Alpha-Stim at Breathe
A calmer brain
and stable sleep
For members living with anxiety. For veterans who find the switch hard to turn off. For parents running on empty. For anyone simply worn down and after some quiet. Alpha-Stim is a small, regulated medical device that passes a microcurrent, measured in millionths of an amp, between two clips worn on the earlobes. It is drug-free, non-invasive and easy to fit into a visit. You sit back and read, or close your eyes, while it runs.
Talk to us about Alpha-StimAlpha-Stim prices are not listed yet — ask us and we will tell you before you book.
See pricingWhat is it? And what does it do for me?
Scroll through the animation to understand Alpha-Stim.
Two clips, one on each earlobe
That is the whole apparatus. The current runs between them for the length of a session, and nothing touches the head itself.
Small enough that you barely feel it
Microamps, pulsed slowly, thousands of times weaker than a TENS machine. Most members describe a faint tingle at the earlobe and little else.
The network that runs when you are not busy
Front and back of the midline, and the parietal region either side. It is busiest when attention turns inward, planning, replaying, worrying.
In anxiety, this network is described as overactive
The nodes stay hot and tightly coupled. On a recording that reads as high amplitude, well above where a settled brain sits.
Activity falls back toward baseline
Alpha-Stim's stated mechanism is normalising signalling in this network, and imaging studies report activity dropping after a session rather than rising.
And where the evidence stops
NICE has reviewed it for anxiety. A sham-controlled trial in NHS primary care found no benefit over placebo for depression. We would rather tell you that than let an animation imply more than it should.
Members
What did it feel like for you?
The first session, the unfamiliar ear clips and what happened afterwards. Our members explain their experience of Alpha-Stim in their own words.
Member video coming soon
Most members feel very little
A mild tingle where the clips sit, or nothing at all, and you set the level yourself.
Member video coming soon
The stillness is part of it
Forty quiet minutes with nothing to do. For some members that is the best part.
Member video coming soon
Give it a few weeks to judge it
Why members give it a few weeks of daily use before they decide.
Member video coming soon
It sits alongside, never instead
How members fit it around their usual care, and keep taking what they are prescribed.
Member video coming soon
Tell us if it does not suit you
A member on what happened when it did not suit them, and why we stopped.
Brain mapping
What researchers measured after a session.
A qEEG brain map measures the electrical rhythms across the head and shows where each one sits against a typical resting range. Delta is the slowest rhythm. It belongs to deep sleep, so when it runs high in a brain that is awake, it is read as a sign of fatigue and a foggy, low-energy state. That is why a fall in delta matters.
Before a session
After a session- Delta and theta came downIn a 2018 study of 50 people at Walter Reed, both slow rhythms dropped 10 minutes after an Alpha-Stim session, while beta rose.
- Distress scores fellThe same people rated their distress lower after the session.
- Alpha up, delta downAn earlier qEEG pilot reported more relative alpha and less delta and beta after cranial electrotherapy.
Illustrative brain maps based on the published findings above, not scans of a member.
Your first time
Your first time
We start by understanding what’s brought you here, what you’re finding difficult and any care or medication you already receive. We’ll talk through suitability, explain the device and give you time to ask everything you want to.
Then we’ll fit the ear clips, adjust the settings and help you settle in. Sessions usually last between 20 and 60 minutes, depending on the settings we use. You can read, close your eyes or simply sit comfortably, with our team available throughout.
Afterwards, we’ll talk about how it felt and whether you’d like to explore regular use. There’s no obligation to hire a device or commit to a course.
Free parking, right outside.
Research
What the research has found
If you are here because of anxiety, this is the part that will matter most to you. Alpha-Stim has been studied in randomised trials in the United States, where the FDA has cleared it for anxiety, insomnia and pain. Here is what those studies reported, in plain English, including where the evidence is thin. Pick a topic to read more.
Anxiety
A randomised, double-blind, sham-controlled trial followed 115 adults with a primary anxiety disorder, using the device for one hour a day over five weeks. It reported a large effect on anxiety, 0.94, alongside 0.78 for depressive symptoms.
Eighty-three per cent of the active group reached a fifty per cent reduction in their anxiety scores over those five weeks, and no adverse events were reported.
Barclay and Barclay, Journal of Affective Disorders 2014, n=115.
Read more in the LibraryAnxiety with daily use
A pilot study at the University of California, Los Angeles followed 12 adults with generalised anxiety disorder who used Alpha-Stim at home for an hour a day over six weeks. Average anxiety scores fell from 21.3 to 12.7 on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, a large effect size of 1.52.
Depressive symptoms fell too. This was a small study without a comparison group, and three people stopped early because of headache or dizziness.
Bystritsky, Kerwin and Feusner, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2008, n=12.
Read more in the LibraryService members and veterans
US service members and veterans who had been given Alpha-Stim through the Department of Defense or the Department of Veterans Affairs were surveyed about their experience. Of the 114 who used it for anxiety, 66.7 per cent reported an improvement of at least 25 per cent, and 46.5 per cent reported at least 50 per cent.
Of the 88 who used it for post-traumatic stress, 62.5 per cent reported an improvement of at least 25 per cent. Ninety-nine per cent said they considered it safe to use at home.
Kirsch and colleagues, US Army Medical Department Journal 2014, n=145. These are self-reported results without a comparison group, and the authors have links to the manufacturer.
Read more in the LibraryComfort and side effects
This is the most reassuring part of the Alpha-Stim story. No serious side effects have been reported in randomised trials, and where side effects are reported they are mild and short-lived.
The commonest are headache, dizziness, or irritation where the clips sit. Across the manufacturer's pooled figures for roughly 8,792 people, headache was recorded at 0.10 per cent and dizziness at 0.07 per cent.
US Department of Veterans Affairs evidence review 2018; pooled figures from the Alpha-Stim AID owner's manual, which are the manufacturer's own.
Read more in the LibraryPain
Fibromyalgia is the most studied pain use. Three sham-controlled trials reported benefit for Alpha-Stim compared with a dummy device, with modest effect sizes.
In the United States the FDA has cleared Alpha-Stim for pain as well as for anxiety and insomnia. The Alpha-Stim M adds a separate microcurrent mode applied directly to a painful area.
US Department of Veterans Affairs evidence review 2018; Lichtbroun and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Rheumatology 2001.
Read more in the LibraryEvery study above is set out in full, in plain English, in our research Library.
