Sure, feel free to post it it would be interesting to hear from other people who have tried it, and maybe we can compare setups to make more improvements.
I am glad you are doing so well in your experiments, seems promising . I agree that sleep is a big factor, I am very sensitive when it comes to sleep so if I just sleep like 7 hours I feel off the whole next day.
I think for me the greatest effects I experienced from TAG Sync was mood enhancement, its kind of hard to describe but it was almost like an otherwordly joy, I was afraid of seeming hypomanic at times too . It kind of felt like the effects I might gain from very deep meditation, although I had not seriously meditated before that so I wouldnt really know. But it made me content to rest in the bliss of just being , and that was quite a big change for me also as I had been troubled by depression and anxiety for most of my life before that. I was used to living with constant unease and just struggling my way through life, so it was quite a relief to find TAG Sync .
I think the mood effects is what I miss the most now, I have not used TAG Sync for about 3 weeks since I want to try out brain trainer for a while... a few days ago I did notice a return of anxious feelings and thoughts and I was a bit afraid that it would return, I wanted to do TAG Sync again but I thought that I should probably finish my experiment instead. A few days after I woke up feeling totally changed, the anxiety was gone and my mood was elevated, I also felt really focused and on top of things, it kind of felt like my brain had switched gears and jumped to another level, I am still feeling it now. Not sure what caused this, could be any of the things I am doing but so far I am pretty happy about using brain trainer. I still feel like TAG Sync has greater mood enhancing effects but I feel like brain trainer has sort of "sharpened" me up. I especially felt this after training smr and beta on C3-C4, at first I didnt like it and it made me feel slightly annoyed and I felt pain in my body, it made me adjust into a perfect posture, but after those initial effects I began to feel very calm but focused at the same time. It made me feel very physically present in my body and alert (I am usually more of a daydreamer ).
I think I will complete at least 4 training cycles and do a post-training test and another mini-QEEG to evaluate the effects, but after that I am pretty sure I will be doing a lot of TAG Sync again . I like your approach of doing 2 neurofeedback sessions a day, I think TAG Sync has not disturbed my sleep so its probably safe to do it later during the day, it might even enhance sleep because of its relaxing and mood enhancing effects .
I would say yes, I've noticed some positive changes. I can remember strings of numbers more easily (but that could be because I actually try to do it since that's what someone doing well on d-n-back should be good at ) but last week, I've been doing the TLC7ap QEEG assessment and one part of it is a working memory test, so I've done the cambridge brain sciences digit span test and my best was 10 digits remembered whereas when I tested before the start of my project, it was just 8. And I tried more in the first time. The test: http://www.cambridge...key-span-ladder
I actually do chunking - chunks of 5 + 4 for the 9-back. It just comes naturally so I don't want to force myself not to do it.
@Major Legend
I'm in mid twenties so age should not be a problem, but I've always felt better on low carb so this might be also a factor.
I enjoyed your report on CES + light stimulation actually and I'm glad you feel that it "operates" on a different level than nootropics. Do you take any nootropics with it?
I do 100% agree that testosterone has an effect on cognition (and motivation). I've improved my test levels for about 44% in the next month of this project, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. However, after trying the LLLT on testes (I've posted a study on rats about this - on the top of the page), I definitely felt a difference. I believe that testosterone is more often than not linked with aggression but the cognitive effects of optimal (higher end) levels of test remain undiscussed.
On the other hand, I do not fully share your views on sleep. From my experience as well as from some reading and research, I think that you just can not cheat here. There is a reason why we need 8 hours on average and although I'm all for productivity enhancement, I don't believe that it can be achieved by minimizing sleep (surely not from my experience). If you don't get enough REM, your learning and memory formation suffers. If you don't get enough SWS, your prefrontal cortex can not take a break and your reasoning suffers. And even if your sleep quality is perfect, let's say 75% of SWS+REM, it's only 2h 15min out of 3 hours. Much less than someone sleeping 8 hours with 60% efficiency (4h 48min). You just can't cheat your brain, impossible.
Sure, it's possible to function on such amount of sleep, but at least your reasoning and ability to learn will be compromised. You are also raising your risk of diabetes.
REM and procedural memory consolidation: (the whole paper is worth a read)
By little sleep, most of the studies refer to ~4hours/night
Neurofeedback: it's not uncomfortable at all actually. I don't really notice having a cap on my head during the sessions (they last 30-45min on average). I can actually meditate with it without problem. However, you can use electrodes if you wish so you don't feel absolutely any disturbance.
Finances: depends on what you consider expensive. All the devices might be around $6000-7000. So it's just a difference between a middle and upper-middle range car. Since I don't own a car, I can spend the money on this stuff. Is it worth it? Most of it is... just the consumer EEG EMOTIV headset is almost useless, otherwise, I would purchase everything again. (I have a pulsed iontophoresis device from before for tDCS so it actually didn't cost me anything). I'm a lawyer and engineer from training but I guess that's not really important since at the moment, I'm mostly just brain training, reading textbooks (neuroscience, biochemistry) and working just part time... for a year, living off some money I've saved.
