Increase Your IQ & Brain Performance With Neurofeedback: Key Insights from Dr. Andrew Hill
Note: This article captures key insights from a livestream discussion. For a comprehensive deep dive into SMR neurofeedback specifically, see our detailed article: SMR Neurofeedback: The Calm-Alert Brainwave That Trains Sleep, Focus, and Self-Control.
The Brain Can Be Pushed to Its Limits
Here's what fascinates me most about the brain: it can be pushed to its limits. This isn't wishful thinking—it's observable, measurable plasticity that changes lives.
After 25 years in neurofeedback and analyzing over 25,000 brain maps, I see the same pattern repeatedly. Whether someone wants peak performance or needs to recover from ADHD, trauma, or brain fog, the mechanism is the same: targeted training produces measurable neural changes.
Everything you experience filters through your brain. When you want large-scale change in your life, that seems like the logical place to start.
Three Types of People Benefit from Neurofeedback
At Peak Brain, our clients fall into three distinct categories:
Peak Performance (33%): Athletes, executives, high performers under stress who want to optimize flow states and maintain performance under pressure.
Neurological Needs (33%): People with ADHD, autism spectrum features, sleep issues, stress, trauma, PTSD, migraines, concussions, and increasingly, post-COVID brain fog.
Everyone Else (33%): Burnt-out, stressed individuals who might drink too much occasionally, have trauma history, and general wear-and-tear that doesn't reach diagnostic levels but impacts quality of life.
The key requirement? You need goals you can describe. We work as enthusiastically with a kid having seizures as with a 55-year-old CEO who can't downshift at night and remains irritable with his family.
How Brain Mapping Reveals Hidden Patterns
Instead of diagnostic labeling, we show people data. Here's the process:
- Brain mapping reveals electrical patterns
- Performance testing shows cognitive bottlenecks
- Collaborative modeling helps clients understand what's happening
I generate hypotheses cold: "This brain region and these frequencies are unusual. Here's how they typically operate." The response is almost always: "Oh my God, you can see that? I had no idea that phenomenon I experience daily was visible."
The numbers don't lie. People often have hunches about their patterns, but quantitative data confirms what they suspected.
SMR: The Master Frequency for Sleep and Focus
Classic neurofeedback was discovered through manipulating SMR (sensorimotor rhythm)—12-15 Hz brainwaves that maintain sleep architecture. Here's why SMR is crucial:
SMR when awake = ability to sit still, maintain focus, avoid "squirrel" moments, and prevent seizures. Think of a cat on a windowsill watching birds: still body, laser-like focus. This is literally the opposite of ADHD.
SMR when asleep = ability to initiate and sustain sleep properly.
Without adequate SMR = poor sleep initiation/maintenance AND poor executive control during waking hours.
We typically train SMR on the right side of the brain, between the crown and right ear, targeting circuits involved in supervisory attention.
The Alpha-Theta Connection: Training the Edge of Sleep
Beyond SMR, we use alpha-theta training—a hypnagogic state that brings people to the edge of sleep while awake. This accesses that liminal moment when you solve world hunger as you're falling asleep, then wake up thinking "I had a good idea last night."
We can train someone's brain to spend 20-25 minutes in this state—substantial time in that receptive, insight-rich zone where the monkey mind drops away and creative solutions bubble up.
Theta: The Brain's Lubrication System
Theta (4-7 Hz) acts like lubrication in the brain. You need it to move thoughts around and activate different mental processes. But theta becomes problematic when it appears where SMR should be.
Healthy theta placement: Supports cognitive flexibility and mental switching Problematic theta: When it dominates areas that should show SMR, creating attention deficits and hyperactivity
The Neurofeedback Process: Passive Training, Active Results
Most neurofeedback techniques are passive—we don't zap the brain. Instead:
- Electrodes measure brain activity in real-time
- Software provides feedback when brain shifts in desired directions
- Brain learns through operant conditioning
- Patterns strengthen over 20-40 sessions
For SMR training, we reward 12-15 Hz activity while discouraging theta (4-7 Hz) in the same region. The brain learns to produce more calm-alert states and fewer scattered, hyperactive patterns.
Evidence for Structural Brain Changes
Neurofeedback doesn't just change function—it changes structure. Research by Ghaziri et al. (2013) using structural MRI showed that intensive neurofeedback training increases gray matter volume in trained regions.
These structural changes occur because repeated functional activation strengthens neural pathways, similar to how physical exercise builds muscle. The brain literally rewires itself through targeted training.
Network-Level Changes: Beyond Individual Frequencies
Recent research reveals that neurofeedback strengthens large-scale brain networks, particularly the frontoparietal control network underlying fluid intelligence and cognitive flexibility.
This explains why people often report improvements beyond the specific trained frequency—enhancing one circuit can cascade into better overall network coordination.
Post-COVID Brain Applications
We're seeing significant numbers of post-COVID clients with persistent brain fog, attention problems, and cognitive fatigue. The same SMR training that helps ADHD often helps post-COVID symptoms, suggesting overlapping mechanisms of attention regulation.
This isn't surprising—both conditions involve disrupted thalamocortical circuits that SMR training specifically targets.
What Makes Someone a Good Candidate?
The best candidates share certain characteristics:
- Clear, describable goals rather than vague desires for "improvement"
- Willingness to commit to 20-40 sessions over 2-4 months
- Understanding that this is training, not a quick fix
- Openness to data rather than attachment to diagnostic labels
Age isn't a limiting factor. We see similar plasticity in children and adults, though younger brains often respond faster.
The Tailor Analogy: Custom Training for Individual Brains
I often compare neurofeedback to tailoring. Just as a good tailor measures your specific dimensions rather than assuming standard sizes, effective neurofeedback requires individual brain mapping.
What looks like ADHD in two different people might involve completely different neural circuits requiring different training approaches. The brain map reveals which specific regions and frequencies need attention.
Beyond Pathology: Training Rather Than Fixing
We don't pathologize patterns—we train them. Instead of "here's what's wrong with you," it's "here's how this circuit works, and here's how to strengthen it."
This reframe is crucial. You're not broken and needing repair; you're training a skill like learning piano or improving your golf swing. The brain responds to this approach more effectively than pathology-focused interventions.
Integration with Other Approaches
Neurofeedback works synergistically with:
- Heart rate variability training for autonomic balance
- Mindfulness meditation for sustained attention
- Sleep optimization for consolidating training effects
- Proper nutrition for neurotransmitter support
The combination often produces better results than neurofeedback alone.
The Future of Cognitive Enhancement
As our understanding of brain networks deepens, neurofeedback protocols become more sophisticated. We're moving beyond single-frequency training toward network-based approaches that target multiple interconnected systems simultaneously.
The goal isn't just symptom relief—it's optimization of human cognitive potential through precise, data-driven brain training.
For detailed information about SMR neurofeedback protocols, mechanisms, and applications, see our comprehensive guide: SMR Neurofeedback: The Calm-Alert Brainwave That Trains Sleep, Focus, and Self-Control.