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 selfassessment 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.

Effectiveness and Changes in Brain Functions by an Occupational Therapy Program Incorporating Mindfulness in Outpatients with Anxiety and Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…As for qEEG, there was a significant difference in the CSD of the left dlPFC in the β2 band between the two groups, suggesting that MOT intervention caused the change in dlPFC function. Previous qEEG studies have correlated high beta activity with anxiety [65,66] and average low beta relative power wave activity with improvements in anxiety and depression [67]. Thus, the results of the qEEG study, which did not specify brain regions and used a simple method, reported a correlation between excessive high beta activity and symptoms of anxiety and depression, which is not consistent with the results of our current study.…”

Habit Formation and Automaticity: Psychoneurobiological Correlates of Gamma Activity

“…Based on the detailed methods previously described, we present a summary of the materials and methods herein (Leaf, Turner, Wasserman, et al, 2023).…”

“…Answering this call, we implemented the Neurocycle app as a planned and guided process that models how to optimize the science of habit formation and automaticity in mental health interventions. The Neurocycle has been evaluated as an evidencebased intervention for mental health in clinical trials, using a psychoneurobiological approach, assessing participants' psychosocial reports of mental health wellness, energy patterns in the brain, and hematological measures (Leaf, Turner, Wasserman, et al, 2023).…”

“…The assessments were administered across six distinct time periods: preintervention (day 1), on days 7, 14, 21, and 42, and during postintervention on day 63. The schedule of assessment administration is provided in Table 1 below, and descriptions of each assessment phase are fully described in a previous article (Leaf, Turner, Wasserman, et al, 2023).…”

“…The qEEG study descriptions are presented in a previous article (Leaf, Turner, Wasserman, et al, 2023). Relative power was calculated for each frequency band relative to the total power in the 0.5-120 Hz range.…”