Dangers of Holosync

Holosync audio technology is a series of self-help CDs that promise to bring you a host of benefits. Holosync is said to give you the same benefits of deep meditation in a fraction of the time, according the site of its developer, Centerpointe Research Institute. The site says Holosync will reduce your stress levels, enhance your memory, learning and creativity, and create a pathway between the left and right hemispheres of your brain for better overall performance.

Money

• The Holosync system is not cheap. Since you need to listen to an entire slate of CDs, and not just one, you also need to invest in the entire Holosync system. While the Holosync site says you are getting a great deal with a bevy of products worth more than $700, you still need to shell out a hefty $179, according to prices in 2010. That cost covers just the start-up package. If you want to continue to greater depths of Holosync, you will need to pay for each subsequent series.

Time

• Don't think a few minutes of your time is going to produce the benefits of Holosync. You need to put aside at least one hour each day to listen in--no instant gratification here. Changes using the system are gradual and occur from repeated listening sessions over a substantial length of time. An hour each day can be a huge amount of time for people to put aside, especially since they cannot be multi-tasking or doing anything else while listening. One hour per day calculates to about 15 days per year you will spend listening to Holosync.

No Evidence

• Another danger of Holosync is the lack of scientific evidence to back up the claims of what Centerpointe says the system will do. An experiment with self-help tapes divided listeners into two groups, giving half of them the self-help tapes and the other half ordinary music, according to a report in Pyschological Science and noted on the Quackwatch website. About half the listeners from each group said they received the benefits they were told they would receive, regardless of the tapes they heard. Quackwatch also notes that even though many people say the subliminal tapes have given them many benefits, a National Research Council committee said there is no scientific evidence to back up the claims.

Other

• Even if no scientific proof exists to support claims of self-improvement, Holosync will put you in a state of relaxation. Never use the product while driving or performing other tasks that require full alertness and attention. Centerpointe calls Holosync "The lazy man's way to meditate." Non-lazy men, and women, can spend time getting the benefits of meditation without the system.