EEG Neurofeedback by Brain Trainer Review By The Rational Biohacker

What are we doing when we do EEG NeuroFeedback? 

We are Exercising the brain to self regulate allowing you to sleep better, function better , by altering the waves.  excersing the brain’s ability to self regulate. Allowing you to have  better sleep , better state management etc.

How should I best prep myself before using EEG? 

Again as with any high end biohack if you’re going to spend the vast sums of cash you need to prep your body well. I suggest for people to copy a lifestyle similar to what they do to people on 40 years of Zen i.e. Ban Alcohol 3 months prior to starting this out and cleaning your diet by following the bulletproof infographic below:

https://blog.bulletproof.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Bulletproof-Diet-Infographic-Vector.pdf

I recommend during your Brain training sessions to keep your brain in ketosis ( this can very depending as people respond to ketosis differently) Take supplements like Brain octane oil/ caprylic acid to ensure your brain is fully charged on healthy food that it wants. Avoid brain fog inducing dairy, gluten and bad sleep. Make sure you’re well rested so you can obtain the full benefits of an EEG session. You need to have discipline to make this work. You can’t expect cognitive enhancement if your brain isn’t being treated right before hand.

What do you get with the signature  Brain Trainer EEG Package? 

• 4 Channel Cap 
• Q-Wiz which can also use HEG
• 4 hours of educational system support plus continuous Email support. More often than not immediate responses even after 2 years of purchase. This will be more than enough time to learn how to do  EEG neurofeedback by yourself.
• 3 Tubs of Electrode gel that will need filling 
• 2 silver ear clips 

Five Stages of Neurofeedback training

Stage 1: You pay for the product and they ship it. 

Stage 2: You receive the product and arrange a Skype session to map your brain and see which areas need training 

Stage 3 : You will receive an email of your results followed by a training plan showing you which areas of the brain need training. 

Stage 4: They will show you via Skype how to work the equipment and you can begin training. Usually each session requires you to stare at a screen between 35 minutes – 1 hour. The learning curve is steep for the first 3-4 sessions but then you should be able to fully function the equipment by yourself after that. 

Stage 5: Wash and dry your EEG cap and equipment.  You will be sent information on how to do this.

Why Braintrainer.com over Neuroptimal and 40 Years of zen? 

• Less limitations: 40 Years of Zen lasts for 10 days and Neuroptimal lasts for a 200 sessions. With Brain Trainer’s Neurofeedback EEG system there’s no limitations on the amount of sessions you can do. You can use it as much as you want on  different parts of the brain. This is different to  Neuroptimal which focuses on altering only one specific part of  the brain’s waves. 
• Less cost: Brain Trainer comes at a one off cost of £2000 including the cap whereas Neuroptimal comes in at around £5500 and you’ll have to pay additional after that when you’ve ran out of sessions. As for 40 years of Zen its way more in terms of cost at £10,000 including the inconvenience of having to fly out to the US  and the costs associated with staying in a hotel for 10 days etc. 
• The Brain Trainer device can be used by all of the family whereas Neuroptimal and 40 years of Zen are limited to just one person. Brain Trainer’s protocol can be adapted for the rest of your family providing you pay for the additional test to have their brain mapped of course .  
• Neuroptimal has seen some complaints from neuroscience bloggers that it mayn’t be anywhere near as effective as regular neurofeedback. For more information please read:h

https://en.chaussenot.net/neuroptimal-avoue-enfin-ne-pas-etre-du-neurofeedback?fbclid=IwAR1LqNvRW1v-1VNB0K3_UE5WqNd0eEbgI9uI61oZjS-GILlgH2YLKbaYdNg

• Brain trainer’s Devices are far more effective than the other cheaper EEG systems on the market like Muse based off a quick amazon search through reviews citing the headbands ineffectiveness as picking up brain wave readings. 

Pros: 

• Felt increased creativity and cognition post-session.
• You don’t have to “work” during the process. After you put the electrodes on you just watch the computer screen. Unlike HEG which requires you to really focus and work EEG you just sit back and enjoy improvements
• Combined with infrared Sauna this can give you a real zen state. 
• Helped to lower my stress and cortisol. 
• Kills a lot of birds with one stone without the reliance on medication for example it can help elevate some symptoms of depression in people causing less reliance on anti-depressants which are known to have serious side effects in both long and short-term usage. Also can help with several other cognitive disabilities which people often use harmful drugs to correct like ADHD.
• The support team were very helpful throughout and responding immediately to all my concerns through email. 
• After a while it gets easy to use without any support help. Even for me and I really struggle with picking up new skills Brain Trainer EEG was simple and easy to learn on my own after 5/6 sessions.
• An infinite amount of sessions allowed (not limited like Neuroptimal which has a limit of around 200 before you need to purchase more sessions again) 
• Combined with HEG it can massively help increase cognition with HEG serving as a good “warm up”. 
• I personally felt that it helped me get the best out of my meditation sessions. Meditation after EEG brain training helped to also massively stimulate my creativity.
• The system will change your brain activity, once you learn new patterns your brain learns from feedback it will be easier for you to pick up new habits , break addictions and increase cognition.

Cons:

• Electrogel did need refilling which can get pricey in the long run. 
• Some of the materials like the ear clips did get run down and broken after a while. Fixing them can be extremely pricey as products had to be imported from the US. After 1 year of usage I had to send my cap back to the US due to one of the cables being eroded this was quite expensive as I had to pay for taxes and shipping again from the US as if id bought the cap again. ( Note: US readers will have to deal with lower repair and delivery costs as the majority of EEG repair businesses are based in the US) 
• The initial learning curve is steep and will be time consuming. Some will pick it up faster than others but the good support team provided by brain trainer will help you through those growing pains. For me it took about 3 weeks of sessions till I could do it on my own.
• Very expensive compared to other biohacks. EEG is the pinnacle of biohacking and it costs. Make sure you’ve spent the money on other areas first and foremost before you make the investment in neurofeedback. This includes making sure you’re buying organic food, sticking to a good diet and have good health habits first and foremost before partaking in EEG. This is the last resort biohack and you need to have everything else in order health wise before you partake (as I said before) or you will just be wasting your money.
• It will take time around 20 1 hour sessions before you can see improvements in your life. Don’t expect massive improvements after just one session especially for those recovering from trauma and serious developmental disorder.

Conclusion

Though the initial outlay is a large amount its still only a quarter of the price of a 40 Years of Zen weekly retreat and for this you get an infinite amount of usage out of a product and a support team that’s very reliable and convenient. I would recommend this for anyone with serious ADHD, anxiety/depression problems or just for someone looking for that extra cognitive kick. The literature and studies to back up EEG have been there for decades and its only recently that it’s been made more affordable. So if you can afford it go for it. If its too pricey but you’re still interested in partaking in Neurofeedback I would save up for the HEG first to get a taste of just what biofeedback can do in terms of improving your life.  HEG comes in at $850 dollars if purchased from a US site and can increase concentration and focus after just one session.

Score:

10/10 

To check out HEG: https://therationalbiohacker.net/2019/01/16/hemoencephalography-brain-training-review-by-the-rational-biohacker/

To buy from the same site that I did:

https://brain-trainer.com/product-category/products/eeg-whole-brain-training/