There are many different types of binaural beats programs, each created to entrain the brain to a particular state.
The result depends on the frequency of the track, which usually falls into one of five main categories: Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, Gamma.
There are programs for meditation and relaxation, sleep, anxiety, focus, memory, pain relief and more.
In this post, I'll drill down into the 10 most common, proven benefits of binaural beats, which you can expect to experience within a week or two of listening.
10 Huge Benefits of Binaural Beats
1. Deeper Meditation & Relaxation
Binaural beats are popular among meditators because Theta frequency tracks can help enhance and deepen the meditation experience.
Theta is the state of deep relaxation and mental spaciousness. So if you struggle to calm your mind when meditating, it may benefit you to listen to a binaural beats track designed specifically for meditation.
The key benefit of meditation is a state of mindfulness, characterized as a relief from the striving of life, of regret of the past, and fear of the future. Mindfulness is to be fully present in life, which enables happiness, better decision making and relationship building.
A notable study measured the effect of 6 Hz theta binaural beats and found it was effective in inducing a meditative state (1).
Listen to a track like Deep Meditation and you'll find that your mind feels calm and spacious and chilled and at ease with life, instead of uneasy and constantly anticipating what's coming next.
2. Lower Anxiety Levels
Binaural beats have become synonymous with helping reduce anxiety. Both Theta and Alpha programs help with this and there are numerous studies showing a positive reduction in anxiety (2).
For those suffering with general anxiety disorder or specific social anxiety, binaural beats can reduce symptoms like nerves, nausea, sweating, and butterflies in the stomach.
With regular use, the brain may develop a habitual behavior where symptoms are greatly reduced or at least manageable without needing to listen to the music.
This happens because you are regularly entraining the brain to associate situations where you usually feel anxious with being calm instead.
3. Better Sleep
The Sleep Foundation reports that 1 in 3 people suffer from poor sleep health. This isn't surprising when you consider our busy schedules and worries over work and money.
The good news is that research has shown that binaural beats can be effective for improving sleep (3).
There are specific Delta frequency programs designed to promote better sleep. Delta is the dominant brainwave state in the stages of deep sleep, where much of our mental and physical recovery takes place.
The idea is to encourage the brain to produce Delta waves before sleep, which in turn will help settle the mind and induce a deeper, more restful sleep.
Check out Deep Sleep, and Deep Dreams, for a better night's sleep.
4. Reduced Stress
The combination of deeper relaxation / meditation, lower anxiety levels and better sleep is a recipe for lower stress levels.
The less stressed you feel the happier you are. The knock-on effects are huge. Your work and personal life will be enhanced due to more energy and better relationships with colleagues, friends and family.
You’ll be better positioned to deal with challenging situations, too. Where previously you may have become quick tempered and frustrated, you'll develop more patience with yourself and others.
Less stress means better health all round, and certainly lower blood pressure. And that means a longer life. It's hard to put a price on that.
When you feel stressed, try a program like Audio Serenity instead of another caffeine or sugary snack fix.
5. Better Focus and Concentration
Binaural beats are awesome for improving focus and concentration. Those who follow my blog will know that I often listen to a track like Zen Focus or Deep Concentration while I write my blog posts.
Alpha frequency programs are perfect for putting you in the zone and blocking out distraction. I used tracks like this through university to get through long study periods, and continue to do so today.
I find that Alpha tracks have a good cumulative effect, too. You'll find that your brain comes to associate sitting down to work, study, paint, or whatever it is you do, with being calm and focussed.
6. Higher Productivity
Of course, with better sleep and increased focus your productivity naturally increases. You simply get more done when you are able to block out the distractions that pull your mind in different directions.
If you are working on a long project over a number of weeks or months, or have deadlines to meet that make you feel anything but inspired to work, introducing a binaural beats listening routine will have a positive impact on how efficient and effective you are in tackling daily tasks.
7. Peak Performance
You'll note that all these positive states of mind have a knock-on effect throughout your life. Indeed, better rest, improved focus and higher productivity lead to better performance.
You will begin to fulfill more of your potential.
Whether you're an athlete training for a specific sport, a student taking a course, or a project manager trying to be super organized and effective, you need to access that Flow State to get things done.