Everyday life: sure, I feel noticeable improvements in mood, confidence, verbal fluency, mental clarity, working memory and visual memory. Dealing with people is a pleasure. I wake up feeling great every morning. Procrastination is not as bad as before (but I still have to force myself to do certain things). Learning chinese characters is easy with mnemotechnics due to visual memory improvement. Also, i would say that my general reasoning ability improved. The first few are very prominent, the last just a bit.
Life before: My IQ from Mensa was 144 and from Wechsler adult intelligence scale 133, so I would consider myself smart, but not a genius of any kind. My memory was above average, but just about 1 standard deviation. I was prone to procrastination. Anxiety in relation to public speaking and sometimes in social situations. Not sure what else to say...
I don't notice any increases in the score on HEG overtime either, but I would still say it works very well. I feel very sharp several hours after the session, so it works more as a short term boost rather than a long term training tool. But it can certainly have some long term benefits, I don't know. Not sure about training with ADHD - if you can do dual-n-back, you can certainly train with HEG.
@Crowstream
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who feels such benefits, makes me not feel like a freak, lol Yes the TAG doesn't seem to interfere with sleep so far so I'll keep it like this. But I make sure to have at least 30min nap between those 2 training sessions in order to consolidate my brain patterns a bit.
Thanks for allowing me to post your setup! Here it is:
1. Use the Audio reward design
2. In the signal diagram, find the Audio player 1 and 2 (on the right)
3. Change audio player 1 to this track:
4. Change audio player 2 to this track:
Note: Crowstream recommended to play the first track in the 2nd audio player and 2nd in the first. I switched it since I like the first more and since it is more prominent during the session, it helps me to achieve the state I want.
5. Find the phase reset window (right side of the signal diagram) and change volume from 127 to about 40 (that's my tweak)
6. Back in the main window, set the reward bars 1 and 2 to automatic. You can let the 75% thresholds.
7. Place the electrodes on Fz and Pz and the ground electrodes to Cz. Use both ear reference electrodes.
8. Go for 30 minutes. The goal is to get both of those tracks playing - that's the alpha theta synchrony. The chime melody means phase reset (now 40% volume so it's not disturbing). Phase reset is a good thing (at least I think so).
9. You can switch the Theta band (reward 1) to gamma level - please look at the TAG discussion thread for the instructions. It's pretty straightforward.
This is how I do it and it works for me. If Crowstream or anyone else has another suggestions, please post them
Edited by Candidatus, 19 December 2014 - 02:11 PM.
I would like to add that the goal of the training is to hit those phase resets more frequently and powerfully, so the goal is to make the bell sound. In my training I have found that these extra sounds used as continuous feedback makes it easier to do that, but I dont think they are the goal of the training in itself. Just a training wheel sort of.
I hope more people experiment and try different setups and report back on what works best and hopefully we can keep improving this .
Also one tweak I have found useful is to right click the audio players, go to properties and then volume, there you can set it to Auto Range, this means the volume settings will be automatically adjusted. I have found that to be useful so I dont have to keep changing the volume during a session. Also you can change the Average Period to 0, what I think this does is to provide faster and more direct feedback, what you may notice is a faster change in the audio signal, if you think its too fast and annoying then just change it back, I prefer to set it to 0 because I think it gives the brain more accurate and immediate information about the brainwaves.
For the gamma signal especially 0 might make the signal too fast, as it is already a very fast signal and it might sound annoying to you but for theta and alpha I think it works well.
You can also do this with the visual feedback by rightclicking the reward or inhibit thresholds, properties, settings and changing the average period there too. The bars will go up and down incredibly fast but I think our brains can pick up the information.
Actually, I'm happy to hear the bell sound playing but the initial volume was too high for me so it was a bit harder to maintain the state of open awareness, the bell was just too disturbing - that's why I adjusted it. But I guess everybody has their own preference so it's important to experiment Didn't know about the average period, might be useful. Will try today.
Back to the sleep and productivity, I've found a very interesting interview with perhaps the most creative and productive person alive - Elon Musk. At 1:07:00 he shares his view on sleep. He says that he needs to sleep at least 6 - 6 1/2 hours, otherwise he can't get things done. And I'm sure he tries to sleep as little as possible (and perhaps has access to the best methods/techniques available to do so).
Oh yeah, I just thought that there were people able to get on with only a few hours sleep, like thomas edison, but these could be just myths. My sister made a pretty good point about success bias - that people tend to overglorify themselves when they become successful like saying they worked 70 hours a week before, and that other people tend to also over glorify the successful too. So in actual fact productive people may just have a whole lot of successful bias piled onto them.
For example I found in interesting - that I recently learned that Mark Zukerberg never did any computer science degree, his major was in psychology (which is a pretty gimp soft science subject with little career prospects), its interesting that its more to do with his timing and his network rather than his actual intelligence, though of course I have no doubt that he isn't stupid. I think having an "intellectual support" network is crucial, as I've mentioned many times on longecity.org.
