! Let me know if you decide to try Lumosity and how'll the results be!

 

@Anthony

 

I'm actually planning to use Neuroprogrammer http://www.transpare...om/products/np/ to test it for sleep improvement. As for IQ, I don't know. My plan is to do 1 month of listening to classical music - Mozart effect, which was shown to increase IQ for several points (and then it was disproved, and proved again... and so on). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_effect

 

Day #35

 

I've finally put together the first monthly report. It's a bit longer (4250 words) but it's packed with everything I could think of from my first month of brain training.

 

Several interesting points:

 

Total brain training time: 76h 42min

Best dual-n-back score: dual-9-back, 61%

Decreased cholesterol while eating ton of it (ketogenic diet)

Increased testosterone by 44%

 

It doesn't make much sense to copy everything into this post, so if you are interested, it's available here. Sorry for any grammatical errors or misspellings. I'd be more than happy if you give me some feedback so I can improve it in the next month.

 

[Crowstream]

So far I have just been offering training to friends but I am organizing a workshop now in brain training with a friend of mine, and its for the general public. We will let people try out neurofeedback, dual-n-back, HRV biofeedback and some other stuff.

I am thinking about starting a company to offer neurofeedback training, I already have all of the gear and I have studied neurofeedback quite a lot now so I think I can do a good job  . Its just in the dream stage now though, so who knows.

My own results makes me want to share it with other people, I really think it can be a transformative technology.

 

I enjoyed reading your report, it had a lot of interesting points. I will consider changing my neurofeedback times now to do it earlier in the day, although I am not tracking my sleep yet so I cant measure the changes there but maybe I will notice something  .

[Candidatus]

@Crowstream

 

That sounds awesome! I don't know if you've already written about it before, but could I ask you to give me recommendations for 3-5 books/papers you consider essential for learning about neurofeedback training? I've been reading some popular literature and went through all the materials from brain-trainer as well as the yahoo group, but I would love to dive deeper into this topic.

 

And I'm glad you liked the report. I like to keep it a bit more simple and discuss the more obscure things here on longecity, but it's great you found it somehow useful.

 

I'm going to do a huge sleep trackers test (see above) in about 2 weeks when all the supplies arrive, so I advise you to wait for the outcomes and see which one is the best/most cost effective. So far, I like my Aura but I can't say how precise it is since I don't have any reference. I only know that it's spot on in knowing when I wake up during the night and the amount of REM and Deep correlates more or less with how I feel during the day. But still, I would wait in your case before making any purchase 

[Candidatus]

Just a quick update:

 

I got the TLC7ap (an app to automatically generates brain training plan based on QEEG assessment of your brain - for unlimited uses) and I´ll get TAGX2 later today. I can´t say how lucky I feel to live in an age of such possibilities - you can get a lifetime of neurofeedback brain training for a price my parents had to pay for a 100Mhz computer   

[Babychris]

Does Cerebrolysin injection really worth a try ? I really need something for my libido and some erectile D. What's your opinion on semax too ?