Haemoencephalography (HEG) is a biofeedback technique that encourages improved self-regulation of regional cerebral blood flow in the brain. Trainees wear a headband that measures blood flow in the prefrontal cortex (the brain’s central executive) and computer software provides feedback about performance, allowing trainees to either increase or decrease activation as required.

 

There are two HEG systems available: pIR (stands for passive InfraRed) and nIR (stands for near InfraRed). pIR HEG measures the infrared temperature changes on the forehead (higher infrared temperatures indicate more metabolic activity). nIR HEG measures the degree of red blood at the surface of the brain (indicating it is oxygenated) and it also measures infrared temperature changes.

 

HEG is used to improve the brain’s self-regulatory executive capacity and is also well known for its ability to arrest and prevent migraines from occurring.

 

But how does it work?

 

Everyone understands aerobic exercise. You do something to make your heart and lungs work harder, you measure the pulse rate to make sure you are in the training range. You don’t “think” about it, and you don’t “try”, you just walk or run or do the exercise. If you do it with a good intensity, do it regularly and do it for a while, your body changes its ability to produce and sustain energy, and many things in your life change as a result.

 

The prefrontal cortex is the heart and lungs of the brain. It helps to screen incoming sensory information so you can focus without being distracted, receives the information from your senses, emotions and memory and figures out moment-by-moment what it means and what to do about it. It sends messages to the frontal lobe to produce actions and speech, and then it screens those before they are implemented. It organises, plans, creates, and regulates emotions and behaviour. It is the centre of motivation and is the seat of your personality.

 

With HEG you do something to make your prefrontal cortex work harder. You measure the infrared temperature to tell when you are training and when you are overtraining. You don’t “think” about it, and you don’t “try”. You just focus on the training screen. If you do it with a good intensity, do it regularly and do it for a while, your brain changes its ability to produce and sustain more energy in the control centre – which should be the most active part of the brain – and many things in your life may start to change.

 

One of the greatest benefits of HEG compared with EEG training is that it does not measure electrical signals. Training with EEG in the front of the head places the electrodes/sensors very close to the eye muscles, which produce large electrical signals when a client blinks or moves his/her eyes (muscles work with bio-electric signals just like the heart and brain). The EEG amplifier and/or software can’t tell the difference between eye blink signals and brain signals, so it includes these eye blinks in the EEG we are training. It is called “artifact” because it is not really from the brain. It is difficult to avoid this eye blink artifact when electrodes are placed near the front of the head – and especially when they are on the forehead/prefrontal area.

 

HEG, since it measures blood perfusion or oxygen levels, is not affected by electrical activity, so you can blink as much as you wish and have no effect on the signal. Hence, for the many people who seek brain training and have a lot of slowing in their prefrontal areas – and thus have difficulty with planning, organising, attention, impulse control, or other executive functions – HEG can be a very helpful training approach. The more easily brain cells can get their blood supply, the more oxygen and glucose they have available to them, the faster they are able to fire when needed.

 

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