Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatment for insomnia, depression, and anxiety consisting of pulsed, low-intensity current applied to the earlobes or scalp. CES balances your brain's chemistry. Many patients report feeling relief the very first time they use the CES. And unlike drugs, CES has no negative side effects. It is non-addictive and you can use it safely as often as you like. Biolife Health Center uses CES in conjunction with counseling, biofeedback, neurofeedback, and other modalities. 

​

The FDA allows the medical claims of "insomnia, anxiety, and depression" for CES use. Anxiety and depression are two common triggers of insomnia or sleep problems in general. Depression and anxiety will begin to cause sleep problems in people who haven't previously experienced difficulties with sleep. A vicious cycle will often begin to take place in individuals whereby: the more anxious a person becomes the more they suffer from sleep disorders; the more one suffers from sleep disorder the more anxious one becomes, and on and on. The same is true for those who suffer from depression.

 

What does CES do and how does it work?

An fMRI study shows it decreases cortical activity, and cerebral spinal fluid studies show it increases serotonin and beta-endorphins in the central nervous system. Quantitative EEG reports show it decreases (deep sleep) delta waves and increases alpha waves, associated with meditation and first-stage sleep thus, acutely, the application of the microcurrent can lead to a sense of alert but calm energy, clearheadedness, and wellbeing.

 

CES for Depression

​

Depression has been linked to problems or imbalances in the brain, specifically with regard to the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. The evidence is somewhat indirect on these points because it is very difficult to actually measure the level of neurotransmitters in a person's brain. What we do know is that antidepressant medications (used to treat the symptoms of depression) are known to act upon these particular neurotransmitters and their receptors.

​

Your neurotransmitter activity is a function of the electrical activity in your brain. By helping your brain's electrical activity to function normally, CES indirectly affects the neurotransmitters, thus helping your brain to return to that pre-depression state of balance. Once your brain's receptors start engaging with the rebalanced levels your depression should recede.

 

CES results for depression:

 

• A proven way to treat feelings of depression-without using drugs.

• Studies show that approximately 70% of people with depression who use the CES find 70% relief of their symptoms.

• No withdrawal symptoms, unlike most drugs.

• Not negative side-effects.

• Use CES while still on your medication.

 

CES for Anxiety

 

Anxiety is defined as "mental uneasiness" or "distress arising from fear of what may happen." It has several different manifestations. Individuals suffering from panic disorder experience recurrent, unexpected panic attacks. Those with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) chronically worry too much about a variety of things, and experience symptoms such as restlessness, agitation, or feeling keyed up, muscle tension, fatigue, irritability, and trouble with concentration and sleep. Persons suffering from social anxiety disorder experience extreme fear and avoidance of social and/or performance situations.

​

Those caught in the cycle know all too well how anxiety impacts on every aspect of their life. Unchecked, it renders you ineffective and can easily segue into depression, and insomnia. Many experience this immediately in the course of treatment; others, hours, or several days after. CES leaves you feeling both relaxed and alert. The effect differs from pharmaceutical treatments in that people report their body as feeling lighter and more relaxed and their mind, more alert and clearer. Results are cumulative and lasting.

 

CES results for anxiety:

​

• Effective drug-free way to end the vicious cycle of anxiety.

• Relief with none of the unpleasant side effects of prescription drugs.

• A way of addressing stress in a safe and effective manner.

• Results of feeling both relaxed and alert.

 

CES for Insomnia

​

Today’s medicine's reliance on pharmaceuticals to help restore balance means the introduction of medication. However, when a drug is introduced into the body it only masks the real problem. This is the reason drugs often work well for a time, only to have sleep problems later reappear, often worse than they were initially.

​

Medications act as a crutch for the brain, which no longer can operate to its fullest capacity. Subsequently, dosages have to be increased when sleep again becomes problematic. However, dosages have limits where they become unsafe when you reach this point you are back at square one, sometimes far worse off than you were to begin with.

​

People who have exhausted other methods to help them sleep are finding that CES is a better way to relieve insomnia. The challenge is to restore the natural rhythm of neurological patterns is established by restoring a chemical balance. When this balance is working as it should, sleep comes naturally.

 

CES results for insomnia:

 

• Treats the causes of poor sleep rather than the symptoms.

• Uses the natural processes of the brain to reset your sleep clock, thus reestablishing your natural sleeping rhythms.

• No known side effects.

• It helps the brain to function naturally without introducing pharmaceuticals.

• Relieves the symptoms caused by insomnia, anxiety, and depression.

​

CES Side Effects

Side effects can include vertigo or dizziness (if the stimulation is set too high or you can’t tolerate the machine), headache (approx 1 in 1000), or skin irritation (approx 1 in 1500). No cases of mania or serotonin syndrome have been reported.

​

Note: CES has no withdrawal symptoms, unlike most drugs. It also has minimal or no negative side-effects. You can also use the CES while still on your medication. In fact, it is important that you don't go off your medication until your doctor tells you to do so.

 

CES Scientific Evidence

During the mid-2000s, the combination of pharmaceutical brands becoming generic and Internet advertising caused CES devices to gain popularity. In 2011, the devices received media attention from the Wall Street Journal and scientific journals. Research and studies study suggest that CES results in a reduction of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

​

More than 1,000 articles on CES therapy have been written many of which are listed in four reviews put out by the United States Library of Congress. This is in addition to the wealth of physiological and bio-engineering data on electro-sleep and electro-anesthesia. Human research studies on CES currently number more than 100 scientific and research studies, including the Harvard School of Public Health.

​

Its efficacy has been clinically confirmed through 28 established psychometric tests, computerized EEGs and topographical brain-mapping. Meta-analyses yielding positive results from the use of CES have been conducted at the University of Tulsa and at the Harvard University School of Public Health.

​

​