Inside the Mind of a ‘Brain Hacker’ | A Modern Monk

Furthermore, from the article, it may be misinterpreted that I starting using tDCS to treat my vision, but this is not true. I have always been interested in self-improvement, and wanted to try new things to become a better person and live my life in the right way. A few months before stumbling upon tDCS, I had started to spend more time in meditation and exercising regularly, as well as taking nutritional supplements and becoming vegetarian. So tDCS seemed like one more thing to try to see if it made a difference for me, and I did not expect that it would affect my vision at all. However, after using it one evening, I noticed that I was able to see better in low light. It was a strange feeling at first, but after trying it for several nights in a row, it was very evident that I could perceive things that I simply couldn’t see before, such as the upper floors of tall buildings, and traffic from more than a few meters away. While my visual acuity remains the same, my contrast perception and ability to notice small objects have noticeably improved.

via Inside the Mind of a ‘Brain Hacker’ — tDCS and Neurodynamics — Medium.

Three things to know before trying tDCS — tDCS and Neurodynamics — A Modern Monk

Again, the takeaway message for me being, ‘your mileage may vary’ and, ‘are you sure it’s doing what you think it is?’.

In my experience, the best way to determine whether tDCS was effective was through stimulating the visual cortex and playing a vision training game called Ultimeyes for the iPad. I came across this study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18491714) when I first started reading about tDCS and thought I would try it myself. After just one session, I could clearly see the difference in my ability to perceive low contrast objects in the app, and this carried over to recognizing features and objects outside as well, and especially in low light conditions.

via Three things to know before trying tDCS — tDCS and Neurodynamics — Medium.

tDCS + Meditation — tDCS and Neurodynamics —A Modern Monk

The first type of meditation I practice is the standard “focus” meditation that is taught on headspace.com, and there are great walk-throughs there. I use tDCS to calm the conscious mind by placing the cathode on FpZ the center of the forehead and the anode at OZ center of the back of the head. I do this montage for 5–10 minutes, then remove the electrodes and meditate, focusing on my breath, for 10–15 minutes. I usually do this in the morning, and afterwards, I usually place the anode at FpZ and cathode on upper left arm and run the current for another 5–10 minutes. I find this is helpful in getting into work mode.

via tDCS + Meditation — tDCS and Neurodynamics — Medium.