What is NeurOptimal® Neurofeedback?

Advances in modern day technology have created exceptional improvements. How we work, learn, connect, and interact will never be the same.

With all these advances, however, people often report feeling the pace of life and constant technological connectivity overwhelming and feel burdened by “time compression syndrome.”

Despite the comforts of this modern lifestyle, there is an alarming rise in the amount of reported depression, anxiety, agitation, apathy, concentration and attention issues, impaired sleep, fatigue, brain fog, loneliness, and overall dissatisfaction with life.

In adapting to all these accelerated developments in technology, we are observing brains that are more distracted, anxious, reactive, overall less flexible, and having a harder time finding peace.

So how can we help our brains adapt to the ever-changing reality of life? On a normal day, your brain needs tremendous flexibility to shift from different states of consciousness and awareness.

Think of it like your car shifting gears. The amount of “brain speed” required for a complex situation at work is different from the amount for relaxation and sleep.

A flexible brain that can shift more easily between gears has an easier time functioning and is more resilient. If you are constantly stuck in one gear, either going too fast or too slow, you put stress on the transmission and can eventually wear it out!

NeurOptimal® can be thought of as a brain workout. It is a system that helps to train your brain to be more flexible and resilient.

The NeurOptimal® neurofeedback system interacts with your nervous system in a way that helps to improve neural plasticity. Ideally, we want our brain to be able to adapt and respond quickly to changes in our environment leading us to flexible engagement with the world that we live in.

The more easily your brain adjusts to changes experienced in a typical day, the more at peace you feel. On the other hand, a brain that is rigid, less adaptable, and controlling will often feel drained and stressed by the challenges of their life.

Using NeurOptimal® neurofeedback can also help increase brain resilience. Resiliency is the ability to “bounce back” from a stressful or negative event. Uniquely, the human mind can hold onto negative feelings for tremendous periods of time after the actual event has passed.

This “negativity bias” of the brain to remember bad experiences longer than the positive ones, can lead to nervousness, rumination, or self-critical thinking that can make us feel “stuck.”

These negative aspects of the brain can be magnified in more severe life events such as physical or emotional trauma, death of a loved one, weather catastrophes or other significant crises.

Instead of remaining stuck in the “storm of negativity” surrounding events such as these, the resilient brain can bounce back to baseline more quickly. In addition, the more resilient brain can see the “greater story” in these events.

This contextualization imparts a sense of agency which fosters a feeling of empowerment despite the hardships leading to a greater sense of peace and joy.