What Is The David Alert Mind Machine?
The David Alert Mind Machine from MindAliveInc. uses light and sound to stimulate or sedate and balance your brain’s responses, which help to achieve various states associated with everything from deep relaxation to extreme alertness. It does this via the supplied headphones and LED glasses, in conjunction with the user friendly controls on the main unit. The David Alert has been programmed with sessions specially tailored, which when tested, have shown to be an alternative therapy for ADD/ADHD; by helping to reduce hyperactivity, promote relaxation, and improve mood, which allows for more logical thinking.
What Does The David Alert Do?
This mind machine by MindAliveInc. uses the brain’s ability to become entrained to naturally guide the user’s brain to follow specific light and sound patterns (called sessions). The frequencies which are used, are the same as those which naturally match your own brain frequencies, which is why your mind is more inclined to respond and follow these tailored sessions.
With continued practice, these sessions aid the user to experience and understand the changes in their own brains, as they learn to follow the light and sound frequencies, in order to achieve their desired state of mind.
How Will The David Alert Help Me?
Each control unit has programmed sessions with specific light and sound frequencies. With regular use, your mind will respond to match these natural rhythms, which are associated with specific states, which then in turn, can be used to benefit the individuals needs. The David Alert Mind Machine has six categories and each of these categories have sub-sessions to suit:
- Relaxation – 5 sessions to encourage relaxation, dissociation, and proper breathing.
- Left Hemisphere – 4 sessions, which are shown to improve mood and logical thinking.
- Right Hemisphere – 3 sessions to settle hyperactivity.
- Whole Brain – 3 sessions to balance instability with Alpha, Beta, and SMR.
- Extra Sessions – 5 individual sessions, which can be used in conjunction with the additional symptom survey or with the Tru-Vu Omniscreen Viewhole eyesets (sold separately).
- User Designed – 5 spaces for adding your own custom sessions using the DAVID session editor (sold separately by MindAliveInc.).
What Do You Get With A David Alert Mind Machine?
- Tru-Vu Omniscreen Eyeset and Carry Case
- Quality Stereo Headphones
- Stereo Patch Cord
- DAVID Carry Bag
- AC Adapter
- 9-Volt Alkaline Battery
- Comprehensive Operator’s Manual
- User’s Guide with Symptom Survey Checklist
Other Features To Look Out For
Tru-Vu Omniscreen Eyesets – The eyesets provided with your David Alert have LEDs, which are white with a blue tint. These eyesets are designed to flash independently in order to send different light signals to the left and right side of each eye. This is a feature which standard AVEs do not generally have and go a long way to enhance eye stimulation and entrainment.
Headphones – These sit comfortably and provide a good level of sound. They come with a 3.5mm jack lead; meaning you can use pretty much any standard earphone or earbud style for your convenience.
Isochronic Pulsed Tones, Binaural Beats, and Chime – The David Alert have tones which are evenly spaced, of equal pitch, and are turned on and off at a specified rate. This is important to enhance the effectiveness of audio entrainment.
Sound Sync – Another big plus for me is the Sound Sync sessions. I have always enjoyed using my own music and guided meditations. This feature allows for a more lucid experience, you activate this from the David Alert main sessions selection buttons. All you have to do is press either Relaxation, Left and Right Hemisphere, or the Extra Sessions button if you designed your own session. If your own audio is hooked up, it will create a randomised session to a targeted frequency, as long as your music is playing. This really gives this mind machine the edge, as it becomes more easy to explore how your mind responds to the subtle changes in these randomised sessions.
Back Light Function – The ability to see the control buttons in a darkened room is a great feature; especially when using your mind machine for relaxation. I have used other mind machines and without this feature, you will find yourself feeling for the right buttons when it is dark; this little attribute is a dream.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) – The David Alert also includes HRV. The mind machine creates a steady “heartbeat”, which helps to pace your breathing, which over time, will help to guide your breathing to become more relaxed and focused. The mind machine uses a “breath cycle”, approximately 8 seconds at the beginning and will increase to 10 seconds as you progress. I find that it helps me to discipline my focus and reduce mental chatter.
