If you’ve ever read a Chuck Palahniuk novel, you know they are fantastic sci-fi/thriller tales sprinkled with interesting and true bits of information.  One of those interesting facts that has stuck with me is the stuff about Alpha brain waves.

The Alpha brain state is what explains those moments when you “wake up” while driving and realize you don’t really remember the past few miles.  Your mind has relaxed into meditation because you are doing repetitive actions that you’ve done a million times.

This is the same effect that yogis strive for in their meditative practices – to lull the mind into the alpha hertz cycle by doing something over and over and over (in their case breathing, stretching, and chanting) and thus achieve a higher consciousness.  But you can get the same effect just by driving your ‘94 Camry down the same stretch of road again and again.

Alpha brain state occurs anytime your brain is resting but not asleep, like before you go to bed.  Basically when your brain isn’t parked or running full speed, but when it’s idling.  “At this time the mind is clear, receptive to information, and rapidly makes ‘connections’, realizations and joins up thoughts.”*  This explains why sometimes late at night you can start to have really creative ideas and stay up late doing analytic or creative things like painting or writing.

Pretty cool stuff eh?

*-random article I found.

This article was written in September & is part of the Archives , Sean sections.