Every brain has five processing speeds. From slowest to fastest speeds: Delta, Theta, Alpha, Low Beta, High Beta. A healthy brain needs all of these speeds throughout the day!
For example, as we wind down for the night (hopefully with a routine of turning the lights down and screens off) our brains start to produce one of the slower speeds, Theta. Then, we start to produce the slowest speed, Delta as we get into bed, close our eyes and drift into sleep.
6-8 hours later (hopefully) the moment we wake up we are a little groggy, that’s Theta again. We start moving around, showering, drinking coffee, eating breakfast. The medium processing speed, alpha, starts producing in our brains. This is the calm, alert speed. Heading off to work or class, our brain should start producing the calm, focus speed, or Low Beta, the perfect focus speed.
If you noticed, that was only 4 of the 5 speeds. The final speed is High Beta. This speed is the fastest of the 5 and kicks when we experience high stress throughout our day. This is the overdrive speed. Many of us get stuck in this overdrive speed resulting in high anxiety and burnout. Typically this speed is produced when a deadline is approaching in 30 minutes and you still have an hour of work to complete. Or you have a test in the next class that you feel ill-prepared for. Or for an extreme example, you are being chased by a bear and you are in the flight stage or fight or flight.
After those stressors have subsided, your brain ideally switches back to producing the perfect calm, focus speed, Low Beta.
ADHD brains are stuck in producing too much Theta, too much slow speed. Healthy brains are like an automatic transmissions while ADHD brains are like manual transmissions stuck in a lower gear. ADHD brains are producing too much Theta all throughout the day. Remember, theta speeds are the winding down, preparing for sleep speed. It is close to impossible for the brain to produce that calm, focus speed.
But there is hope! Through neurofeedback training, we can train the brain how to drive a manual transmission correctly! We can actually teach the brain how to get “unstuck” and how to produce the correct speeds throughout the day.
All it takes is a call! Call us today to get your first appointment scheduled!