Psycho-neuro-biological Correlates of Beta Activity

Abstract

Chronic stress and anxiety in everyday life can lead to sympathetic hyperactivity. This can be observed as behavioral, chemical, and neurological changes, including increased rumination, anxiety, and depression, and chemical changes in biological markers like homocysteine. In the EEG, increased beta (13–30 Hz) wave activity, especially high beta (> 20 Hz) has long been noted in anxiety states. However, recent research indicates that low beta waves (13–20 Hz) may play a role as well. The current paper presents a pilot study that assessed the Neurocycle’s efficacy as a nonpharmacological mind-management therapy for people who struggle with anxiety and depression. We assessed psychometrics, blood-serum homocysteine levels, and quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG). Efficacy of the Neurocycle was demonstrated by improved psychometric self-assessment over the study. We observed a positive correlation between subject’s low beta relative power and homocysteine levels. The findings validate the Neurocycle’s efficacy for improving mental health as measured by behavioral, chemical, and neurological measures. Altogether, these findings support low beta’s role in stress/anxiety manifestation given that its modulation significantly correlated with stress biomarkers in patients’ blood samples and stress and anxiety self-assessments. Future work should expand these findings with larger datasets to confirm the ranges of healthy and maladaptive low beta.