sleep

The most effective treatment for chronic insomnia is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Though effective over the long term, CBT requires specialized training in behavioral sleep medicine therapies. Early neurofeedback (EEG biofeedback) training protocols have been shown to be effective therapy for insomnia (Hauri et al 1982). This training involves the use of real-time, processed electroencephalographic (EEG) activity for feedback to subjects for gradually reducing hyperarousability evident in the EEG. In this pilot study we evaluated the efficacy of a simple but comprehensive neurofeedback training protocol in chronic insomniacs in our Center. Our design utilized a retrospective analysis of clinical data to assess benefit of this training in a real world clinic population

How NeurOptimal® potentially interfaces with, and restores, natural sleep rhythms. New evidence mapping cellular networks underlying the brain’s circadian timing nucleus has provided a potential locus of control for the human circadian rhythm (HCR). This network provides a biologically plausible regulatory site for external influence of the HCR-notably pharmacologic agents, environmental influence, and particularly salient to this presentation, NeurOptimal®.

EEG Biofeedback In EEG biofeedback (neurofeedback), a real-time display of the brain’s electrical activity, fed back as visual or auditory information, enables the user to modify that brainwave activity. In a 2010 keynote address to the International Society for Neurofeedback and Research, Doidge23 suggested that the misperception that the adult brain was fixed and unchangeable “led scientists to doubt the claims made by the pioneers of neurofeedback.”23 Only with the discovery of neuroplasticity did the work of neurofeedback investigators and clinicians begin to find acceptance among other researchers. Still, for some time, there existed limited evidence as to whether EEG biofeedback directly affects neuroplasticity, resulting in ongoing skepticism about its potential as a restorative therapeutic modality. However, several recent studies utilizing transcranial magnetic stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have demonstrated objective, temporally direct changes in cortical activation and connectivity as a result of neurofeedback.24,25