So the question is do super people really work long hours and sleep less? Two things are interesting to note:
1) A person's productivity is limited even if they maximise every hour they have in their life span, what matters is how they leverage the energy they have, e.g. get other people to do things, steal, cheat, have superior knowledge or methodology, expensive brand education (like oxford, stanford), licenses to practice, and so on and so forth. Unfortunately this may also explain why psychopaths and immoral people tend to be successful, its probably a kind of efficiency in economical use of time.
For example a movie musician friend of mine knows Hans Zimmer, apparently Zimmer only claims to be hard working, he really just uses interns who get paid nothing, then take credit for their work, he is an expert in exploitation and building his name. So this is a good example of how some of our perception of ultra effective people may be marred in myth...of course he is probably talented. i'm just saying that we do tend to buy into certain myths around people. (in one of his interviews zimmer claims that he never listens to any other music because he works so hard he doesn't have time - again is this truth or just successful people making them seem bigger than they actually are?)
2) Why can we function without sleep for a day or two - when we are teenagers and into our early 20s, but once we get older we can no longer function properly without a full 6 to 8 hours? This is an interesting biological change. Is this hormonal?
(sorry to derail the thread_
Edited by Major Legend, 21 December 2014 - 09:23 PM.
Have you increased your ability to deal with high level abstraction, i.e. is math/physics/programming easier to you than before? How about ability to learn new languages, which should be great for the brain in itself?
One of the studies he worked on was testing how much people actually slept, compared to how much they reported sleeping. What they consistently found was that over the course of one month:
- People who reported sleeping 7-8 hours every day slept an average of 7-8 hours every day. - People who reported sleeping 5-7 hours slept an average of 6-7 hours per 24-hour period. - People who reported sleeping less than 5 hours slept an average of 6-7 hours per 24-hour period.
Said that, I think the same might very possibly relate to working "those 100 hour workweeks".
By the time he began classes at Harvard, Zuckerberg had already achieved a "reputation as a programming prodigy", notes Vargas. He studied psychology and computer science
So I'm not sure.
Other than that, I agree with your first point. It all depends on the definition of productivity. As for the second point, I have certainly went through some all-nighters or work-party-work sessions without sleep but I could always just "function". My body is functioning on 70% and my brain on 30%. I'm certainly not the one blessed with the ability to go without sleep for more than a day But sure, hormones play a big role. Sleep (especially sws) is very closely correlated with human growth hormone production. If you stimulate SWS (via drugs like GBH or Ambien), your HGH secretion rises. If you stimulate HGH by GHRH/GHRP (growth hormone releasing hormones/peptides), the sws increases as well. Said that, HGH is very important for feeling refreshed (many older people on HRT pinning Somatotropin and feeling the benefits would agree). But it's certainly not the only reason. My guess is that sleep is refreshing/rejuvenating mostly because of it's neurotoxin cleaning properties (study in the above post).
My only chance to encounter math problems is while my gf is studying for an exam (she studies graduate biochemistry so it’s mostly statistics/probability theory) and she get’s stuck with a problem. I’m often able to look at the problem, look briefly into the materials, understand it and come up with a solution. But I think this is normal, I only mention it since it feels like I’m more confident about understanding the problems than I would normally be. But with such observations, we are entering an area of absolute subjectivity, so take it with a pile of salt.
I’m going to continue with my engineering studies (I have BA degree and am halfway through Master’s) part time in March so I’ll have a chance to test my cognitive abilities this way. The semester is mostly about robotics, robotic programming, mechanics and electrotechnics. So let’s see then.
I have certainly improved in memorizing chinese characters, but can not say anything about general language learning. Will look into it though...
Also, this might possibly be interesting:
During my image streaming sessions, I sometimes encounter familiar pictures like the one from Matrix where Neo stops the bullets from the agents at the end of the movie. It makes me wonder so I position myself in a place of a spectator who is not limited by the time vector. Then I’m wondering what happens if the bullet can travel say 1000mph but Neo can move much faster, say 10 000mph and the speed is natural to him so he feels like you or me moving normally. If he wants to stop the bullet by his palm, what would the bullet do? Would it go through or just stop and fall down? Because it feels like the bullet is moving 10x slower then he is, in real world, the bullet traveling 1mph would not probably penetrate the skin. But how would that be in that instance? Is the absolute speed of the person and bullet important or just the relative ratios between them. Sure, when we see a bullet crashing into an aircraft, both are traveling at the same speed or in the ratio described above, there would be a crash and penetration. But in the scenario above, the awareness of the situation also plays a role. Or doesn't it?
So those are the funny little things I’m wondering about right now from time to time, mostly during IS sessions but sometimes even outside of them. Happens several times a week. Not saying that it requires a high level of abstraction and might even sound absurd/infantile to a physicist, but it is certainly a move forward from being interested in Kim Kardashian’s shiny oily ass, lol
Keep in mind that I’m still in the early phases of my project, still waiting to do some very, very interesting stuff. For example, during February/March, I’m going to do 6 week Cerebrolysin cycle while doing only Meditation/TAG for 2 weeks, dual-n-back for a week, Image Streaming for a week or language (vocabulary) learning for a week. I mean, 10-12h/day for the whole week - like a retreat. Then it would be certainly interesting to measure some real world before/after improvements in any of those areas you mentioned.
