The world is a battlefield filled with uncertainties and challenges. The struggle for excellence is becoming stiffer, with the stakes even higher than ever. Whether you’re a student, employee or businessman, the only way to excel is by functioning at your very best. What if I told you boosting your brainpower and operating at the highest level possible can be as easy as putting on a pair of headphones?
The conversation involving binaural beats is one that is slowly penetrating every sphere of life. Binaural beats are believed to improve your overall quality of life by modulating brain waves. You may even decide to take it a step further by customizing the binaural beat to elicit a particular cognitive effect when you listen to the sounds at varying frequencies.
As effective as binaural beats have proven to be when it comes to influencing the mind, they may get even more powerful and life changing when you pair them with nootropics. When combined correctly, binaural beats and nootropics have the potential to produce a synergy that will not only boost your brainpower, but will also change the quality of your life while maintaining peak cognitive performance.
The stress reducing effects of nootropics can greatly enhance your binaural beat session. This is because most nootropics reduce cortisol, helps you relax and promotes bloodflow in the brain, thus making your sessions more deeper.
How do Binaural beats work?
All over the world binaural beats are used to improve the quality of life, especially among circles that understand its benefits. When combined with other activities like guided meditation, binaural beats can be a very powerful tool. But how do they really work?
Binaural beats bring the separate brain hemispheres together, causing them to find the difference in frequency of the separate sounds heard in both ears. This connection between the hemispheres helps the brain to synchronize with itself, and can make other brain waves synchronize with the frequency of the beat through entrainment.
When your brain is placed in a relaxed theta or alpha state, it drastically lowers cortisol production and improves cognition. Also, your breathing might become deeper which will cause even more oxygen to make its way into the bloodstream and subsequently the brain. When this happens, your heart rate might reduce causing your blood pressure to also drop. It might be difficult for some people to enter this state of relaxation by themselves, and this is where binaural beats come in. Binaural beats can effectively help in inducing much calmer states and help in meditation.
Apart from boosting your brain power, there are other ways in which binaural beats can help improve your overall performance, a few of them include;
Improved Memory
When you are in either alpha or theta state, there is a level of calmness and tranquility that aids easy access to your existing memories and makes it easier to form new memories.
Enhanced Learning
Binaural beats are great for learning. While studying new material, lower brain waves help in reducing distraction and improves your ability to selectively focus while learning, thereby making the process much easier.
Heightened Focus
During the process of meditation, you may induce alpha and theta brainwave states (More about alpha brainwaves in this post). These states come as a result of absolute focus and are known to increase concentration and sharpen your focus and attention.
Relaxing the brain with Nootropics
The effect of stress on your mind can be catastrophic. It might just be the fastest and most efficient mind killer (in a good way). Most pills that are available as stress relievers also have a sedative function. That means, when you take these pills to relieve your stress levels, it impairs your cognitive abilities. While it leaves you relaxed, it may be detrimental for your brainpower. Luckily, nootropics are also efficient stress relievers without having to sacrifice your mental clarity.
Reducing anxiety with Nootropics for a better binaural experience
Have you skipped having fun at a party because of your unsettling nerves? Or maybe you have missed out from having an amazing evening because you feared many people would be there. These are signs of chronic anxiety and apart from limiting the places you can go or the things you can do, anxiety can also hinder an amazing binaural experience. Nootropics can help with total relaxation, which is needed to effectively use binaural beats. Here are a few nootropics that can help relieve anxiety.
Vitamin B6, B9 and B12
Vitamin B is an essential nutrient that is important in maintaining optimum health and mental function. There have been several studies that claim that vitamin B is also very effective in stress and anxiety relief. An example is a study conducted to determine the effect of B vitamins on salivary cortisol levels. Also, vitamin B6 is also known to relieve anxiety symptoms in older women.
Rhodiola Rosea
This nootropic is a herbal adaptogen, effective in helping people alleviate social anxiety symptoms. Although it is largely known for its anxiety alleviation abilities, it is also known to improve performance under stress.
L-Theanine
L-theanine is a popular nootropic found in green tea. It is largely used to induce a calming and relaxing state which is effective in relieving stress and anxiety. L-theanine may reduce stress levels in your body by reducing heart rate and lowering cortisol levels. L-theanine carries out its function by inducing alpha waves in the brain. Its range of effects include mood enhancement, relaxation and anxiety relief.
Increasing Blood Flow and brain cell activity
The circulatory system in the body is a large contributor to optimum brain functionality. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is important in ensuring brain function is kept at peak level. When there is insufficient blood flow to the brain, degeneration occurs and subsequently, causes irreversible damage to the brain. Fortunately, nootropics can prevent this by increasing the amount of blood flow to the brain. Nootropics may act as a vasodilator. That is, it dilates the blood vessels in the brain. Utilizing natural nootropics will not only improve blood circulation, but will also provide important requirements like oxygen, nutrients and energy to the brain. This, as we all know, is great for cognitive function.
What are the best Nootropics to take while using binaural beats?
Nootropics perform numerous functions; from improving relaxation, altering brain waves, enhancing cognitive abilities to inducing the release of neurotransmitters. A combination of binaural beats and nootropics has the potential of powerfully enhancing cognitive functions and influencing brain wave activation. Some nootropics pair best with binaural beats, a few of them include;
1. L-Theanine
This nootropic is efficient in alpha brain waves boosting. A combination of binaural beat and 200 mg of L-theanine will produce a powerful and effective response as opposed to using either of them individually.
2. Citicoline
Citicoline is capable of energizing the brain and promoting the firing of more neurons. This is particularly important in helping the brain make better and more productive use of the energy that is supplied to it. Citicoline helps the brain in the production of chemicals such as dopamine, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine and is also known to help in enhancing concentration, attention, memory, focus, as well as promote sharpness and rational thinking. A combination of about 1,000 mg or 2,000 mg of citicoline and binaural beats every day will generally improve cognition, alertness and overall brainpower.
3. L-Tyrosine
L-Tyrosine works particularly well with binaural beats as a result of its ability to promote memory retention and improve mood by producing neurotransmitters and eliminating stress hormones that may also cause anxiety or depression when there are factors such as sleep deprivation or environmental factors that cause stress. L-Tyrosine, especially taken as N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine which is the most preferred form, together with binaural beats of alpha or theta waves can enhance memory, improve mood and sustain mental alertness.
4. Rhodiola Rosea
This nootropic is known to grow in cold regions. The roots of this plant are referred to as adaptogens. Its mechanism of action includes the suppression and release of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Therefore, it is a potent stress reliever. Additionally, this nootropic can also be used to allay the symptoms of depression. This action of lowering cortisol levels works in perfect cohesion with the ability of binaural beats to control cortisol levels using alpha brain waves. The implication is that rhodiola and binaural beats produce a powerful combination that can serve as the last line of attack against elevated stress levels.
5. Racetams
Although the general consensus of the ever-growing nootropic community is slowly backing out from the use of racetams, their efficiency with binaural beats is worth trying out still. For example, aniracetam. Even if other racetams may be effective when you use them, special attention must be given to aniracetam for its effectiveness against elevated stress levels, anxiety, poor quality moods, and many more. Reducing anxiety and lowering stress levels is crucial to concentration and focus as everyone who has ever had a problem with concentration or focus lists anxiety or stress as its principal cause. Aniracetam when combined with binaural beats will help with traces of anxiety, memory and even learning.
Conclusion
As we wrap up, we must restate a major point to note. While it is impossible to deny the effectiveness of nootropics and binaural beats individually, a combination of these practices will be unstoppable. However, caution must be taken when dealing with nootropics as overdoses are detrimental to your health.