Soft Off – This feature makes sure that your session will fade gently to finish. It has been shown that if a session is stopped suddenly before returning to a normal conscious state, a mild case of somatic shock can result; leaving the user feeling disoriented, nauseous, or experiencing a mild headache. The soft off feature helps to reduce or prevent this from happening.
How Long Will It Take To See Results With A David Alert Mind Machine?
As with all mind machines, entrainment takes time and practice to be effective. Every brain responds differently and at different rates, so never beat yourself up about your progress. Also keep in mind that this is a tool to guide your brain to follow and match the frequencies of the session. The mind machines themselves won’t make you smarter or sleep better but if your mind syncs to these frequencies, it has been shown that you will be at a place where your mind and body can respond more effectively.
That being said, the research MindAliveInc. has put into improving the process of entrainment can’t be overstated. In EEG testing, it has shown that changes in brain activity can take up to six minutes as your brain syncs to the session. Also the way the eyesets work is very innovative, as each side of each eye can be stimulated independently, which helps to achieve the desired brain responses for each session.
What Research Has Been Done With The David Alert Mind Machine?
Fifteen of the sessions included with your David Alert have been specially designed after the combined research and development of David Siever of MindAliveInc. and Michael Joyce of Personal Resource Strategies.
This has led to a better understanding of the benefits that arise, due to the inclusion of Audio Visual Entrainment to improve the brain’s functioning.
Michael Joyce has completed two studies using the DAVID systems to treat ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). His first study involved 30 primary school children from 2 schools (which was published in the Journal of Neurotherapy) and his second study included 204 children from 7 schools, which he completed while he was the Director of Neurotechnology at A Chance to Grow; a special-needs charter school in Minneapolis.
Both studies showed that ADD behaviours were reduced significantly and reading improved with AVE. Michael used the DAVID’s unique patented field stimulation ability to generate a different frequency in each hemisphere of the brain. With this technique and a Symptom Survey checklist developed by Michael, he was able to create DAVID sessions that could stimulate or calm the left, right, or both hemispheres depending on the symptoms checked off by the child’s parents (with your David Alert there should be a Symptom Survey Checklist, which will help you to pick the settings that are most relevant to your situation).
If you wish to read more about this research and others, please visit MindAliveInc. through this link —HERE—-
Additional Eyesets For The David Alert
MindAliveInc. have also developed a range of eyesets for the David Alert, which can be used to further enhance your entrainment experience (of note is that some of the glasses are not compatible with certain Alert Devices, so always check your PAL model first before considering an upgrade).
Multi-Color Tru-Vu Omniscreen Eyeset
Also available to buy seperately are the Multi-Color Tru-Vu Omniscreen Eyesets. These eyesets do the same as the Tru-Vu above but now include six other colours, in addition to the original white LEDs. These colours are; blue, cyan, green, yellow, red, and magenta. This really enhances your experience and allows you to tailor your sessions to include colour therapy, in addition to entrainment.
View Hole Glasses
View Hole Glasses is another style of glasses, which can be used. These add a more functional element to entrainment; as instead of experiencing your David Alert from a sitting or lying position, you can now use it on the move. This has to be done with real understanding of your session and extreme caution must be used; as AVE produces dissociation effects and although there are huge benefits to using these glasses, I’d heed every common sense precaution when attempting to use these eyesets.
Is The David Alert Worth Buying?
In my view YES! It is a very robust and functional mind machine. It is very much built for purpose and functionality. This is a new breed of mind machine, in that; its sessions have been cleverly crafted to aid with specific mind sets and have been shown to encourage the entrainment process it has been designed for. If you are looking for a mind machine that is the least expensive in the David Alert range, which is geared to help with ADD/ADHD but no less effective, then this is the mind machine for you.
Mind Machine Afterthoughts
In looking at the future of mind machines I am happy to see that more attention is being placed on the benefits and practicalities on using AVS as a modality for promoting change for more specific purposes, rather than a novel way to relax or stimulate your brain with. The use of entrainment is becoming more important as technology improves to map and see the brain in action (EEG and QEEG scans). We begin to understand more of how the brain functions and can test how it responds through stimulation, rather than just with pharmaceuticals and therapy.
Where Can I Buy A David Alert Mind Machine?
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