EEG activity  gives visual feedback levels that indicates when we are alert and active (beta),  receptive to hypnagogic images (alpha), receptive to intuitive feedback (theta), or in deep sleep activity (delta). With the gamma level of brainwave activity we are at an advanced state of brain interconnection, coordination, and functioning. Beta is a high form of awareness and comprehension, but gamma is an even higher form of awareness and comprehension with a purer focus. Gamma purer focused actively is about being  efficient and allows for some extraordinary happenings to take place. The efficiency of gamma wave activity results in an increase in the amplitude of electric oscillations, but paradoxically because of the efficiency less energy is being used. Purer focused gamma can link or bond different areas of our brain. Purer focused gamma waves become fast-spiking (FS) interneurons that link and bond sensory neurons with motor neurons. Gamma wave linking and bonding helps with: 1.) Limbic-Neocortex connections, and 2.) unconscious and conscious connections. Thus, gamma activity is attuned to brain activity that takes us into deeper levels of Limbic and Neocortex involvement in sexuality, love, morality, emotions, and consciousness.

Brainwaves  are the combination of electrical activity taking place in the brain due to brain cells using electricity to communicate. It is the combination of neuronal activity that makes for brainwave patterns. A brainwave pattern has  electrical activity with cyclic “wave-like” motions. Brainwave patterns include two or more neurons (usually many) oscillating synchronously. Synchronistic in the sense that left-right hemispheres together can generate brain waves. Importantly, brainwave patterns can be generated pan-environmentally —> by an internal environmental or external environmental  stimulus. Brain activity is recorded according to the reaction to this stimulus. Human mind-body input can slow down or increase brain activity. Brainwave activity that significantly slows down is probably indicating REM sleep (REM sleep is deep sleep). Deep sleep is vital for both brain and body health. Sleep research suggests that we need a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep each night. When brain activity picks up there is an increase in brain consciousness, awareness, comprehension, and hopefully useable knowledge (review CACK Model).  

Austrian psychiatrist Hans Berger wanted to know if brain electricity can be recorded. In 1908, he invented a machine to record electric current (brainwaves). Berger’s initial device was not sophisticated, but it is because of him we have the first recording of brain waves. 1.) Electroencephalography (EEG) Machine: electro = electrical,  encephalon = head, and graph = drawing or picture. Electroencephalography depicts brainwave electricity.  EEG measures the frequency (speed) of electrical current oscillations (voltage fluctuations).  The brain waves are graphically shown and presented on a piece of paper. EEG  medical uses include diagnosing epilepsy, coma, and brain death, and 2.) Digital electroencephalogram is a more sophisticated EEG that measures higher level brain activity. With digital it is possible to pick up gamma waves (more to come).  

Wilhelm Reich, MD was an Austrian-American psychiatrist who focused on the biological energy that exists in the human body. Reich indicated that within our biological activity there exists an extraordinary amount of energy. He focused on bio-energetics! Reich was well ahead of his time and on the fringes of psychiatry of his day.  He discovered “orgone energy.” Reich maintained that orgone energy comes from the original primordial Cosmic energy and he tied it into sexual energy. Reich talked in terms of orgone energy having orgiastic potency and he built an orgone energy accumulator machine. Reichian bio-energetics emphasized deep energetic capabilities in an orgasm. It is unfortunate that Reich concentrated so much of his theory on its sexual component. This sexual talk frightened the repressive Victorian Society of his day. In many ways he is in a long line of heretical theorists bearing messages that are well ahead of their time.

Brain Electricity –  In previous posts, I discussed quantum cerebrology and the neuro-chemical components of the brain. In this post, I focus on brain electricity (energy) component. According to Jack Huberman, “human brains are demanding organs:  they make up only 2.4% of the body’s mass, but devour 20% of its energy.” (2007) Our brain is an organ generating a tremendous amount of electrical impulses. There is a large amount of electrical capacity in the gray matter of the human brain. The estimate is that an average size brain (3 ½ lbs.) has the capacity to generate 10-14 watts of electricity (enough to power a flashlight). Our brains are electrified, electrically powered, and have neurons transmitting electrical information from cell to cell. Electrical impulses fire chemical messages (neurotransmitters) at the synaptic junction to receptors on the other side of the synaptic gap. This electrification greatly adds to the brain’s swiftness of action (speed). Our goal should be how to best use this electricity, how to best focus, and how to have our brains function and work with the most efficiency. Without focus a lot of the details of incoming information to the brain are missed and electricity is lost.