How do I analyse my Mind Monitor chart?

[kelvincychiu]

Hi James and community,

I just got the Muse S and came across Mind Monitor. Can you point me in the right direction? I am trying to understand how to read and analyse my EEG chart (attached), and I don't know where to start.

"Meditation enables us to move from higher frequency brain waves to lower frequency..."

This is where I get confused...

1. The chart only shows my amplitude, not frequency?
2. What's the difference between "Absolute Brain Waves" and "Relative Brain Waves"?
3. How do I know I'm "moving down" towards theta/delta state?
4. If I am "moving down", shouldn't I see a drop in amplitude in gamma and beta and increase in alpha/theta/delta?
5. If I am "moving down", shouldn't I see alpha go up first, and then theta, followed by delta? Why does it all go up and down at the same time?
6. What is a healthy looking chart supposed to look like?

Thanks,
Kelvin

[James]

#1 - Brainwaves are the measure of power of a frequency range, so the frequency is fixed.
#2 - Relative brainwaves are relative to the other waves. See [https://web.archive.org/web/20181105231 ... and_Powers] - alpha_relative = (10^alpha_absolute / (10^alpha_absolute + 10^beta_absolute + 10^delta_absolute + 10^gamma_absolute + 10^theta_absolute))
#3,4,5 - I'm not sure what you mean by "moving down".
#6 - If you're trying to relax, then you should see Alpha higher than the other waves, exactly as shown in your data

[kelvincychiu]

Thanks James, I'm still very new to this so apologies for any stupid questions. Your programme is amazing by the way - I just wish I knew how to analyse it. Can you share a place where I can read up on how to analyse these charts? I still have so many questions and the articles I've come across so far are so technical. As a novice, it's impossible to understand all this jargon.

1. Thanks!

2. Why do I want to see brainwaves relative to each other? What is the purpose or benefit of reading a "relative" chart over an "absolute"?

3. When I say "moving down", I am referring to what I read online: "Meditation enables us to move from higher frequency brain waves to lower frequency..."; therefore, and looking at my chart, I am looking for evidence that I am moving from a higher frequency to a lower frequency.

4 + 5. So if I am "moving down from higher to lower brain frequencies", shouldn't I be expecting in sequence:
[1] drop in amplitude in gamma
[2] drop in amplitude in beta
[3] increase in amplitude in alpha
[4] increase in amplitude in theta
[5] increase in amplitude in delta

6. Thanks - what about the other brain waves? What is it supposed to look like when I am meditating?

[James]

When you're relaxing, you should see an increase in Alpha Relative. This means Alpha going up and/or other the other waves going down.
This is why you would want to look at Alpha Relative.

Regarding the "moving down" thing, the brainwave frequency ranges, in order are:
Delta(δ) 1-4Hz
Theta(θ) 4-8Hz
Alpha(α) 7.5-13Hz
Beta(β) 13-30Hz
Gamma(γ) 30-44Hz
So if "moving down" is a thing, that's the order it'd happen in, but I've not heard of this.

[Sutraman]

I think I know what you are asking. Check out this book. It goes into a lot of detail regarding meditation states and specifc wave patterns. "Awakening the Mind: a guide to mastering the power of your brain waves" by Anna Wise. For more help with wave analysis check out Texh for Pysche on YouTube. This guy has a few episodes on interpreting wane patterns oworking with Muse. There's plenty there to move you to your next set of questions. You can also consider neurofeedback interpretation with a professional. I'm looking into Myndlift, a company that will help interpret your waves from your Muse.

[Pro.zhitova]

Hello James and Kelvin.

I am also new to this. I am meditating with Muse for few months and and I just wondered how to see when I am in Alpha state. And then when I am in Theta state during my meditation. muse doesn’t show it. So I googled and found Mind Monitor. But I am not technical at allsorry. Bought your app from App Store. And I have exactly the same question as Kelvin.
1) How with Mind Monitor chart do I know when during my meditation I am in Alpha. And when I am in Theta. And when I come back to Betta?
I guess this is what Kelvin meant when said “moving down”.
So can you please based on Kelvins chart help to understand when he is in Alpha and when he reached Theta? I can see on your earlier messages that he is relaxed in Aloha when aloha line is higher than others. But did he reached Theta as for chart he sent?

Thank you.
Kristina.

When you're relaxing, you should see an increase in Alpha Relative. This means Alpha going up and/or other the other waves going down.
This is why you would want to look at Alpha Relative.

Regarding the "moving down" thing, the brainwave frequency ranges, in order are:
Delta(δ) 1-4Hz
Theta(θ) 4-8Hz
Alpha(α) 7.5-13Hz
Beta(β) 13-30Hz
Gamma(γ) 30-44Hz
So if "moving down" is a thing, that's the order it'd happen in, but I've not heard of this.

[James]

"In Alpha" just means Alpha is the highest line on the chart.

There is not really such a thing as being "In Alpha" as all brainwaves happen all the time, just at different levels; but this is what people mean by being "In Alpha", or any other wave. It's just the one with the highest power at the time.

[quarinteen]

here is some info on the heat map https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4w0vLVmtso

[cortesalejo]

#1 - Brainwaves are the measure of power of a frequency range, so the frequency is fixed.
#2 - Relative brainwaves are relative to the other waves. See [https://web.archive.org/web/20181105231 ... and_Powers] - alpha_relative = (10^alpha_absolute / (10^alpha_absolute + 10^beta_absolute + 10^delta_absolute + 10^gamma_absolute + 10^theta_absolute))
#3,4,5 - I'm not sure what you mean by "moving down."
#6 - If you're trying to relax, then you should see Alpha higher than the other waves, exactly as shown in your data

So James, which of the two chart types (absolute/relative... or the others) do you recommend to use as a baseline to track in the mid/long term? I'm recording my meditation session once a week (I meditate every day) and keeping the chart and average values of each brainwave.

Thanks for this great tool and for your advice.

[James]

I would use relative, personally.