White noise eliminates my anxiety

[lockett]

Hi I have noticed a remarkable anti anxiety effect immediately from the following.

You may have heard of the healing effect of so called white noise. And I heard Art Bell the radio host say that the random pattern of snow or static on a tv screen is an example of that type of white noise randomness. So I started unhooking the cable or turning the TV to another channel other than the one that allowed my cable (channel 4) to get an example of that pure snow or static to see what it did to me when I stared at it. The static sound was irritating so I turned the sound off while I stared at the screen on static. I made sure the channel I had it on produced pure static (the black dots jumping around on a white screen) without any bleed through of any broadcast and I held my stare on the screen and this is what I experienced:

An immediate profound antianxiety effect, a calmness, a sleepiness that if I wasnt alert could put me to sleep and a feeling of well being, of pleasure all immediate although the sleepiness progressed with time sometimes and none of these responses stopped no matter how long I stared or how many days in a row I did it.

So I looked up the effect of white noise on the internet and it said that it created the theta brainwave state which was the brainwave state of the fetus and which was thought to be a healing brainwave state. It said it was the brainwave state that we had as we dropped off to sleep. It further said that melatonin was created in greater amounts in that brainwave state and that melatonin had its own sleep inducing and health effect too. It also stated that it created endorphins, which are an anti pain chemical in us and also make us feel good.

If I dont want to stare at it because I want to read or watch a TV show or fix dinner etc I have noticed if I just have the snow somewhere in my field of peripheral vision it works about 75% as well for me

So that is my experience.

Regards, Steve

[shoe]

well that's certainly an interesting treatment. I dont recall ever feeling anything while looking at white noise on a TV, and it didnt quite make sense to me how something you look at could change your brain wave state.. But now that I think about it, it could be that the shifting patterns on the television screen have a type of hypnotic effect on you which puts you in that state. Sorta like listening to the sound of a hypnotist while watching a time piece swing back and forth, only different ;)

I'll have to look this stuff up sometime. Do you have any websites you know of lockett which give information on this. I like to look at 'alternative therapies' from time to time, if for nothing more than curiosity.

thanks
dan

[lockett]

Dear Dan, IVe never read another mention of LOOKING at white noise as opposed to listening to it an listening to the white of static is VERY irritating and so I turn the sound down. A fan or other merely constant noise does not do the same thing as I experience with the looking at white noise on the tv which is many times more relaxing that a fan noise.

A couple of other odds and ends is I told a woman I met about it who had she said one continuous migraine for 30 years due to a malformation in her brain and I said try this and she told me next time I saw her she had actually gotten relief! And I tried it out on a friends dog and lo and behold he sure seemed to be affected by it relaxationwise just from being in his field of vision.

So here is definition of white noise that fits in this case.

"Technically white noise is purely random noise consisting of all frequencies, and is heard as a hissing sound – more random than that of a fan. Talking of white noise with reference to an image is confusing to understand, but it’s merely that same noise being displayed on the TV screen instead of being heard through the loudspeaker. It’s actually random noise being generated by the components in the TV tuner because it has turned it’s gain up so much in trying to find a TV signal where none exists."

Regards, Steve

[shoe]

interesting. well, i guess its best to go with whatever works for ya =) I've only looked at TV static a few times when i was too darn lazy to change the channel after it went off the air - well, I dont think channels go off the air anymore, but way back when.. hehe. Anyway, the whole thing is sorta hypnotic if you look at it.. starts to look like ants or flies moving around sometimes.

[lockett]

Dear Shoe- Do you have anxiety? Can you try it for 5 or 10 minutes and tell me if your anxiety reduces. Thanks Steve

[shoe]

Dear Shoe- Do you have anxiety? Can you try it for 5 or 10 minutes and tell me if your anxiety reduces. Thanks Steve

lockett, unfortunately I don't have anxiety at home so I don't think this would be something helpful for me. I just have anxiety in social settings, sorry. Maybe if I brought a portable TV with me on a date tho? hehe