Understanding Affirmations and Brainwaves

Affirmations and Brainwaves 101

Using affirmations at night while you sleep has an added benefit that is not commonly understood by those who use daily affirmations on a conscious level. Sleep is when the primary brainwaves that are beneficial to your learning and creativity take place; these are known as the Alpha and the Theta brainwaves.  Affirmation users have often understood that the prime time to state their positive intentions were right before falling asleep and right after waking up. This is the period of transition when your brainwaves are switching from Alpha to Theta when you go to sleep and from Theta to Alpha when you wake. By stating your affirmation intentions at this time, you are targeting the Theta brainwaves which are also associated with more subconscious activity rather than conscious activity.  The only brainwaves that are associated with conscious activity are the Beta and Alpha brainwaves. The Alpha brainwaves are associated with resting and relaxation while eyes are closed. If you were to open your eyes during this brainwave cycle, you will go back into a Beta brainwave state.

Understanding this, when you use affirmations during the day you are on the Beta cycle of brainwaves which is a wakened state. The conscious mind is alert and has the ability to deny the acceptance of anything it receives. The conscious mind has to believe in the recited affirmation in order to accept it otherwise it is simply rejected. This is the error in daily affirmation use that so many do not understand. The history books of affirmation use and practice typically all express that affirmations are used during the day to submit affirmation intentions into the mind to create change. The unfortunate factor that is missing is that the conscious mind can just reject it to. This causes affirmation users to be discouraged with their progress and give up. The fault is not in the affirmations, it is in the conscious mind not believing in the statement.

Understanding the Sleep Cycle

To be most successful with affirmations, you need to remove the conscious mind from the equation. To do this you need to be in the transitioning phase of the Alpha brainwaves where you are entering the Theta brainwaves. This removes the conscious mind from the picture because as stated above, the conscious mind is most present in the Beta brainwaves and is submerging lower in sleep during the Alpha brainwaves. Once you have fallen asleep, you have moved into the Theta brainwaves and this is where the subconscious mind is active. This is where you want to target your affirmations, directly to the Theta brainwaves. In order to create change and establish beliefs it is best practice to use affirmations at night. Use affirmations nightly to receive best results and enforce those affirmations with conscious reminders that help to pull your embedded nightly affirmations forward.

During your sleeping cycle, your brainwaves will rotate through your brainwaves in a manner as listed below:

Phase 1 – Alpha Wave Activity – signals the beginning of the cycle
Phase 2 – Theta Wave Activity
Phase 3 – Delta Wave Activity
Phase 4 – REM (Rapid Eye Movement)
Phase 5 – Theta Wave Activity – signal the ending of the cycle

Phase 1-3 – have a combined average of 65 minutes in length
Phase 4 – has an average of  20 minutes in length
Phase 5 – is only about 5 minutes in length on average

ref: The Owner’s Manual for the Brain Third Edition Pierce J. Howard, Ph.D.

These cycles will continue to run throughout your sleep cycle until you wake up. This allows for optimal time in which to program your positive thoughts directly to the subconscious mind. Without the conscious mind interference present in the Beta brainwave, your intentions are absorbed faster and with little effort. Using a specialized recording unit like the ThoughtDr from Awake2000.com you have the ability to program your affirmations and then play them back throughout the night with hibernation periods in between the repetition phases. The default setting is set at 90 minutes of hibernation because on average we dream in 90 minute cycles and helps to target all the necessary brainwave cycles. Settings are adjustable however to assist the user in optimizing a program schedule that is right for them. You could use personal recorders or CD players with affirmation CD’s to arrive at a similar outcome. The tasks of changing and setting up new affirmations is a bit tedious and far exceeds the less than 5 minutes it takes to record, set, and start the ThoughtDr affirmation unit.

Continuing Your Program

Do not stop using daily affirmations all together when using your nightly affirmations. There are benefits to using both styles together that help to manifest the desires you are looking to achieve. Where nightly affirmations are best for programming directly to the source where your affirmations need to be absorbed, daily affirmations help to pull that information forward through the conscious mind.  Affirmations can help you excel and perform to your highest abilities, but you have got to use them in the manner that gives you the most benefit. Whether you are improving confidence, health, wealth, or a host of other possibilities, engaging in a nightly affirmation routine will progress you faster than using daily affirmations on their own.

Maintain Positivity