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Fed up of not sleeping, exhausted, drained and incapable of getting on with your daily tasks. As many as 16 million UK adults are suffering from sleepless nights and a third (31%) say they have insomnia.

Sleep affects everything. Our body repairs its self when sleeping and if we are not sleeping we become very unwell. When you are sleeping well you have a stronger immune system, because your body is not ageing as quickly, this is because you are getting rest and rejuvenation. So the more quality sleep we get the healthier we are and the longer we live

4 ways Insomnia can impact your life:

• Lower performance at work or school
• Slowed reaction time while driving or doing activates and a higher risk of accidents
• Mental health disorders, such as depression, an anxiety disorder or substance abuse
• Increased risk and severity of long-term diseases or conditions, such as high blood pressure and heart disease

What happens to our brains when we sleep?

The mind is split into two parts; you have the conscious, which is where our intelligence is, and the subconscious, which is around 95% of our emotional mind.

When we are awake the conscious mind is operated by our Beta brain wave. As we relax and move towards sleep, we drift into first Alpha and then down into Theta which is our REM dream sleep, and then finally Delta, which is deep sleep, this cycle is called the Circadian rhythm.

A perfect nights sleep they say is between 10pm and 6am where the brain can go through about four cycles of Circadian rhythm. The cycle will move up and down, though Theta and Delta and sometimes coming up into Alpha.

What is happening when you have a nightmare?

Sometimes we have nightmares because it’s our mind trying to resolve our day’s emotions. If you are having a nightmare, this means our mind is not letting the nervous system relax into the deep relaxation side of the nervous system, which is called the parasympathetic. So we are coming back up into our conscious mind, which is called the sympathetic state of the nervous system. It is here that we are still stressed, panicked and anxious, and therefore we cannot find that peaceful relaxed parasympathetic because we have too much adrenaline in our system from the stress of life.

3 Main Reasons for Insomnia

1. Stress/ Anxiety

When we are anxious or unhappy in the day we take that into our sleep. Because when we start to go to sleep, and start switching off from the conscious mind, the sub conscious starts to become overwhelmed with uninvited thoughts. This tricks the nervous system into action rather than the resting state (when the brain is relaxed). Therefore the brain is too active and as a result we have a lot of adrenaline and negative chemistry flowing through our body keeping us awake.

2. Change of routine

If someone has changed their lifestyle/routine, where it means they have to be up in the night more; perhaps you have a new born baby waking you up through out the night, or you do night shifts, or perhaps you are a student who’s routine is erratic, then this makes sleep difficult. Life is changing and moving on but the brain is stuck in this pattern of interrupted sleep, so you are unable to get a normal nights rest. Hypnosis will break this pattern.

3. Coming off medication

Hypnosis is a good way to bring a balance so people can start coming off sleep medication, hypnosis will help your mind trust that you can sleep without the medication. You would gradually reduce your dose alongside having hypnosis, however you must always consult your GP when doing this.

How does hypnosis work?

The mind is split into two parts; you have the conscious, which is where our intelligence is, and the subconscious, which is around 95% of the emotional mind.

We are helping the mind to find the pathway to relax. As soon as someone closes their eyes their brain thinks they are moving towards sleep and that induces the Alpha waves towards the subconscious.

As you move towards the subconscious your brain becomes highly suggestive, and you are very open to following instructions.

These instructions are called Post hypnotic suggestions or anchors, and so we instruct a persons mind with relaxing anchors, these positive anchors go into the subconscious, which would then trigger at bedtime.

We suggest to the subconscious that as the day comes to the end and you enter into your bedroom, rather than being anxious and seeing it as somewhere you can’t sleep, we put the anchor in that your bedroom is a relaxing space, and you will be able to sleep. I have simply told the mind to forget what it knew before and that you can give your-self permission to leave the day behind and sink into a beautiful sleep.

It’s as simple as that!

At my clinic 98% of people who come to me with Insomnia/Sleep Deprivation are now getting a goodnights sleep after an average of 4 hypnosis sessions

If you have read this and would like some help with your sleep then please do get in touch with me here. [email protected]