I’m always looking for an edge to help myself get into a flow-state whether it be taking a specific nootropic, adjusting the environment around me or deploying productivity hacks.

By using an ECG machine, it is possible to measure brainwaves:

• Gamma (38 to 42Hz) – Gamma is the fastest of brainwaves and simultaneously processes information rapidly from different areas of the brain. High gamma activity corresponds to a state of peak performance.
• Beta (12 to 38Hz) – When you are awake managing the world, solving problems, making decisions and focused on cognitive tasks.
• Alpha (8 to 12Hz) – You will be calm, but alert in a state of presence and ‘in the moment’. Your body and mind are in synchronicity, and your intuition is strong.
• Theta (3 to 8Hz) – When in theta you are in a highly intuitive and imaginary state.

Binaural beats enable you to trick your brain into one of the above states.

Here is an extract from Limitless:

In the 1800s a Prussian physicist and meteorologist physicist named Heinrich Wilhelm Dove discovered that listening to two different tones of sound in each ear could change the state of mind. For example, if you heard a tone in your right ear of 300Hz and in your left ear of 295Hz, then your brain gets confused and makes up the 5Hz difference. This difference is called a binaural beat.

The binaural beat makes your brain go into a frequency following response and it then produces brainwaves at the same frequency of 5Hz, which is in the theta state. If you listen to tones with a larger difference, then you will feel alert and active. Whereas if you listen to tones that are closer together you will feel calm or in a meditative state. There are many providers online that offer paid for and free binaural beats.

Here are some sources for binaural beats:

• Playlist on Spotify
• Holosync
• Binaural Beats Meditation
• Ennora