Influencing Relaxation by a Low Intensity Transcranial Pulsed Magnetic Stimulation Applying the Entrainment Model

Abstract

Relaxation is becoming increasingly important in modern stressful times. Besides special psychological practices or consuming pharmaceuticals, one can achieve a more relaxed state also by applying an appropriate magnetic field stimulation of the head (low-intensity rTMS). Following the entrainment model, we did the research using carefully chosen frequencies of modest MF intensity that followed the principles of clinical trials. Besides the situations of blind verum stimulation and the sham one, we tested also the situation that included expectations of the applied stimulation. The testing was done by electrophysiological methods and VAS. The results demonstrated an objective relaxing effect of MF stimulation, where drowsiness was not stimulated. This outcome is much more evident from electrophysiological data than from the VAS ones. From the latter results, we noticed even a slightly negative reaction to expectations.