Focus Problems? How I use Binaural Music to Help and How it Works
By now, you may have caught on that I was diagnosed with raging ADHD late in life, completely by accident. In fact, my pysch said that it was “shocking that I made it to 37 without anyone noticing.” Obvious personality traits aside, it’s not an uncommon story among women my age. In fact, many experts are now calling us “the lost girls”... a generation of women so conditioned to mask their symptoms, that it causes complex developmental PTSD and manifests later in life as a (misdiagnosed, in my case) anxiety disorder.
Anywho, I don’t want to focus on the negative aspects of ADHD, because frankly, I’m a creative powerhouse and that’s the best part about me, but I do have significant challenges in completing mundane tasks. I will hyper-focus on anything and everything that I find creatively stimulating, and do it really well, but doing the dishes? That’s a no. Business Accounting? Also no.
Since we live in a society that’s not cut out for creativity, I do still have to do the “adulting” things that everyone else finds so easy (although my husband often does the dishes, thank god for him).
One of the tools that I’ve discovered that helps me with my focus when I’m doing computer work… whether it be accounting, doing boring class work, etc., is to listen to binaural audio music. If you’ve never heard binaural music, it’s a type of sound therapy that stimulates the brain by listening to two different frequencies in each ear, which creates a perceived third frequency within the brain’s processing. The third frequency is what sends our brains into specific brainwave states, like alpha (relaxation) or beta (increased focus). Long story short, our brains are estimated at 3 to 4 times faster than a “normal” brain, and if we can distract it with different frequencies, the music can calm it down, give it something to do as a side quest, and allow us to focus on whatever boring activity we have to do as functional adults.
There is also evidence to show that binaural music helps reduce impulsivity. I can’t speak on this too much because I haven’t used it for this, but my initial reaction to this claim would be: Could this help children with ADHD? *adding to my list of things to research.
If you want to try this out, you can test it on YouTube for free… just search for Binaural Music for Focus and have at it! I will warn you though… all of the YouTube videos have ads that interrupt the music in an almost violent way. So for me, I’ll listen and just start to get into a flow state, and then I’m ripped away from it by some asinine commercial that I don’t care about. Thus, you may want to search whatever music streaming service you use, or I have an Amazon list here (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3QIaKnq
I use Audible, because I can listen to my selection ad free (and I already have a subscription because I LOVE listening to my books… it’s constant brain stimulation while also doing other stuff. Amazing.) You can get a free trial to Audible here and test it out for yourself.
These are affiliate links, which means that I can receive a commission at no additional cost to you, for recommending my favorite products.
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Talk Soon!
Emily
