Hong Kong Hypnotherapy

World Sleep Day

March 18^th is World Sleep Day, a day dedicated to awareness-raising and research into sleep disorders and the promotion of natural, healthy sleep for all.

Sleep disorders include chronic insomnia, narcolepsy (falling asleep during the day at sudden and often inappropriate times), parasomnias (including sleep-walking and night terrors) and restless legs syndrome. Then, of course, there is also somniphobia, which is a fear of sleep…

Surveys have shown that 95% of adults have experienced insomnia at some point during their lives, with anything between 30% and 58% regularly experiencing problems sleeping. Many of these people suffer from chronic insomnia.

Chronic insomnia (characterised as problems sleeping every night for a period of at least four weeks) can develop as a result of repeated incidences of insomnia interrupting the natural cycle of sleep and often results in impairment to overall health and ability to function during the day. It also leads to frustration and can cause depression and physical problems such as insulin resistance, disrupted metabolic rate, and impaired adrenal and immune system function.

Sufferers of insomnia experience problems in both going to sleep and remaining asleep, or they may experience periods of sleep that are disrupted. Common causes are emotional problems, stress and anxiety, and an inability to ‘switch off’ the conscious mind. We all know that caffeine can result in difficulty in getting to sleep at night, but so, too, can overlong naps in the daytime, exercising last thing at night, bright light and eating a big meal before bedtime.

If you have ever had problems sleeping, the chances are that you have tried some or all of these common (and often effective) remedies:

• Avoid reading or watching TV in bed; make your bed a special place only for sleeping
• ›  As far as possible, go to bed at the same time each night
• ›  Take a warm bath with lavender or chamomile oil before you go to bed
• ›  Go to bed expecting to sleep – even if you feel sure you won’t
• ›  If you still can’t sleep, get up and do something you really enjoy (promise yourself you will do it for at least half an hour, even if you get really sleepy…)

However, have you also considered using hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy, recognised by the British Medical Association and the American Medical Association as effective treatment for a wide range of issues including pain relief, phobias and asthma, can be enormously helpful in treating both insomnia and the issues that may underlie it. A number of studies have been conducted on its efficacy in helping people to sleep.

http://www.hypnosis-review-quarterly.com/insomnia-studies.html

http://www.altmd.com/Articles/Hypnotherapy-for-Insomnia

Hypnotherapy for insomnia generally involves relaxing you deeply then guiding you through a very pleasant landscape of images and sensations where your subconscious mind becomes increasingly receptive to positive suggestions about sleep and its benefits. Because the subconscious mind controls all bodily functions, emotional states and responses, once it is on board and believes that natural, healthy, easy sleep is not only possible, but the norm, then real changes that last begin to take place in your sleeping habits. These can be reinforced further by regularly listening to the recording of the session.

The underlying cause of the insomnia is also considered and treated. Occasionally it becomes clear that there is a part of the subconscious mind that is preventing you from sleeping for a reason (the subconscious mind’s primary function is to protect you, though it may do this in ways that can seem strange to the conscious mind!), for example if something bad once happened to you while you were sleeping, it may believe that keeping you awake will keep you safe. If this is the case, hypnotherapy can be used effectively to communicate with this part of the subconscious mind and persuade it that there are other, healthier ways to achieve the same goal.

It may take up to 3 hypnotherapy sessions to get lasting relief from insomnia if work is needed on underlying issues, although I have had clients who reversed long term insomnia after just one hypnotherapy treatment.

Of course, hypnotherapy can help whether you suffer from chronic insomnia, or just need a little help now and again! Please remember, though, that it is important to get a medical check-up to rule out underlying mental and physical causes.

Happy sleeping!

Fiona