Said that, I’m actually sorry that I can’t give you any more real world data, I wanted to learn web dev from the beginning but instead, I’m just spending my time digging into what I’m doing so I can do it better. But when I think I'm done with optimising, I’ll have a lot of time for those things.
Edited by Candidatus, 22 December 2014 - 01:22 PM.
Just because Mark started Facebook doesn't mean he is a programming prodigy. Mark's major was Pyschology so he wasn't at Harvard as a CompSci prodigy. Back in 2004 building a CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) application in PHP/MySQL was fairly easy. I would bet if you had more insight into what people that seem to be amazing are really capable of, you would see that they are normal people with normal skills.
Facebook's success (like many startups) is largely due to timing, solid product/market fit and a bit of luck. Those same rules apply to successful startups today, any of which could potentially be as big as Facebook. Where Mark made the right decision was surrounding himself with smart and talented people.
Long story short, if you want to get better at anything, hang around with the right people and work hard.
[ML: I would actually add, that a huge part of facebook's success was actually exclusivity - that it was initially an "ivy league" social network, in the fact that uncool (or non ivy league students) people could not get into, the fact that the other universities wanted to get in on it - it was a directory of all youth elites is a huge reason for its viral success.]
I have tested armodafinil, alchohol, modafinil, noopept, redline extreme, nicotine patches (a energy drink with loads of stimulants and caffeine) and have found no conflicting effects. I did find that tunnel vision, hypomania, increased heart rate were risks of stimulating for low beta when combined with stimulants.
Interestingly combining nootropics and psychoactives with brain stimulation seem to yield brand new effects with little side effects. I am yet to understand the benefits of this or play around with various states, as i'm happy with the cut down of psychoactives and nootropics I have to take to stay functional.
Initially I was a little paranoid that the drugs would remove or cause conflicting effects, it does not seem to be that way. However depressants do seem to have an effect of "removing" neuromodulation, but in general the brain becomes dumber so it makes sense.
Edited by Major Legend, 22 December 2014 - 06:45 PM.
During my image streaming sessions, I sometimes encounter familiar pictures like the one from Matrix where Neo stops the bullets from the agents at the end of the movie. It makes me wonder so I position myself in a place of a spectator who is not limited by the time vector. Then I’m wondering what happens if the bullet can travel say 1000mph but Neo can move much faster, say 10 000mph and the speed is natural to him so he feels like you or me moving normally. If he wants to stop the bullet by his palm, what would the bullet do? Would it go through or just stop and fall down? Because it feels like the bullet is moving 10x slower then he is, in real world, the bullet traveling 1mph would not probably penetrate the skin. But how would that be in that instance? Is the absolute speed of the person and bullet important or just the relative ratios between them. Sure, when we see a bullet crashing into an aircraft, both are traveling at the same speed or in the ratio described above, there would be a crash and penetration. But in the scenario above, the awareness of the situation also plays a role. Or doesn't it?
The ability to move faster is not correlated to skin resistance to bullets that would require another kind of super power.
About your aircraft analogy: if the aircraft is flying away from the bullet at sufficient speed it might soften the blow. So maybe Neo could prevent harm from the bullet by moving away from it.
Of course this kind of reasoning is always hampered by the fact that it's a fictional, "if pigs could fly" scenario.
To get back onto the topic of sleep: Have you looked into the Braverman Assesment at any point? It's not just about sleep, but the Serotonin and GABA scores are very interesting in that regard. While I score really low on GABA itself, my deficiency score is even higher. The symptoms fit and I'm trying to find ways to improve that now. I started today after finally receiving the iherb order (and them forgetting the Glutamic Acid, arrgh) with the following night-stack:
-Melatonin (low dose seems to work best)
-Inositol (Precusor to GABA), have to find dosage
-GABA, have to find dosage
-relevant B-Vitamines
- will add Glycine once it arrives
- might add Passionflower
- might add Theanine
Also I got some Phenibut, but just for experimenting and/or taking care of short term insomnia. Have you tried any of the above other than the melatonin? They seem to be getting quite good results. I'd be interesting in your braverman scores. Can't use the serotonin precursors right now as I'm on SSRIS and even Kava resulted in Serotonin Syndrome for me (Not an experience I would recommend).
What i find interesting is that the Braverman results correlate strongly to the Myers-Briggs-Typology (for example http://www.16persona...rsonality-types ). According to Braverman the Personality-Types are really result of the Neurotransmitter constellation and so far the correlation fit with everyone i had taken both tests.
This then again correlates to a Personality Assesment based on QEEG, which then again seems to make Personality/Type tweakable using Neurofeedback, but I guess I'll start a thread about that on it's own at some point.
Edited by VastEmptiness, 23 December 2014 - 12:42 AM.
