Going With the Flow: Can You Encourage Flowstate?

Grand are those moments during a work week, that see your fingers flying across the keyboard, handling one e-mail after another effortlessly without a care in the world. Yet, modern-day productivity can sometimes see individuals sluggishly struggling through their tasks, with brain fog lingering over their mental ability to focus. Whether you know it as 'being in the zone', or have read enough to recognise what it means to be in a flowstate, there's plenty of reasons why it isn't just a good vibe or momentum that's carrying you through a difficult workday with ease. 

Flowstate provides an individual with a sense of fluidity between their mind and body. You would likely have experienced your own flowstate during tasks that have you deeply focused. This can be experienced with activities like writing, or in other leisurely tasks like oil painting. Whichever activity you recognise having been in flowstate with, it's highly likely that you would have recognised how this is a feeling that has you experiencing unity with your task. 

Being in sync with your activities this way is not just about 'being in your head' or 'zone': in fact, studies have proven that increased levels of alpha and theta brain waves can increase brain function, while reducing symptoms of generalised anxiety among individuals. While you could easily search online for resources that recommend meditation and mindfulness activities as a way to make it easier for your mind to achieve flowstate during tasks, there are supplements that you can consider which do help your mind regulate its alpha and theta brainwave activity.

L Theanine in Green Tea

In a 2011 study by Higashiyama et. al, researchers were able to demonstrate L Theanine's pronounced effect on attention performance, and reaction time. Among their findings include data that show how individuals exhibited higher alpha brain wave activity, while producing a calmer heart rate and elevated visual attentional performance that improved their reaction time significantly. How amazing that besides being able to keep a person more focused and alert, L Theanine was also found to be able to keep them calm!

Ginkgo Biloba and Alpha Brainwave Activity

There's plenty of scientific truth to be found, with the way Ginkgo Biloba extract has often been encouraged to aid with cognitive ability. One study in 2011 by Silberstein et. al discovers how Ginkgo Biloba produced a significant reduction in theta waveband activity, through 3 months' uptake of Ginkgo Biloba among elderly patients. The study results show that Ginkgo Biloba supplementation provided this decrease in theta power, in conjunction with an increase to alpha brainwave activity – characteristics that present a brain frequency profile associated with good cognition and memory performance.

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