Exploring the Effects of NeuroVizr’s Theta Brain Entrainment
Can NeuroVizr truly relax your brain or is it just new tech hype?
Continuing with my personal experiments on how white light flickering affects my brain activity, I decided to investigate how well NeuroVizr can calm me down.
NeuroVizr is a device that uses visual and auditory stimuli to influence brainwave patterns. Marketed as a tool to enhance various cognitive states—such as relaxation, focus, and creativity—NeuroVizr offers specific sessions that target brainwaves associated with these states. One of their offerings is the Theta brainwave entrainment session, which promises to guide the brain into a calm, meditative state by amplifying theta waves, typically associated with deep relaxation, daydreaming, and creativity.
In my previously explored experiments NeuroVizr boosted alertness which aligned to the type of sessions I chose. This time, I was very curious to see its effectiveness in inducing the desired theta (deep relaxation) state.
Over the course of one week, I used BrainBit Mindo, the EEG headband, to measure my brain activity during the NeuroVizr Theta entrainment sessions. Each session followed the same format:
- ~5 minutes of sitting quietly as a baseline
- 11 minutes of a NeuroVizr Theta session
- ~5 minutes sitting quietly again for post-session measurements
With this format, I tried to see how the NeuroVizr session compares to the baseline, as well as measure the state of my brain after the session to see how prolonged was the result.
Results
Theta Brainwave Results
To my surprise, in all but one sessions, my theta waves actually decreased during the NeuroVizr intervention; and even slightly recovered after the session when I sat quietly again. This was surprising and not at all in line with what I expected from a session meant to boost theta activity.
Beta Brainwave Results
I also measured my beta brainwaves, which are typically associated with alertness and active thinking.
In every session, my beta brainwave activity increased during the NeuroVizr Theta session compared to the baseline.
This suggests that rather than guiding my brain into the relaxed, meditative theta state promised by NeuroVizr, every single session stimulated alertness – as indicated by the rise in beta waves 😞 .
In fact, simply sitting quietly was much more deep relaxation inducing than NeuroVizr calming sessions.
Final Thoughts
NeuroVizr’s Theta brainwave entrainment sessions are meant to induce deep relaxation by enhancing theta wave activity. Theta waves are typically associated with calm and meditative mental states. However, my personal experiment showed the opposite effect: rather than amplifying theta waves, NeuroVizr sessions led to a noticeable decrease in theta activity and an increase in beta activity, associated with alertness.
This was not what I expected or what NeuroVizr advertises. Instead, the sessions seemed to put my brain into a more engaged rather than a deeply relaxed state.
I understand that this is only one person’s data, however, I’m left feeling fairly disappointed with the results. NeuroVizr’s promise to enhance theta activity and induce a relaxed mental state did not align with the outcomes I observed. While I appreciate the entertainment effect it offers, and the technology’s potential for engaging my brain in a focused way, it did not deliver the deep, restorative calm that I had hoped to achieve.
I plan to continue experimenting, possibly exploring other types of brainwave entrainment sessions, as well as Mindplace devices. But based on my experience so far, NeuroVizr’s Theta session didn’t live up to its promise of inducing a deep meditative state, and I’m left questioning whether its marketing accurately reflects the user experience when it comes to theta entrainment.
