Vasomotion

Blood Flow Dymamics: Vasomotion & pirHEG Biofeedback

Your brain's blood vessels aren't passive pipes—they're rhythmic oscillators. Every 10 seconds, tiny arteries in your cortex squeeze and relax in coordinated waves. This is vasomotion, and three breakthrough 2024 papers just revealed something remarkable: these vascular oscillations are plastic, trainable, and functionally important for waste clearance and brain health. For 25 years, I've used a simple neurofeedback tool called passive infrared HEG (hemoencephalography) that measures prefrontal blood flow via thermal radiation. People train their blood flow up, and migraines decrease, attention improves, anxiety drops. But the mechanism was always vague—"training neurovascular coupling" or "increasing prefrontal activation." These new papers give us a sharper model. When you train with HEG, you're likely training the flexibility and coherence of vasomotion—teaching vascular oscillators to respond more smoothly to neural demand and potentially improving waste clearance through the glymphatic system. **Key findings from 2024 research:** • Vasomotion forms traveling waves across cortex that dominate resting perfusion (Broggini et al., *Neuron*) • Vascular oscillations are plastic and entrainable—repeated stimulation improves waste clearance (Sasaki et al., *eLife*) • After stroke, vessels lose their rhythm; restoring vasomotion may be neuroprotective (Zhao et al.) **The training hypothesis:** HEG neurofeedback uses repeated, spaced trials (up-regulate prefrontal blood flow, get feedback, rest, repeat). This is structurally identical to the entrainment protocols shown to train vasomotion in animal models. Over 10-20 sessions, you're teaching the prefrontal vascular network to oscillate more coherently and respond more efficiently. **Clinical data:** Multiple studies show HEG reduces migraine frequency/severity, improves attention and executive function, and decreases anxiety and depression. The evidence is solid. What's new is understanding *why*—we're training the rhythmic, plastic dynamics of the cerebrovascular system. This connects to my previous video on cognitive cadence: the 10-second vasomotion rhythm is one of the nested timescales that keeps your brain functioning. Lose the rhythm (chronic stress kills the pacemaker neurons), and cognition degrades. Train the rhythm, and function improves. **Primary sources:** Broggini et al. (2024) - *Neuron* - Traveling waves of vasomotion Sasaki et al. (2024) - *eLife* - Plastic vasomotion entrainment Zhao et al. (2024) - Vasomotion dysfunction after stroke Turner et al. (2025) - *eLife* - nNOS neurons as vascular pacemakers **Clinical HEG references:** Carmen (2004), Stokes & Lappin (2010), Walker & Lyle (2016), Dias et al. (2012), Baker (2023) --- ## Tags vasomotion, HEG neurofeedback, hemoencephalography, cerebral blood flow, brain waves, neurovascular coupling, glymphatic system, brain optimization, migraine treatment, ADHD, neurofeedback, biofeedback, prefrontal cortex, vascular plasticity, neuroprotection, cognitive neuroscience, functional neuroimaging, waste clearance, chronic stress Live Q&A as always. ⏰ Live at 6pm Pacific 👉 Prerelease book interest: https://andrewhillphd.com/gifted-and-tortured-book-pre-release-interest/ 👉 *Black Friday / Cyber Monday* QEEG & Neurofeedback Specials :https://www.peakbrain.global/black-friday 👉 *Book a free consult call:* https://calendly.com/drhill1 This is an interactive stream—bring your questions about brain patterns, neurofeedback, phenotypes, or anything brain-related. Whether you're new to neuroscience or a seasoned biohacker, all levels welcome!