Eyes Issue Proteus

**asho** · 05-01-2014, 06:13 AM

Hi, I am using L/s for the first time.I got a donation of proteus from mindplace.I have an anxiety disorder and depression.Whenever i use a session on proteus,My eyes ache badly and they burn too afterwards.I use very low brightness but the problem does not go away.I came to know that procyon has a feature of sine lights that proteus does not have.Sine lights are very gentle and best for sensitive eyes.Is there any solution for this problem? Can sine light feature be added to proteus?

Thanks

**neuroasis** · 05-01-2014, 07:43 AM

Sorry to hear about that. People have very different light sensitivities. It is hard to say exactly why this occurring with you. Certain health conditions, nutritional deficiencies, and medications can heighten light sensitivity. Let's assume that it is the brightness of the light that is the cause and try some ways to reduce this.

As far as our range of mind machines the Proteus is very bright with 2 red LEDs per eye. If you wanted to dig into the editor then you could turn off (or significantly turn down) the red LEDs. This would reduce the brightness for you a great deal. I can help you with this, not immediately but soon, as I am preparing to start testing for release a new editor for the Proteus and that is what I am working on at the moment. It is very far along but not quite ready.

Another option is to use the Proteus in monocolor mode and get a set of Amber (orange/yellow) Ganzframes. These might help. White is available too. Really it is the red that is most likely the cause of the discomfort I feel.

One more possibility is to use the AudioStrobe features of the Proteus and either turn the volume of the source down a great deal for even lower lights, or edit the AudioStrobe for less volume. Also, I suppose you could use a handkerchief over your eyes as a light diffuser. This is the easiest. Or even you could use electrical tape and block one column of LEDs on each side of the glasses.

Try a few tests with the above suggestion, handkerchief first, as it is the least expensive and easiest to do. Then you can see if it is the brightness that is the culprit.

I do not think it is the waveform of the light. Granted light modulated by a sine wave has a bit of a smoother edge and less pronounced peak, but at fast brainwave frequencies the differences is negligible. Where it does come into play is the theoretical sideband harmonics that are produced by square waves, whereas sine wave do not have these.

Anyway, try out a few tweaks and let us know your results and when I have a bit more information I will further assist you.

Hope this helps,
Scott

**neuroasis** · 05-01-2014, 07:49 AM

You could also follow the guidelines on this blog entry to put paper as a diffuser over the lenses, not for eye open use, but for reduced brightness: http://www.mindplacesupport.com/foru...ntastic-colors!!

Also, make sure you are well hydrated with water before and after your sessions. And take it slow. Do shorter sessions and try to build up to it. The Proteus gives you easy on board access to control your sessions in realtime in the User mode.

**asho** · 05-01-2014, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by neuroasis

You could also follow the guidelines on this blog entry to put paper as a diffuser over the lenses, not for eye open use, but for reduced brightness: http://www.mindplacesupport.com/foru...ntastic-colors!!

Also, make sure you are well hydrated with water before and after your sessions. And take it slow. Do shorter sessions and try to build up to it. The Proteus gives you easy on board access to control your sessions in realtime in the User mode.

Thanks for reply,I do not have monocolour glasses but i will try the paper method.I read the dangers of square wave lights on mindalive website.They say that they are not smoother and harsh on eyes and also not good for anxiety patients like me because of the harmonics created.I only use alpha and theta sessions for relaxation but still they will produce the harmonics of beta and high beta which are bad for anxiety.Any thoughts?

Thanks

**neuroasis** · 05-01-2014, 10:28 AM

They are very low amplitude harmonics and from what EEG readings I have seen some harmonics are present regardless of the waveform. That is why I say 'theoretical'. Light probably doesn't act exactly the same way as sound. It is also not the case that brain follows the stimulus to pattern perfection. In the guidelines for producing and measuring Steady State Evoked Visual Potentials (which is what entrainment by light is), it is instructed that light stimulus has a 'noisy' envelope in practice.

Because you are imposing repetitive stimulus I would say that there will be some measure of harmonics by nature of the oscillating rhythms that are ongoing in the cortex. A sine wave may lessen the harmonic stimulus to fewer bands than a square, but certainly it is not unreasonable to think that others would be present.

Again, the firing structure of clusters of neurons even by the most advanced researchers is only partially understood.

The strongest stimulus you will find will be at the primary frequency. Other already present or transient oscillations will continue. That is why AVS is a long term strategy for change and not a magic pill. Over time you can begin to alter the cumulative structure of neural activity.

Best,
Scott

**asho** · 05-01-2014, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by neuroasis

They are very low amplitude harmonics and from what EEG readings I have seen some harmonics are present regardless of the waveform. That is why I say 'theoretical'. Light probably doesn't act exactly the same way as sound. It is also not the case that brain follows the stimulus to pattern perfection. In the guidelines for producing and measuring Steady State Evoked Visual Potentials (which is what entrainment by light is), it is instructed that light stimulus has a 'noisy' envelope in practice.

Because you are imposing repetitive stimulus I would say that there will be some measure of harmonics by nature of the oscillating rhythms that are ongoing in the cortex. A sine wave may lessen the harmonic stimulus to fewer bands than a square, but certainly it is not unreasonable to think that others would be present.

Again, the firing structure of clusters of neurons even by the most advanced researchers is only partially understood.

The strongest stimulus you will find will be at the primary frequency. Other already present or transient oscillations will continue. That is why AVS is a long term strategy for change and not a magic pill. Over time you can begin to alter the cumulative structure of neural activity.

Best,
Scott

Which new Features are you adding to the new proteus editor and when will be it available? Please add the sine lights option.

Thanks

**TomC** · 05-01-2014, 11:12 AM

Asho,

If you are concerned about how different light sources are affecting your condition, and your eyes are that sensitive, I would just try the proteus session with sound only. I actually find I get very good results with sound-only, esp. before bedtime.

Cheers,
TomC

**neuroasis** · 05-01-2014, 11:19 AM

I wish it were that simple. That is a Proteus OS feature and the OS will not be updated, and probably never again as we do not have access to the original engineer. The main thing I want to accomplish is to modernize the interface for all of our editors and make them cross platform compatible for Windows, Mac, and likely Linux. Then we can look at moving forward with 'features'.

If I were you I wouldn't become too techy about things without more experience. It is easy for us to become enmeshed with so called 'specs' when there are really more crucial things to focus on. Like actually using the machine for some time, keeping a journal of your experiences, trying to discover what works for you and what doesn't.. etc. The Proteus is a good beginning platform for this.

Scott

**Andy** · 05-01-2014, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by asho

Thanks for reply,I do not have monocolour glasses but i will try the paper method.I read the dangers of square wave lights on mindalive website.They say that they are not smoother and harsh on eyes and also not good for anxiety patients like me because of the harmonics created.I only use alpha and theta sessions for relaxation but still they will produce the harmonics of beta and high beta which are bad for anxiety.Any thoughts?

Thanks

It sounds like you are a new AVS enthusiast, and hungry to learn more about this world.
I would highly recommend reading Craig's excellent post on how to use AVS effectively, and another excellent article by Marisa which discusses how your mind works. Knowing this will help you "adjust" it via AVS.