Brainwaves & Schumann Resonances

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One of the 2023 AOPP certification classes was taught by a chiropractor, Dr. D, who uses commercial PEMF equipment that emit mT high power Schumann resonances plus 50 Hz from the power grid. The relative magnitudes are proprietary. Some PEMF frequencies were claimed to have tissue specific therapeutic properties. Was this personal experience or something in the literature? After fact checking, I’ve come to the conviction that field strength also matters. Most of the original post has been deleted because I think that one frequency being good for one medical condition is foolish. Is the concept that our natural brainwaves can synchronize with natural Schumann Resonances also foolish? I’m going to focus on one publication and otherwise concentrate on what I know. I find myself going back to the prebiotic earth and stories of the experiments of Miller and Urey and other stories of abiogenesis I read as a kid. I think Schumann resonances might do something very primordial way beyond brainwaves.

Saroka KS, Vares DE, Persinger MA. Similar Spectral Power Densities Within the Schumann Resonance and a Large Population of Quantitative Electroencephalographic Profiles: Supportive Evidence for Koenig and Pobachenko. PLoS One. 2016 Jan 19;11(1):e0146595. PMC free paper

I really like this Wikimedia Commons cartoon of saltatory conduction across myelinated nerve fibers. The potential difference jumps from one Node of Ranvier to another followed by the opening of voltage gated ion channels. Opening of the ion channels allows ions to flow from outside positive to inside negative with an added concentration gradient of more Na⁺ being on the outside. I like the dashed red arrows of current flow because they remind me of a row of dominoes one falling on an other until the original force signal reaches the end of the row. Does one need ions in solution to tell the 2^nd node that there had been a depolarization in the 1^st node upstream? Electrons in molecular orbitals of metal wires sort of act like dominoes. Why not? I don’t know this for a fact.

Astronauts need Schumann Resonances

A NASA review coming out of the Ames Research Center claims that Schumann resonances may promote  mammalian healing.  According to references cited by these authors,  the first five Schumann Resonances overlap with the frequency range of the first four electroencephalogram (EEG) bands with the primary EEG frequency bands being Delta, 0.5 to 4 Hz, Theta, 4-8 Hz, Alpha, 8-13 Hz and 13 to 30 Hz.  According to the NASA authors the band at 7.8 Hz is observed with subjects in a state of relaxation and that at 13.7 Hz with subjects in a state of concentration.

“Summary
Substantial evidence supports the notion that the human autonomic nervous system (ANS) responds to changes in solar and geomagnetic activity, affecting human health and human performance. In some countries magnetic field disturbances are already included in public weather forecast reports to account for human susceptibility to large variations in the magnetic field. For NASA, the absence of the Schumann Resonances (SR) field in spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit may pose a risk to astronauts, especially during long duration missions. Exploration of the coupling between the Schumann Resonances and physiology is possible in the unique
environment of spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit (where SR can be artificially added), as well as in ground-based magnetically shielded facilities, such as the Berlin Magnetically Shielded Room, where the ambient terrestrial SR can be shielded. The extent of the effect of variation in SR amplitude and frequency on human physiology and performance can be studied and characterized using physiological measurements such as the Heart Rate Variability and by conducting sleep studies.”

 If we are to trust Wikipedia authors, the following is some fact checking.  Peer reviewed literature was used to supplement well referenced Wikipedia pages.

Schumann resonance Hz	Brain wave	origin	frequency	Channels	Function
7.8	α waves	Pacemaker cell thalamus	8-12 Hz	Voltage gated Ca2+ Cav2.2	REM sleep, meditation
13.7	β waves 1	Lateral pre frontal and motor cortex	12.5-16 Hz	GABAA Cl channel	Wakefulness consciousness
19.6	β2		16.5–20 Hz
25.5	β3		20.5–28 Hz,
31.4, 37.3, 43.2	γ waves	Cortico-thalamic	25-140 Hz		Wakefulness
	δ waves	Supra chiasmic nuclei	0.5-4 Hz	T-type Ca2+ channels	sleep
7.8	mu wave	Visual and motor cortex	Primarily 9-11 Hz		Voluntary movement visualization there of
7.8	ϴ wave	Hippocampus →sensorimotor medial septal	6-10, 7-9 Hz	AMPA receptor for glutatmate	Learning, memory REM sleep, nociception
13.7, 25.4, 31.4, 37.3, 43.2	SMR wave	Sensorimotor cortex	mu (8–12 Hz), β (18–30 Hz), γ (30–200 Hz) bands

In preparing this table, it was noted that the publications discussed “pace maker cells” that establish rhythms.  One reference was found for a putative PEMF target voltage gated Ca²⁺ channel. T-type calcium channels are also opened by depolarization of the cell membrane, i.e. voltage gated.  This list is by no means comprehensive.  Just because “brain waves” might have the same frequencies as Schumann Resonances does not mean that one may augment the other. Use of trans-cranial PEMF of Schumann Resonances does pose many questions.  Do these ion channels have a PEMF refractory period i.e. “the period of time during which an organ or cell is incapable of repeating a particular action, or (more precisely) the amount of time it takes for an excitable membrane to be ready for a second stimulus once it returns to its resting state following an excitation. It most commonly refers to electrically excitable muscle cells or neurons.”