Not saying that it requires a high level of abstraction and might even sound absurd/infantile to a physicist, but it is certainly a move forward from being interested in Kim Kardashian’s shiny oily ass, lol
That's my kind of philosophy right there.
Btw: Is it just an understatement on your part about the IQ144 being nothing too high? In Mensa scores thats <0.4% of population, which I'd consider ridiculously high. They made me skip classes etc. after i scored 133 at age 11 (which is roughly top 1,6%).
Very informative and good to know actually. And I definitely agree with the exclusivity factor. Don’t know if you’ve read the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion from R. Cialdini but he basically outlines several “laws” of persuasion, scarcity (in the same meaning as exclusivity in this case) being among them. It’s a good read backed by actual science, I recommend it.
Interesting effects of the stimulants. What was your experience with nicotine patches? Are you otherwise a smoker? I’d like to run them for a month for the potential nootropic benefits (I’m a non smoker).
@airplanepeanuts
Sure, I totally agree with you on this! My point was just to demonstrate the thought process going on while image streaming - that I’m trying to figure out a physics problem purely by analysing it’s visual representation which actually come naturally. Haven’t seen the pigs fly yet in my image streaming, but dragons are a staple, lol
@VA
Taste of soylent: uhh, not great. It’s definitely drinkable and if I add the right amount of cocoa powder, it might even become “neutral”, but in it’s pure form, it tastes after the greens. Some stevia and natural flavours might be appropriate, but I’m ok with it as it is right now.
I’m familiar with the Mayers-Briggs typology, being “ENTJ” after filling out a short test which I’m not sure is anyhow conclusive. According to braver man, I would say I’m dopamine oriented slowly transitioning to acetylcholine (believe it or not, I'm experiencing some personality changes so its hard to say). I have problems identifying myself with the serotonin profile according to the questions. GABA? maybe…
Deficiencies: For the dopamine, I would score close to zero of them being true. Acetylcholine - few responses true. GABA - several. Serotonin: several.
From the boosters they mention, I already take Phosphatydil Serine, DHA, ALCAR, B-50 complex, Siberian Gingsen, Calcium, fish oil, sometimes zinc, sometimes melatonin
From your list, I also take Suntheanine and on top of that, I take Krill Oil, Magnesium, Ashwagandha, Lion’s mane, Bacopa and Eleuthero before bed.
IQ: 0.4% population still amounts to around 25 million people in the world, so it’s nothing special. But keep in mind that I’d also scored 133 on a much more rigorous IQ test - the WAIS, so that’s considerably lower (although still 2 standard deviations above mean). So as I say, I think I’m rather smart but not a genius of any kind :-)
Asprey: thanks for the video, actually, I decided to do exactly that based on my experience. But with just 100-150g of carbs. I just can’t tolerate more very well - my mental clarity suffers the next day otherwise. Also, I think that Kiefer from Carb Nite recommends weekly refeeds purely due to some hormonal reset of ghrelin/leptin/thyroid and some… http://carbnite.com/...tures/img-3.png this is the graph. Have to look into it more closely though...
----
Day #58
I’ve learned the power of neurofeedback... the hard way.
Everything went great (from the Thursday low)... but only up until Monday and I didn’t know why. I started getting headaches without reason. Then I had problems concentrating, felt a bit dull and started to feel over emotional. This went on to self-pity feelings on Tuesday morning and even crying. To put things into perspective, I don’t cry… ever. And now, I was sitting on my bed crying without reason like when I was 7. Then I was absolutely unable to write anything (tried to write the weekly report at that time… without much editing, it’s available here). I had problems concentrating, almost slipped to 7-back along the way on dual-n-back while actually trying hard. This went on to jumpiness and almost irresistible urge to masturbate (I don’t masturbate during my project). In the evening, I’ve done another session of TAG and then I realised that for the past 3 days (Tuesday included), I’ve been training Gamma-Alpha instead of Theta-Alpha on TAG. For 30-40min a day.
Well, I’m doing much better now but sometimes, I feel a jolt of sharp pain in the C4 area. This was present in the morning, now it’s better. I actually tried to do the Gamma-Alpha this morning, but couldn’t stand more than 2 minutes. And even that was a mistake. Said that, I have no reason to believe that all this happened due to anything else other than TAG.
Takeaway: neurofeedback is not a child’s game, it’s a serious device able to fuck up your brain if you use it irresponsibly. So pay attention...
Other than that, I’ve:
1. Finally received my sleep trackers! So I have 5 devices + 2 apps at the moment. I’m going to start experimenting with them probably the next week.
2. Got magnesium rods (99.95% purity) to make hydrogenated water. Inspired by the Lostfalco’s thread as well as some forums similar to longecity in my native language.
3. Got the acupressure mat for sleep induction. So far, I slept great according to 3 different trackers this night so there is a hope it does something. At least it feels great to lie on it and arguably improves back muscle recovery.
Back to NFB: The TAG protocol is very powerful on the positive side as well. Since starting it, my meditation quality has skyrocketed. It’s just so much better than before… also, as I stated in my previous post, I felt absolutely amazing in the first few days of doing TAG properly. So hopefully, I can recover and get back to that state.
