Biohacking The Emotional Brain
The COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise. The 2020s promised to be a continuation of collective and individual awakenings. Augmented humans, bio destinies, the reputation economy. These are not chapters in your favorite SciFi book; they are trends that started to take off in real life during the 2010s.
"The past is just a story we keep telling ourselves." Those are the wise words of Samantha, a virtual assistant with adaptive artificial intelligence featured in the movie HER. What is the story we will tell ourselves once the pandemic is over?
Story #NH (never happened). We sweep the dirt under the rug, pretend 2020 never happened plus write out COVID-19, and move on with our lives. But the body keeps the score and repressed trauma rarely leads to a positive outcome. COVID-19 is causing collective trauma - how can we better cope? Can we tune in with ourselves early on, understand the grief, and nurture the recovery?
Scientific advances in our understandings of the brain and emotions could help us chart the course for a healthy emotional survival of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I think feel, therefore I am
In everyday talk, we use emotions and feelings interchangeably. But for neuroscience researchers, emotions belong to the body while feelings develop in the brain. Emotions are nothing more than complex reactions our body has to internal or external factors. When we run into a snake, our body has a fight-or-flight response: blood pressure increases, the mouth gets dry, and muscles contract. These bodily reactions, aka emotions, are automatic and unconscious. The feeling of fear, on the other hand, occurs after the brain becomes aware of the physical responses.
Feelings primarily ensue as a result of emotions being experienced in the body. The folk saying that "my heart says yes, but my mind says no" holds some truth. The heart is the first to experience a situation. It takes slightly longer for the brain to process the emotional feedback received from the body and characterize this feedback as a specific feeling. In between those states - where we experience the emotion but the brain has yet to process it into a feeling - we end up confused and perplexed because the brain holds mixed signals as it’s “downloading the updates."
Yet, feelings don’t always start in the body. Feelings can also be self-induced by "simulations" in the brain. Experiencing sympathy for someone is an excellent example of a self-induced feeling. The brain can use its creative powers to recreate feelings even when it’s not our body that experiences these emotions. Sympathy for a sick person means that the brain simulates that person's pain to a certain degree internally.
An organism possesses feelings when it can map body functions to related changes that occur in the brain. This feedback loop is the only way an organism can survive in an ever-changing environment. The brain continually needs up-to-date information on the body's state to regulate all the processes that keep it alive. But the mapping of our physical state is not precise science and the brain can turn a deaf ear. For example, the brain can dismiss physical signals transmitted by pain stimuli like extreme stress or extreme fear, even physical pain.
Changing the brain's radio frequencies
“The brain functions in different states, much like a radio operates at AM and FM frequency bands [...] It’s as if the brain is normally tuned to FM stations to access memories, but needs to be tuned to AM stations to access subconscious memories.”
Across cultures, we use a similar expression to refer to past traumatic experiences. Someone has a "dark past," "un pasado oscuro," "eine dunkle Vergangenheit." Researchers recently came up with a scientific explanation for this idiom. They discovered that traumatic memories hide in the brain, in deep, dark pockets of memory almost impossible to access. Just like the brain can engage the immune system to fight infections, it also plays a crucial role in shielding us from the psychological impact of traumatic events. Scientists discovered a unique type of brain receptors that help encode memories of fear-inducing events. The fascinating thing is that these receptors encode the traumatic event and then store it away, hidden from consciousness. Out of sight, out of mind.
Inside the Command Center
Brain science has a gory past. Back in the day, doctors would drill holes in monkey heads to attach sensors that could map the brain activity. These days, we have a more elegant way to record electrical activity emitted from the brain with electroencephalography (EEG). Companies like NeuraLink are looking beyond the horizon, trying to understand and interact with the brain via symbiotic brain-machine interfaces.
Using EEG studies, we discovered that the brain emits different types of electrical waves. The difference in brain waves is a close indication of what's going on in one's mind.
Gamma waves = Awareness, insight; often associated with expanded consciousness and problem solving
Beta waves = Alertness, learning; alert consciousness fired up when you're actively thinking
Alpha waves = Relaxation, reflection; an "open state of mind"
Theta waves = Dreaming, flow state; deep relaxation or meditation, REM sleep
Delta waves = Deep, healing state; the lowest (aka quietest) brain frequency linked to deep sleep and loss of body awareness
Biohacking ideas for brain rewiring
The brain can change its structure and function through thought and brain-training activities. Popular belief once held that our intelligence and habits are soldered in during childhood. But in the 2007 book, The Brain That Changes Itself, neuroscientist Norman Doidge socialized the idea that once wired, the brain could still rewire itself.
Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to adapt and rewire. Our brain uses native methods to wire itself naturally. During the past several decades, scientists have coined techniques that enable us to "hack" these brain wirings and influence the brain’s neuroplasticity.
Autogenic training is a relaxation technique centered on repeating a series of mental visualizations. Self-suggestions induce passive concentration on bodily perceptions like the heaviness and warmth of the arms and legs. Autogenic training emerged from the close examination of people immersed in a hypnotic state. Specifically, scientists noticed that physiological changes co-occur with certain feelings in the brain. For the curious minds, I’ve lined up a quick guide to autogenic training and you can access it at this link.
Biofeedback training drives greater awareness of various physiological functions. Using digital or mechanical devices, one can learn to control body functions such as the heart rate. Biofeedback devices range from portable music recommenders that can help you moderate your breathing to personalized apps that can capture muscle tension and recommend various relaxation techniques. For the daring reader, there's also a futuristic headwear that could double as a Halloween costume if the device proves hopeless in biofeeback training.
Neurofeedback training tries to improve brainwave activity and one's ability to transition into a specific brainwave range or "state of mind." Neurofeedback is a reward system that teaches the brain how to function more optimally. Direct visualization of the brain activity on an EEG allows the patient to comprehend how the brain is "doing." Next, brain activity visualizations enable the patient to exploit neuroplasticity and build "mental muscles." Neurofeedback training gets credit in clinical circles for helping people with ADHD enhance their ability to focus and for having a positive effect on depression. Also, neurofeedback training has supporters within celebrity circles. Tony Robbins, a motivational speaker, claims that neurofeedback training is "one of the most valuable things I've done in my life."
These brain-training techniques are ways for you to tune into your brain’s frequencies. Through consistent practice, you can even build the skill to drift into a particular state of mind on demand. But if these training frameworks sound too audacious, yoga will come to the rescue. Widely adopted in wellness forums, yoga features positive benefits backed by science. I’m convinced that with further reading on the subject matter we can all take a voyage of light on yoga.
