There are numerous benefits from having alpha brain waves. Your brain operates at different levels of arousal depending on what you are doing. When you are going about your normal daily business it is working at a frequency called beta waves. Alpha waves are slower and the state is less aroused. Being able to control your brain activity a little more and having more alpha waves can be useful.

Just before you fall asleep and just after you wake your brain will be having lots of alpha waves. This state has been called being passively aware. You will be taking in stimuli and thinking but in a slower way than normal. You can put your brain into this state deliberately by controlling your breathing, meditating or listening to certain kinds of music.

There are some useful reasons to do this such as aiding memory and creativity. Scientists have found that creative people have more alpha waves and when they are presented with a problem they have high bursts of them. This means when you have a problem the best thing to do could be to relax and try to induce this state. It is thought that this may happen because it is easier to access the subconscious and imaginative parts of the brain.

If you are trying to learn a new skill, especially one which requires you to remember a lot of new things then the alpha state can help. It could improve your memory and thinking skills. The state is characterized by less neural activity which could mean that the thoughts are less crowded and more energy can be used to form memories. Listening to some types of classical music while studying could really improve your abilities.

Professional athletes and musicians use an idea called muscle relaxation to improve their performances. Once they have learned a skill they try to perform it in as relaxed a state as they can and this leads to a better performance. Research has demonstrated that they also have bursts of alpha waves like creative people.

If you have problems sleeping then inducing alpha waves can help you. The alpha state is the one below waking, alert state and above deep sleep so entering it means your brain has started slowing down and is heading in the direction of deep sleep.

Many people suffer from stress and the problems related to it. One of the reasons people are stressed is because they do not relax enough. Learning how to induce the alpha state can help stressed people by calming their minds and giving a feeling of well being.

You can benefit from having more alpha brain waves and put them to use to relieve stress, aid memory, creativity and sleep.