Edited by Candidatus, 25 December 2014 - 07:59 PM.
I'm not a smoker and have only ever used nicotine for stimulant / nootropic purposes. Its definitely not for everyone, however I class its effects as one of the most significantly noticeable, unique and natural feeling stimulants/nootropics I have tried. Patches are very strong, so I would certainly start with nicotine gum. I started off with patches and they were too strong and just gave me side effects until I tried the gum, about a few months ago.
On Books -
Thanks for the book recommendation. Currently I am starting on the Art of Electronics and Introduction to Microcontrollers . I have been thinking about the future, and I think that understanding code and electronics is fundamental to being able to participate meaningfully in future society. I have been learning javascript and node.js / mean stack myself.
If you like psychology - I recommend a book called The Science of Happiness by Stefan Klein, its a very good book for those who question what happiness might be, its more of a casual science book rather than a self guide to millionaire nirvana, great read from start to finish.
On Overdoing Brain Entrainment/Stimulation -
I'm pacing my stimulation sessions more too (spacing them more out), I find doing it too much can overwhelm my brain and for entrainment you can definitely get "some kind of" tolerance to it. I also started getting some weird current feelings in my head after doing CES for too much, something i've never seen mentioned online, so I think sticking to - once a day max - is a good guideline. I'm having second thoughts about it being completely side effect free.
The effects are still good, but I feel i've hit a ceiling and may look to doing what you are doing, disappointingly it seems like the brain brightening effects are not that strong anymore (the better memory effect I was mentioning). I'm aware how subjective it all is, seeing as I may have just gotten used to a new level of brain performance and no longer feeling "high" from it.
On Diet and Ketosis -
I have tested complete ketosis before and I feel mild ketosis or intermittent fasting is the way to go. Under complete ketosis I started getting some weird skin breakouts and was itching, carbs do seem to serve some kind of sedation/relaxation/balancing purpose. Could be just me.
In terms of carbs. I find too many processed foods or meats, msg, meat tenderisers, foods cooked in high heat, or heat inhibitors used in high heat cooking to wreck havok in my cognitive abilities - a lot more than eating a lot of carbs. In general I find if you eat a lot of rice or candy (gluten free sugars), its nowhere near as bad as eating lots of processed proteins etc. Yeah I get carb withdrawals, but high carbs don't give the kind of inflammation that bad foods do.
^ Which is pretty bad for my budget, as high quality tend to cost a lot of money where I live, however the difference is unmistakable. Whenever I go for a good balanced Japanese meal with fish - I feel great afterwards. Now if I can't have access to good food I generally starve, though I do break my own rules. I would say I eat 80% healthy.
Edited by Major Legend, 25 December 2014 - 09:19 PM.
IQ: 0.4% population still amounts to around 25 million people in the world, so it’s nothing special. But keep in mind that I’d also scored 133 on a much more rigorous IQ test - the WAIS, so that’s considerably lower (although still 2 standard deviations above mean). So as I say, I think I’m rather smart but not a genius of any kind :-)
Asprey: thanks for the video, actually, I decided to do exactly that based on my experience. But with just 100-150g of carbs. I just can’t tolerate more very well - my mental clarity suffers the next day otherwise. Also, I think that Kiefer from Carb Nite recommends weekly refeeds purely due to some hormonal reset of ghrelin/leptin/thyroid and some… http://carbnite.com/...tures/img-3.png this is the graph. Have to look into it more closely though...
i dont know much about hormones (yet), but yes, about the leptin i read this some time ago, seems to be similar to your graphic (very interesting). http://www.marksdail.../#axzz3Mx1JqKTp - since i wasn't looking for weight loss at all, i didn't research any further. my sleep quality is about the same shit with or without ketosis, but the days are just incredibly amazing compared to the years before. i feel absolutely thankful for finally having found a solution (i tried all kinds of shit including raw veganism).
I am still experimenting with it. I haven't had too much luck with CES for sleep yet. To be honest there are too many settings to play with. I do hope I find something that works for sleep.
I've just tried 100hz with mixed results, upon 10 to 20mins I felt better control over my breathing and deeper breaths before sleep, however it did not make me sleep faster.
I had good result in inducing quicker onset of delta sleep using 0.5hz, lyrica and melatonin, but it didn't make me feel much better upon waking. The theory originally behind this is during deep sleep your prefrontal cortex gets rest, but I didn't feel any increase in executive functioning, maybe I need to do this over a long period of time.
In general my sleep quality is good. From my sleep cycle graphs I get good distribution of sleep without CES. I have more of an issue with sleep onset, but this issue is with me trying to play god with my circadian rythms which isn't really working.
Note: I am not sure how accurate sleep cycle is for tracking sleep, my thinking is that it isn't very accurate at all since I don't feel anything particularly different when it says my sleep quality is good, or worst when it says its bad.
Note2: The problem is I really don't like using the sleep cycle app either. I find it annoying to set up, as the alarm doesn't wake me etc. I have been looking for a good wrist sleep tracker. Any recommendations?
