Personalised Brain training for mind and soul
Menopause can have adverse cognitive and mental health symptoms.
Neurofeedback training has been shown to be an effective, non-invasive, medication-free treatment for many of these.
It is a complementary therapy and evidence presented is based on general applicability, rather than being menopause-specific.
Symptoms experienced during menopause include the following, and neurofeedback training has been shown to be effective for many of these:
– sleep disturbance
– brain fog: attention and working memory issues
– weight gain and body awareness issues
– headaches / migraines
– anxiety
– depression
– sexual dysfunction and impaired sense of self
– vasomotor irregularities: hot flashes, night sweats
Personalised Brain Training aims to restore a healthy sense of self by working on brain areas that are core to our individuality, and addressing areas contributing towards anxiety, mood regulation, sleep, memory and physiological self-regulation.
The process is enjoyable – while watching a movie, we obtain a real-time measurement of a particular brain area’s performance. Feedback is given via small changes in volume, which our preconscious mind understands and uses to adjust it’s behaviour, thus learning to be more efficient. The result is a feeling of calm and self-assurance, with improvements in focus, motivation and sleep. Responsiveness can usually be assessed within a few sessions.
Menopause is a phase during which we can reorient our lives to emerge with a healthier sense of self.
Neurofeedback training helps us get over the obstacles presented by adverse symptoms.
It is safe, evidence-based, non-invasive and medication-free.
With three sessions per week over six weeks, neurofeedback training improved alpha – our sense of self – and lowered delta – core sleepiness
Better sleep, focus, motivation and sense of well-being reported as she emerged from defensive, shut-down mode to active.
Headaches disappeared and humour returned.
“It’s worth it.”
Results may vary with training intensity.
Mood regulation is a common symptom experienced during menopause.
Neurofeedback is a proven treatment for depression and anxiety.
Personalised Brain Training takes a holistic approach:
There are numerous contributing brain regions that can affect our mood regulation, general awareness, focus and motivation, social and general anxiety, as well as our physiological response.
With a brain map, training becomes individual.
Anxiety can increase with hormonal changes.
Changes in perceived femininity and altered body awareness affect how we present ourselves or feel perceived.
Uncertainty about the path of this transitional process is another factor.
Neurofeedback training is an evidence-based method that can result in enduring improvements.
Cognitive decline, in particular working memory, is a frequent complaint during menopause, and has been linked to permanent changes.
Neurofeedback training can improve working memory and make positive structural improvements to our brain.
In addition, we train areas involved in attention, focus and motivation.
Sleep is usually one of the first things to change with neurofeedback training.
Chronic sleep issues can further result in cognitive decline and other symptoms.
We address brain areas responsible for falling asleep and maintaining a restorative state, among other.
Neurofeedback is an evidence-based method to improve sleep.
Neurofeedback is an effective, evidence-based method to reduce migraines.
The source and phenomenon of migraines is elusive. Elements in the brainstem that form part of our reticular activating system are suspected to be generators. Neurofeedback training seeks to calm this.
Studies have found cortical differences in migraineurs, which gives us the opportunity to train relevant brain areas. Notably these comprise parts of the Default Mode Network, which we aim to strengthen with neurofeedback.
Personalised Brain Training takes a holistic approach and we look for comorbid symptoms such as PTSD, sleep issues, mood regulation, focus and attention, and anxiety to improve. Neurofeedback is an evidence-based approach to these challenges.
Migraines can respond quickly, though often the process can be extended; secondary symptoms such as sleep, mood regulation, focus and anxiety should respond meanwhile. This usually becomes clear within the first few sessions.
Personalised Brain Training is a holistic approach to restoring better body – mind balance.
Neurofeedback - How does it work?
The menopausal transition is often accompanied by mood, memory and sleep issues.
Managing symptoms becomes important to avoid cumulative effects resulting in cognitive impairments.
Brain Maps and Personalised Brain Training
Brain Maps show Character Traits
With a Kaiser Neuromap, we can identify character traits, vulnerabilities and strengths.
This particular type of brain map shows us relevant information about functional connectivity between brain areas that govern our behaviour patterns.
For the purpose of Personalised Brain Training, we are interested in more persistent attributes than simply states. Kaiser Neuromaps make these uniquely identifiable and meaningful.
Every Brain is Individual.
A brain map is a way to break down the sources of behaviour patterns in a highly granular form and represents these visually.
Kaiser Neuromaps reveal the maturity of over 50 Brodmann areas – each with specific functions and contributions to our preconscious interpretation of our surroundings and how we interact with them.
Instead of categorisation, we get a unique and individual representations of a person’s needs and strengths, and can apply a personalised holistic training approach.
Personalised Brain Training is a neurofeedback training method devised by founders of the field, Barry Sterman and David Kaiser.
Personalised Brain Training with Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback training is a process where we give the brain feedback about its own activity at a particular cortical site in real time, via visual, auditory or tactile means.
There is no direct stimulus to the brain and the sensors attached are for measurement of cortical EEG, or tiny electrical currents detectable on the surface of our head.
This signal is then amplified and analysed by software in real-time, and this information is used to provide auditory feedback to our brain via small changes in volume.
Our pre-conscious mind responds to the feedback and corrects its behaviour while our conscious attention is focused on the reward – watching the movie at full volume.
A learning curve is observable as the brain adopts new behaviour patterns.
With neurofeedback training, we can restore functional connectivity and thus calm the mind.
The ability to balance instinct with reason enables us to share realities when needed and thus perform better in groups while preserving our individuality.
We take a holistic approach to healthy brain self-regulation, rather than categorisation or diagnosis.
Neurofeedback is evidence-based. It’s first application was discovered in 1971 when it was used to resolve intractable epilepsy.
There are over 2,000 peer-reviewed research reports on PubMed demonstrating efficacy across a number of pathologies.
In the US, it is an accepted complementary treatment for many issues.
The Process:
A qEEG recording takes about 45minutes for a 20 minute recording.
We analyse the data with Kaiser Neuromap software which gives us a unique view into character traits and vulnerabilities.
Findings are presented in a separate conversation with a training plan.
We use a movie of choice as the feedback mechanism – our conscious mind engages with the film, and feedback is delivered by small changes in volume or picture size.
Our pre-conscious mind adapts its behaviour to preserve the more comfortable volume and picture size, and learning occurs.
Volume changes are slight, not stop-start, and the process is enjoyable.
A two hour training session allows us to do 90 minutes of neurofeedback.
This captures an entire ultradian rhythm cycle and corresponds to the approximate duration of feature film movies.
We can start with shorter sessions as appropriate, mainly with children.
Ideally, we do three or more sessions per week to start with.
We would expect to see responsiveness within the first few sessions and remap after twenty hours or about ten sessions.
Generally, we would expect to doing twenty sessions over two months, though this can vary substantially.
We can also accommodate intensives, where we do two sessions per day over a number of days, and have had good results with these.
