Sleep plays a vital role in our physical and mental health. While we sleep, our body heals and repairs itself; it allows out brain to process the information collected through the day; it allows us to rest and prepare for the following day so that we can carry out whatever we need to at our best.
Insomnia and sleep problems, once started, can develop into bad habits. Once you start worrying that you won’t sleep, then you probably won’t! Many people experience difficulties with sleep on a regular basis; these can involve difficulties getting to sleep, waking in the middle of the night, or waking too early in the morning. It can also lead to or exacerbate other problems such as irritability, decreased performance, and depression. In many cases the root cause is simply stress.
Hypnosis can help to stop this cycle by helping you to take control and learn to quiet your mind and relax your body so that you can re-educate your mind into easily falling asleep. Other sleep disorders include those that disrupt sleep such as night terrors and sleep walking, and problems with staying awake.
Understanding ‘normal’ sleep, and learning your own body’s rhythms and what affects these, can be very helpful in alleviating these problems. Combined with learning effective relaxation and self-hypnosis skills, you can significantly improve your sleep patterns; this can also help with some indirect effects of insomnia such as daytime anxiety, and grinding your teeth at night (bruxism).
When dealing with sleep problems, the first thing to do is talk to your GP to rule out any physical or medical causes. During sessions with me, we will then look at how your lifestyle factors may affect your sleep; it may be that making slight changes to your diet, exercise, or night-time routine could make a huge difference. Hypnotherapy is then very helpful for you to learn how to fully relax and let go of whatever may be biting you and keeping you awake. It is important that you cary out the self-help tips in between sessions that we will discuss, in order for you to make new, more helpful habits that allow you to get the rest that you need.