Insomnia and Neurofeedback

Insomnia

Insomnia has become an epidemic in America. Two thirds of Americans have significant difficulties sleeping intermittently throughout their life. Half of them consider their problem severe or chronic. Insomnia may be a problem getting to sleep, or staying asleep, or can be the perception of insufficient nonrestful sleep.

Insomnia as a primary disorder is often caused by significant stresses, both physical and emotional, occurring in a person's life. Often, in chronic insomniacs there is or conditioned component that keeps the insomnia going. Individuals with chronic insomnia also have physical predispositions not sleeping well. Research has revealed that the electrical activity of the brain of individuals with chronic insomnia differs significantly from healthy sleepers.

Treatment

The treatment of insomnia is multimodal. This means that a variety of different behavioral, educational, and medication modalities are useful in alleviating the condition. Medications are often appropriate, safe and effective. It is desirable, however, to find a non?medicine long term solution to the problem of insomnia. Relaxation therapy and education regarding good sleep hygiene, as well as behavior therapy are useful non-medication options to help individuals sleep better. The technique of using biofeedback to teach relaxation has been very effective in helping people get to sleep. The technique of neurofeedback is also an effective non-medication option to help restore normal sleeping patterns.

Neurofeedback is considered a form of biofeedback training, although its roots and evolution have come from different areas of science than those of biofeedback. The term biofeedback refers to treatment or training that involves allowing the individual to become consciously aware of body functions that they are normally not aware of, such as breathing patterns. The individual is then able to control these functions.

A distinct difference between neurofeedback and biofeedback is that biofeedback requires much more conscious effort and practice for the technique to be effective. In neurofeedback, the training occurs more passively, and practice of the technique outside of the training sessions is not necessary.

For more than thirty years, it has been known that the electrical activity of the brain can be shaped and modified by simple reward techniques. The various rhythms of the brainwave activity can be enhanced or suppressed by simply rewarding the individual whenever his brainwaves are in the desired range. First experiments in this field were done in cats and subsequently in monkeys using food as a reward. Later it was discovered that simple sounds, tones and visual stimuli were equally effective as rewards in humans.

The therapy was found to induce a profound deep uninterrupted sleep. In humans, one of the earliest benefits seen during training with neurofeedback is improvement of quality of sleep regardless of the condition being treated.

Neurofeedback

Neurofeedback involves the placement of wire sensors on the individual's head to measure the electrical activity of the brain (EEG). A computer then analyzes the EEG and displays the relevant information on the screen. The display can vary from an actual graph of the EEG, to animations driven by these EEG features. In addition, the computer can generate sounds related to the targeted EEG activity. These stimuli reward the individual when the brainwaves are in the desired zone. After repeated rewards the EEG activity shifts naturally to the desired profile. Often, certain dysfunctional areas of the brain are targeted by the individual's symptoms or by analysis and the overall EEG activity.

Benefits of neurofeedback can often begin in as little as five sessions. Depending on the severity of the disorder, the number of sessions required may be as little as five and as many as 50, averaging around 25-30. The effects of the training are long lasting, and typically do not require training. In some cases, occasional "booster" sessions are necessary to maintain the effect.

For more information on neurofeedback, read the book Symphony in the Brain, by Jim Bobbins, or visit the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback's web page at http://aapb.org.