Everyone knows (or should know) that it’s vital to exercise your body right? What about your brain? Binaural beats help give you a good workout for your mind in many different ways. It can also help the rest of your body as well! But what are binaural beats exactly?

Binaural beats are a form of natural science that dates back to ancient times and has just had leaps in the development of it in the last and present century. In ancient times, people knew that this rhythmic sound or sound repetition have many benefits and effects to the human body before the scientific community proved it.

There is a founder of the modern binaural beats though which was originally discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilhem Dove who was a physicist and meteorologist. A biophysicist named Doctor Gerald Oster was the one who brought it to the primary stream use of the public in the 1970s. Now it is used all over the world and in daily situations.

So how do they work? While using a good set of headphones, a slightly different sound frequency to each ear is sent simultaneously. It causes a physiological response from the brain, and it perceives a third tone that is based on the mathematical difference between the two frequencies that are sent through each ear. The mind follows the new frequency, and it produces brainwaves at the same rate of hertz.

There are five brainwave states, and each of them has different benefits. Delta which produces 0.1-4 Hz, helps with sleep, various pain relief issues, body regeneration and healing like anti ageing and organ restoration, and helps with accessing the unconscious part of the mind. Theta produces 4-8 Hz and helps with rem sleep, and deep relaxation helps with inner peace and meditation and boosts creativity states. Alpha produces 8-14 Hz and helps you with a relaxed focus, reduces stress, helps form positive thinking, and accelerates the learning flow state of mind. Beta produces 14-30 Hz and helps focus attention on various things, raises the level of your cognition and analytical thinking and problem solving, also helps with giving you more energy and motivation. Gamma produces 30-100 Hz and helps with high-level information processing, cognitive enhancement, remembering things more clearly, have better awareness and transcendental states.

It is best not to assume that all of the frequencies mentioned within each of the states range will produce the benefits listed. They are a general association only. Specific frequencies can be associated with particular states; different results will happen in the high, middle and low areas of each brainwave state that you select. Remember, everybody’s brain is different, so you need to find which ones work best for you.

Meditation is commonly practised while listening to binaural beats, and some even use subliminal messaging or hypnosis to enhance their listening experience.

There is also another form of rhythmic sound called Isochronic tones that has surfaced around in the late 1990s. Even though it has only been around for a short time, it has had extremely positive feedback from the public. Both of the rhythmic sounds have been proven to work effectively. So if binaural beats don’t seem to work well for you, try isochronic tones instead.