8. Increased Creativity
That leads us nicely onto creativity. Whether you’re a writer, painter or software programmer, binaural beats like Creativity Boost help stimulate the creative juices and relieve writer’s block.
Entraining the brain to relaxed focus encourages an intuitive state of mind, clearing a pathway for ideas to flow forth from the valleys of your creative mind.
9. Improved Memory
If you struggle to retain information when studying/reading, or you're getting to an age where you're becoming a bit forgetful, binaural beats can help.
Research has shown that binaural beats positively impact memory in the Beta and Gamma states, particularly at 40 Hz for enhancing long-term memory (5).
At a lower frequency of around 15 Hz, a study found that binaural beats increased response accuracy during a visuospatial working memory task.
10. Pain Relief
Great news for chronic pain sufferers and those with injury; binaural beats have been shown to reduce chronic pain (6).
It seems that Delta and Theta frequencies appear to have an anesthetic effect that reduces pain severity. This makes sense when you think about it, because we are less tense and emotional when deeply relaxed.
Binaural beats are not a cure all for pain, but may help make pain more manageable, particularly when combined with other natural treatments such as massage and CBD oil.
Other Use Cases
There are many other use cases that didn't make the list of 10 such as increasing energy when you feel unrested an lethargic, see Gamma Burst , for example
And then there's areas of higher consciousness such as lucid dreaming (accessing the hypnagogic state) and astral projection.
Binaural beats can also be combined with subliminal messaging and affirmations to target negative habits and behaviors too.
What Binaural Beats Can't Do!
I thought it was worth including this section because as with everything on the internet you will find some ridiculous claims out online, particularly on YouTube.
Straight off the bat I can tell you that binaural beats will not make you taller, cure your baldness, make you more attractive, grow your private parts, or make you richer.
Music has been used for healing for centuries, and its ability to impact us mentally and physically is well proven in the scientific literature. Harvard has conducted many research studies on relaxing music and its impact on anxiety, pain serenity, blood pressure and more (7).
We are vibrations, and frequencies affect the way we vibrate. That's why humans are so profoundly influenced by sound.
The frequencies used in binaural beats entrain the brain to specific states of wellbeing. This may have some hormonal impact on the body, depending on the frequency, but there is no evidence that you can entrain the brain to release a specific growth hormone.
My advice is to stick with trusted sources who use research and science to create this form of sound healing.
In Summary
Listening to binaural beats is a holistic sound therapy that, as we've discussed, has a knock-on effect on various areas of your life. It's accessible and affordable for most people, and completely safe.
All the aforementioned benefits of binaural beats are conducive to overall better health and wellbeing, making it a wholly positive experience.
Just how profound changes will be to different areas of your life will vary from person to person, as is the case with all natural therapy.
The majority of people will feel mental shifts within the first 15-30 minutes of listening, but when addressing a particular problem area, you should give it at least two weeks of regular daily listening to see solid results. Profound change will be cumulative and won't happen overnight.
I recommended starting out with 3 sessions a day of 30-60 minutes, but no less than 15 minutes. Develop a listening routine (see here) based on your desired outcomes.
Gena says
Which if any frequency aids in processing grief and rebuilding a life or creating a different life?
Last year I lost my husband of 28 years, my ex husband – we stayed friends, a cousin, my dear uncle, my mother, my nephew, my sister and two close friends.
bbfreak says
Hi Gena, if you click here to go to the iAwake store, you can select healing from the dropdown menu to see their healing tracks. I think you will find some options there to help you with processing grief and moving forward.
Deborah Joffe says
Hi Lawrence, Thanks to finding your website I am enjoying learning about and experiencing binaural beats ( I bought the BB Meditation Pack).
I have found some of them quite potent though and just experienced quite deep anxiety listening to a delta wave recording (Deep Sleep). I had to stop listening in the end. Have you heard of similar experiences?
bbfreak says
Hi Deborah, I have heard of this, particularly in those new to binaural beats, and experienced it myself. I believe it is related to a release of negative tension and anxiety. For example, if you’ve had trouble sleeping and are used to feeling anxious around this time, the sudden exposure to concentrated delta waves triggers heightened anxiety as your brain/body battles with its habitual response and being entrained to relax. Stick with it for a few nights and I guarantee you’ll see a big positive change over the coming days.