(June 6th, 2003)
Test article: Health Pads (Gold Edition)
Test device: EEG

An electroencephalography (EEG) is a neurological test that measures the electrical signals your brain sends to the rest of your body and then records them onto a graph. An EEG is used to evaluate the cause of seizures, diagnose comas, evaluate strokes, and sleep disorders. It can also be used to determine the presence and location of brain injuries, abscesses, tumors, intracranial hemorrhages, and to confirm brain death.

Brainwaves, like all waves, are measured in two ways. The first is frequency, or speed of electrical pulses. Frequency is measured in cycles per second (cps or HZ), ranging from .5cps to 38cps. The second measurement is amplitude, or how strong the brainwave is. There are four categories of brainwaves: Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta. When we are accessing our multidimensional self we are able to use a combination of all four brainwaves.

ALPHA WAVES

Alpha Waves have a bridging capacity between our conscious and unconscious/superconscious minds, as well as a vivid imagery, and relaxed, detached awareness. When we completely relax, we shift into Alpha waves, which are between 8 and 12 cycles per second (cps). Alpha waves are slower in frequency than Beta, but have greater amplitude. A person who takes time out to reflect, meditate, or take a break from activity is often in an alpha state. When we concentrate intently on one thought, emotion, or activity we have less stimuli to process and our brains can go into Alpha waves. With Alpha wave consciousness we are not bound by time and space as we are in Beta Waves. This frees our left-brain's logical, sequential organization and allows us to also access our more creative and intuitive right brain.

Alpha brainwaves are conducive to creative problem solving, accelerated learning, mood elevation and stress reduction. Intuitive insights, creative juices, inspiration, motivation, and daydreams characterize Alpha waves. These waves are relaxed yet alert. Therefore, they provide a bridge between our conscious and unconscious and/or super conscious minds.

BETA WAVES

Beta waves represent our ability to consciously process our thoughts. We spend most of our waking moments in Beta waves, in which our brainwaves pulsate at between 13 and 39 cycles per second. In this state, our attention is focused on the day-to-day outside world. We are largely focused on the logical, sequential activity of the left hemisphere because the brain is busy processing myriad information that has arrived through our five senses.

Beta brainwaves are conducive to stimulating thinking and action. Most of our current education is beta geared, and is characterized by logical, analytical, intellectual thinking and written or verbal communication. Beta waves are the predominant brainwaves in our everyday life.

THETA WAVES

Theta waves are our unconscious creativity, inspiration and spiritual connection. Theta waves, 4 to 7 cps, are associated with the deepest experiences of meditation and creativity. Theta waves are even slower than Beta or Alpha and are typically of even greater amplitude. When we narrow our focus primarily to our inner self, we can go into Theta waves. In this state it is difficult to maintain conscious contact between our physical body and the outside world. To maintain this state of consciousness we must keep our bodies still because we are so focused on our inside world that it would not be safe to move around in the physical world.

Most often this Theta state is achieved only while sleeping and, as we all know, it is often difficult to bring the memory of our dreams into our waking life.

Results:

Control Environment Without Health Pads	Large increase in alpha brainwaves. With Health Pads