Do Binaural Beats Work, & What Can They Do For Us?

It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

So, no question/request too big or small 😎

❝What is the science of binaurial beats, do they work E.g for sleep, or for brain health?❞

Well, first of all, sleep is for brain health already! But let’s look at the science of binaural beats…

First, a recap

We’ve actually not written much about this topic before, although it got a mention when we had Dr. Mark Hyman as featured expert, and as it happens he’s a fan of binaural beats, as we wrote:

Get quality sleep

Quality here, not just quantity. As well as the usual “sleep hygiene” advices, he has some more unorthodox methods, such as the use of binaural beats to increase theta-wave activity in the brain (and thus induce more restful sleep), and the practice of turning off Wi-Fi, on the grounds that Wi-Fi signals interfere with our sleep.

We were curious about these recommendations, so we checked out what the science had to say! Here’s what we found:

Minimal Effects of Binaural Auditory Beats for Subclinical Insomnia: A Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Study

Spending the night next to a router – Results from the first human experimental study investigating the impact of Wi-Fi exposure on sleep

In short: probably not too much to worry about in those regards. On the other hand, worrying less, unlike those two things, is a well-established way improve sleep!

(Surprised we disagreed with our featured expert on a piece of advice? Please know: you can always rely on us to stand by what the science says; we pride ourselves on being as reliable as possible!)

Read in full: The Five Pillars Of Longevity ← the rest of his advices were more science-backed!

The only other mention we’ve had of binaural beats previously was in a guest article, that noted:

Another potential method claimed to purportedly change brain states involves different sensory inputs. Binaural beats are perhaps the most popular example, wherein two different wavelengths of sound are played in each ear. But the evidence for such techniques is similarly mixed.

Read in full: Alpha, beta, theta: what are brain states and brain waves? And can we control them?

…which is not really a very good start, is it?

Next, some of the latest science

That “mixed” evidence does include some good in there, and sometimes positive and negative results in the same studies.

For example, a paper in “Sleep Breath” reported:

❝Compared to baseline and control conditions, BB intervention resulted in significant improvements in objective sleep quality in terms of increased sleep efficiency and marginal reductions in sleep latency, suggesting more consolidated sleep. In contrast, subjective sleep quality measures did not show corresponding improvements.

The cognitive performance, participants exhibited longer reaction times and a marginal decrease in unaware errors following BB intervention, implying improved inhibitory control without generalized performance enhancements.❞

Source: Sleep modulation by binaural beats and its relation to error-aware response inhibition

However, we would note that “increased sleep efficiency” can be a double-edged sword, since if you get less sleep, the sleep that you do get will tend to be more efficient (unless you are perhaps being tortured or something), since your body will prioritize doing what it can during the time available.

Another recent study found:

❝Delta binaural beat did not reduce sleep onset time, but improved sleep maintenance parameters, including increasing the duration of N3 and REM sleep and reducing the amount and number of awakenings. The findings of this study also suggest that delta binaural beats can possibly synchronize EEG rhythms with its frequency to improve sleep maintenance.

However, further studies are needed to prove this claim.❞

In other words:

• Will it help you to get to sleep? Probably not
• But will you stay asleep better? Probably yes

…but that could also be the same “sleep efficiency” switcheroo whereby the body is forced to sleep more efficiently once it gets to sleep, because it didn’t get to sleep as early as it might like.

You can read this one in full, here: The effect of delta binaural beat on sleep onset and maintenance based on EEG signal analysis

Want to do something more strongly evidence-based?

Firstly, you might want to consider: Non-Sleep Deep Rest: A Neurobiologist’s Take

Additionally, for calming the mind in general and thus improving sleeping indirectly, see: The Off-Button For Your Brain

And for the most strongly evidence-based of all, then what you want is: No-Frills, Evidence-Based Mindfulness

Once the usefulness and health benefits of meditation have been established, often people want to meditate, but complain they don’t have the time.

But that’s not the real reason, though, is it?

Let’s face it, a basic meditation can give benefits within two minutes. Or within two breaths, for that matter. So, it’s not really for a lack of time.

The real reason is because it doesn’t feel productive, and it’s not fun. For us to feel motivated to do a thing, usually we need at least one or the other. And even if we know it really is productive, it not feeling that way will hobble us.

So, instead, check out: Meditation Games That You’ll Actually Enjoy

Take care!