Edited by Major Legend, 26 December 2014 - 12:06 AM.
@ML: I felt like this thing for 100$ seemed fair. http://www.fitbit.com/flex Don't have one though, Candidatus can sure recommend one of his 10 devices What I don't like about SleepCycle other than the setup (fully agree) is the fact it doesn't differentiate between deep dreamless sleep and REM. i dream ALOT so i know i'm getting REM, but since i wake up alot too and feel like shit the next day, i guess theres not much of deep sleep going on. supplements so far don't help really. actual sleep meds gave me hangover. i tried phenibut at a low dose yesterday, no good result yet. the hot nights right now don't help either since i'm struggling with excessive thirst at night already.
which CES device are you using? i'm hesitating about ordering one, but brain-trainer has a quite affordable one and i might just try it with my neurofeedback setup. https://brain-traine...duct/ces-ultra/ - it's marketed especially for sleep. they don't seem to sell shit in their shop either.
what makes me wonder about CES is that while ALOT of professionals advise it, theres FDA approved devices with money back guarantee, etc. - i couldn't find many user reviews raving about this, what should be the case if it does what it says?!
oh and do you do HRV training? that's supposed to help with sleep too. my heartwave2 is just taking ages to arrive now (fuck brazil customs). also still really interested in finding neurofeedback protocols for sleep (training delta???).
Edited by VastEmptiness, 26 December 2014 - 01:09 PM.
Just a quick entry. I got the Peak from Basis which runs for $200 so it's the higher end of the price range. But it's the only one I'm aware of which is actually capable of giving you solid data, since it has continual HR + actigraphy + skin temp + perspiration sensors.
Give me 2 weeks to compare it against Zeo, Aura, S+ and some others (I'll also use SleepCycle on iPhone). Hopefully, I will end up with some conclusive data
And thanks for the nicotine gum recommendation, I wanted to start with patches so this may save me some headaches.
@VA
Glad to hear that ketosis is working for you. Do you measure ketone levels by a chance?
I'd love too. The problem here is I have to buy anything that you don't get in a regular supermarket or pharmacy (and thats most things related to biohacking) overseas which takes ALOT time, if they even ship to brazil and customs will rip you off every time (charge for things that arent taxed etc.). so even ordering some strips is a pain. however i believe i can measure really well the in/out of ketosis subjectively since the effects on my vision are really strong. in ketosis i see alot sharper and my eyes keep focused for a long time. it even feels like there's an invisible layer gone from my whole face (hard to explain, strange feeling). out of ketosis i often have a hard time keeping my eyes focused. since my eyes are technically really good (190% eyesight on a standard test), i felt like i had some superman powers on my first day of ketosis lol. also fatigue during the sugar crashes is just such a huge factor for me on glycosis that it makes all the difference. as i said, ketosis+1bulletproof coffee has the same effect on me as 400mg of modafinil+100mgcaffeine.
The sleep supplements are weird so far for me: Even Phenibut (considered super effective/addictive), which gave me what felt like alot deeper sleep (just waked up twice and could go back to sleep quickly) couldn't change the way I feel in the morning. All of those supplements seem to have a noticable effect i.e. making me drowsy and fall asleep faster but mostly they don't change the way I sleep alot and/or I still feel horribly tired in the morning until I get my bulletproof magic drink
May I ask you what exactly is your problem and goal in regards to sleep? Is it feeling better/refreshed in the morning? How long do you sleep?
If you wake up feeling groggy even after what seems to be a good nights sleep, it might be due to your circadian rhythm being out of whack. Don't know the background or your general routine but this might help more than supplements:
1. Going to bed and getting up at roughly the same time
2. Going to sleep before 11pm
3. Doing an activity - exercise, eating, social activities consistently at roughly the same time every day
4. Getting blue light blocking glasses (laser glaasses) and using them 2+ hours before bed
5. Avoiding screens of any kind 30-60min before bed
6. Getting sun exposure first thing in the morning or getting a bright therapy light (sun simulator)
7. Not eating 2+ hours before bed (or not a big meal - ghrelin, the hunger hormone, promotes quality sleep).
and of course, sleeping 7+ hours (which usually meand being in bed for 7.5+ hours) every night. Basically, mankind evolved with sun being pretty much the only light source governing the whole circadian cycle. A lot of processes in the body are influenced by this fact. That's even the reason why LLLT works so well (especially for people who naturally don't get much sun exposure).
I hope some of those recommendations help. Will look into your thread
WOW ! I have to say I am a great fan and will be following you out till the end of your journey. It amazes me to see someone who is interested in image streaming like I am. I would like to see the effects it has after you have done it for an extended amount of time. I can only imagine the results being incredible! Have you thought about implementing any of the other Win Weger techniques like the one where you practice holding your breath underwater ?
Thanks for the link, some of the references Dave cites are interesting. Recently, there have been some great scientific advances in understanding sleep importance - the one about sleep being crucial for cleansing toxins out of the brain every night is especially interesting. I've written about it in my older post about sleep, if you are interested. There are also some references in the article, one of them being this: http://www.businessi...o-sleep-2013-10- I know it's not PubMed, but it's actually a very good read to get basic understanding.
