NEUROFEEDBACK BENEFITS
What are the benefits? What changes can someone expect after one, five or twenty sessions? Is neurofeedback appropriate for children?
In General, The Benefits of Neurofeedback are:
- Increased mental sharpness, focus and ability to plan and execute on mental tasks
- Improved work and school performance
- Increased sense of self-esteem and ease
- Emotional resiliency and greater ability to shift emotions to those best aligned with the present moment
- Greater calm and centeredness
- Better ability to manage stress; greater sense that life is workable rather than overwhelming
- Manage anger and irritability more easily
- Better sleep management
- Greater access to peak performance states
- Heightened creativity and spontaneity
- Easier time saying no to unhealthy habits
- Better able to implement other wellness tools such as exercise, improving diet, time in nature, sleep hygiene, time with friends
The benefits of neurofeedback are connected with how the brain can renormalize itself to create greater wellness and regulation, and reset negative mental and emotional patterns.
Through advances in brain science in the last 30 years we now understand the principle of neuroplasticity and, as a result, have developed through neurofeedback technology to optimize brain fitness.
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to adapt and rewire itself based on the feedback it receives. By measuring brainwave changes through EEG sensors and alerting the brain to its own, often maladaptive, functioning it can use that information to reset itself.
How Many Sessions of Neurofeedback Are Needed?
The number of neurofeedback sessions a client will do is dependent, in part, by which neurofeedback device they are using, and whether you are brain training in an office setting or at home.
Before going into greater detail, the short answer to the question: how many sessions will I need, is until you feel happy with the results. For many of our clients the number of sessions is between 10-40+. That is a wide range and to help you narrow the number for yourself or your child, keep reading.
For our centers and home rentals units we chose the NeurOptimal® system. We chose it for a number of reasons, but mainly because after many months of due diligence it won out over the other neurofeedback equipment for effectiveness, safety and cost savings to our clients.
Because the NeurOptimal® system is designed differently than protocol-based devices, it works on the overall functioning of the brain, not targeting specific symptoms. This difference lies in the theory that the brain, given real time information about itself, will use that information to optimize whatever maladaptive patterns are identified. Whether they are connected with sleep, emotions, mental acuity, etc.
The theory is that every brain training with NeurOptimal® will try to optimize itself to function at its best. Therefore, the number of sessions clients decide to do is dependent on the client’s goals not on external trainer deciding what they need.
There are a few variables that we have seen influence the number of neurofeedback sessions:
- Whether the client’s goals are short term shifts, such as performing well and having emotional support in a stressful period or overall wellness goals, such as peak school performance throughout grade school.
- Whether it is a child or adult training. Our observation is that children shift more quickly than adults, although not always the case.
- When there are underlying active stressors or health concerns during training changes can be slower to be seen, however, not necessarily.
Who Benefits From Neurofeedback? Can Children Do Neurofeedback?
It depends on the neurofeedback device, but with the NeurOptimal® system, the unit we use in our clinics and rentals, anyone can train. The system is safe, non-invasive, and purely a feedback system with no external forced state change.
NeurOptimal® is appropriate and safe for children. In 2018, the FDA designated the device as a General Wellness Device, confirming it safe for consumers to use directly, without need for a prescription or under the care of a health professional.
In the front range community we have many families renting neurofeedback systems for the whole family’s benefit. Typical reasons are for school and work performance, and to help with managing emotions and stressors. In general families will rent for 2-3 months and train each person 1-3 times a week. Our most satisfied Denver families rent for 3 months.
It will be no surprise that our Boulder neurofeedback sessions are also for peak athletic performance. Many of those clients brain train intensively, sometimes once a day, while preparing for a run or race.
Part of the job of our rental managers is to help clients decide how many sessions they will want to do given their goals.
How Do I Track the Results From Neurofeedback?
The NeurOptimal® system is designed to use self-reporting tools to track the changes over sessions. All of our clients are asked to fill out our Checklist every 10 sessions and rate concerns from 1 – 10 (10 being worst). They are often shocked to see the “9s” become “6s” then “3s”.
“I forgot how bad it was.”
That is a common comment clients make when we pull out their first checklist and they see the high numbers. We have seen over the years the most benefit comes when clients use the checklists. It helps build awareness and keep them motivated to train their brains.