Early Schuman resonance studies from Saroka 2018

I’m including these refrenences just for historical perspective. This Schumann thing is old but not ancient history.

1. Schumann WO, Koenig H. Uber die Beobachtung von “atmospherics” bei geringsten Frequenzen. Naturwissenschaften 1954; 8:183–184.
2. Konig HL, Ankermuller F. Uber den Einfluss besonders niederfrequenter eletrischer Vorgange in der Atmosphare auf den Menschen. Naturwissenschaften 1960; 21:486–490.
3. Konig HL, Krueger AP, Lang S, Sonnig W. Biologic effects of environmental electromagnetism Springer-Verlag: N.Y; 1981.

Back to the Saroka 2018 study

“In 1954 and 1960 Koenig and his colleagues described the remarkable similarities of spectral power density profiles and patterns between the earth-ionosphere resonance and human brain activity which also share magnitudes for both electric field (mV/m) and magnetic field (pT) components. In 2006 Pobachenko and colleagues reported real time coherence between variations in the Schumann and brain activity spectra within the 6–16 Hz band for a small sample. We examined the ratios of the average potential differences (~3 μV) obtained by whole brain quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) between rostral-caudal and left-right (hemispheric) comparisons of 238 measurements from 184 individuals over a 3.5 year period. Spectral densities for the rostral-caudal axis revealed a powerful peak at 10.25 Hz while the left-right peak was 1.95 Hz with beat-differences of ~7.5 to 8 Hz. When global cerebral measures were employed, the first (7–8 Hz), second (13–14 Hz) and third (19–20 Hz) harmonics of the Schumann resonances were discernable in averaged QEEG profiles in some but not all participants. The intensity of the endogenous Schumann resonance was related to the ‘best-of-fitness’ of the traditional 4-class microstate model. Additional measurements demonstrated real-time coherence for durations approximating microstates in spectral power density variations between Schumann frequencies measured in Sudbury, Canada and Cumiana, Italy with the QEEGs of local subjects. Our results confirm the measurements reported by earlier researchers that demonstrated unexpected similarities in the spectral patterns and strengths of electromagnetic fields generated by the human brain and the earth-ionospheric cavity.”

Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) is a technique that takes ordinary EEG electrical signals from the brain and decomposes them into the sum of the sine wave (frequency) components using a Fast Fourier Transform.

In a previous study Saroka and Persinger measured simultaneously the Schumann resonance and brain electrical activity of a single individual that was sitting quietly outside with eyes-closed. Results of the analysis indicated the presence of transient periods of ‘harmonic synchrony’ that appeared when cross-channel coherence was computed between the caudal root-mean-square signal derived from the brain and the extremely-low frequency (ELF) magnetic activity occurring in the proximal environment.

“The human cerebrum is considered a functional, dynamic dipole whose voltage, or potential difference, is reflected as more or less steady-state potentials in the order of 10 to 30 mV. There are extremely low frequency time-varying components whose average intensities are about three orders of magnitudes less (μV range). Because the human cerebral volume is not a sphere but more typical of an elliptoid there should be a slight difference in average μV intensity that reflects this ratio. The relatively fixed volume and surface area of the cerebrum and rostral-caudal bulk velocity of ~4.5 m·s^-1 should generate constant standing waves with parameters much like the fundamental Schumann resonance of ~7.5 to 8 Hz which is the resonance solution for the velocity of light (3·10⁸ m·s^-1) and the earth’s fixed circumference (4·10⁷ m). The Schumann resonances were likely present during the origin of living systems.” 

• Fig 1 they are taking a bunch of squiggly line noise decomposed into frequency components. The 0,5-4Hz sleep associated T-Ca²⁺ cannel seems to stand out as does a 9 Hz component.
• Fig 2 says that what happens going from left to right correlates well with the back of the head to the front of the head.
• Fig 3 a 10 Hz peak..
• Fig 4 is a 3D plot with the global field potentials of over 100 subjects with grid lines marking the Schumann resonances.
• Fig 7 The coherence profiles for two subjects (1 male and 1 female) whose QEEG were measured and spectral analyzed at the same time as direct measurements were taken for the Schumann Resonance locally and within 1 meter of the person are shown, 8, 13, and 20 Hz were mentioned.  These measurements were performed in Canada
• Fig 8 A repeat of Fig 7 performed in Italy.

No word on how Schumann resonances work

I can hardly blame the authors as the aim of the study was not to establish a mechanism but rather to strengthen evidence of synchronicity of brainwaves and Schumann resonances. Individual variations proved to be a problem. Many PEMF fans would have liked a discussion of voltage gated ion channels vs simply moving ions around. The latter is my favorite. Billions and billions of years ago in the primordial muck. I really like the statement from Saroka 2018, “Schumann resonances were likely present during the origin of living systems.”  As a kid I read about the experiments of Miller and Urey that involved lightning like electrical discharges and basic elements believed to exist on the the prebiotic earth. The products were simple amino acids. Schumann resonances are said to start with lightning discharges that resonate between the surface of the earth and the ionosphere. Could Miller and Urey have created slightly different resonances in that flask of theirs?