@mf6lol5
Thanks! Yeah, Image Streaming is great technique but it's very challenging. I feel like I didn't even scratch the surface of what it can offer in terms of enhancing cognition. How are your results and experiences so far?
As for underwater swimming, I was thinking about it but at first, I'm going to improve my breathing with this device http://www.amazon.co...=elevation mask- should arrive in the end of the month. If I see some improvements in cognition through improved blood oxygenation, I'll probably give underwater swimming a try since as far as I understand it, it should work through a slightly different pathaway and I believe that any potential results could be measured with nir-HEG, which is great.
@Plasticperson
That's an interesting claim. I think it ultimately depends on the definition of "keto adaptation". I've read anything between 2 weeks to a year to be the keto adaptation period, but I've never seen a long-term study done on anyone being in long term ketosis other than a guy fasting for a year under medical supervision. If you have any personal experience or other references, could you please share them? I'm extremely interested.
Other than that, let me give you an overview of what I'm currently doing:
1. 30+ session of TAG-Sync, 2 channel - mostly training midline and alpha-theta frequencies
Thus far, I'm experiencing periods of absolute mental clarity and general feeling of greatness (maybe even hypomania) alternated with periods of brain "overtraining". I suspect LLLT and Neurofeedback being the driving factors of this so every time I have such experience, I take a break the next day and it gets better. The ratio between feeling great and overtrained is roughly 3:1.
On days I'm able to complete my morning brain training routine (4 hours altogether with morning workout), I feel absolutely awesome and super productive during the day. However, Image Streaming and Dual-n-back are especially hard to complete and it takes a lot of willpower to do so. So I'm trying to stick with this routine every morning (which is sometimes not easy due to other obligations) in order to build an automated habit out of it so it gets easier.
Today is the day when I experience "brain overtraining" so it's a shame I can't rave about the effects of my routine - they were spectacular from Monday through Wednesday though. The "brain overtraining" feels very much like drinking too much coffee.
To give you a picture of my routine:
a.m.
6:15 Wake-up, drink hydrogenated water
6:30 Focus training while using Sun light simulator
No difference here, it feels like torture to me as well. Especially now on 9-back where you have to go 5 minutes in a row. When I say effortless, I really mean "effortless". That´s also the reason why I said that you can not really compare it to most lumosity games, not even the same league. Btw. do you have any favourite "hacks" on how to efficiently learn web development?
If you want to do more than very basic web sites, you should first work through one or two good book about general programming which ideally uses a programming language that is used for web development. Every programmer should have a solid theoretical background.
other than a guy fasting for a year under medical supervision.
really interested in this. i read alot on fasting, when i was doing that some years ago. has been one of the most effective biohacks for me (and probably my first time in ketosis after being an infant), but i've never really looked into studies of long time fasters. i met alot of people in retreats that did fasts even with 4 days of no drinking and some even two weeks of no drinking, which is probably contradictary with medical literature, but then again not many people in studies will have spiritual guidance and meditation going on same time. shoot me a link, brother.
for sleep: i feel like adding 2-3g of Life Extension Glycine before going to sleep makes alot of difference for me (at least on top of my stack of 1-1.5g of inositol and 0.3-0.5mg of Melatonin). i wake up less (and if go back to sleep faster) and feel more rested in the morning. def. worth a try for 9$. read alot of good reviews on glycine too. since i added 250mg of Rhodiola in the morning as well, might be an effect of that Adaptogen too. then again i will do a washout of the supplements next month and then just try Glycine on it's own since it seems to have the strongest effect of those so far.
while i agree on all of your tips, most of them are just not doable right now, as i'm traveling, hiking and partying alot right now so time schedules change alot. so not as much routine as i'd like. but then again doing this like seeing rio de janeiro at sunrise from the highest altitude in the city after climbing for two hours is fully worth screwing up your biorhythm. that view is healing in itself.
very interesting last update on your part. interested on seeing the long term effects of slight overtraining. while maybe not the best, it's kind of my style
Edited by VastEmptiness, 10 January 2015 - 05:29 PM.
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it would be interesting to hear from other people who have tried it, and maybe we can compare setups to make more improvements.
. It kind of felt like the effects I might gain from very deep meditation, although I had not seriously meditated before that so I wouldnt really know. But it made me content to rest in the bliss of just being 
, and that was quite a big change for me also as I had been troubled by depression and anxiety for most of my life before that. I was used to living with constant unease and just struggling my way through life, so it was quite a relief to find TAG Sync 
What I don't like about SleepCycle other than the setup (fully agree) is the fact it doesn't differentiate between deep dreamless sleep and REM. i dream ALOT so i know i'm getting REM, but since i wake up alot too and feel like shit the next day, i guess theres not much of deep sleep going on. supplements so far don't help really. actual sleep meds gave me hangover. i tried phenibut at a low dose yesterday, no good result yet. the hot nights right now don't help either since i'm struggling with excessive thirst at night already.
