The art of quality sleep

insomnia

Do you realise that recent studies have shown that hypnosis and hypnotherapy can help up to two-thirds more adults sleep deeper and longer than with those who induce sleep naturally. 

"There have been many reports that hypnosis can be a good thing for promoting sleep," said study co-author Bjorn Rasch, a professor with the department of psychology in the division of biopsychology and methods at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
In this newer sleep study scientists have been carefully exploring the effect of hypnosis on so called ‘deep sleep’ or REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. At this level of sleep the brain’s frequency is much slower and "often correlates with the most restorative sleep -- it's a time for your brain to process and rejuvenate from the challenges of the day," explained Dr. Kim Hutchison, assistant professor of neurology and sleep medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.
The study group aged between 18 and 35 based in Switzerland were exposed to a variety of audio recordings of about 13 minutes in length. Some provided a hypnotic suggestion to sleep deeper, while others were designed to be neutral in content..
For each experiment, the participants were outfitted with electrodes to monitor brain-wave activity and sleep patterns. The subjects were allowed to fall asleep during or after the audio feeds, and all were woken up after they had spent a total of 90 minutes sleep.
The sleep team were also able to observe that slow-wave activity during the deep sleep phase was "significantly enhanced" following hypnosis. This suggests that not only does hypnosis boost deep sleep quantity, it may also improve deep sleep quality.
"I have to emphasise that we did not focus on sleep-disorder patients," said Rasch. "These were all healthy people. So while our findings are really promising, we do not yet have proof that hypnosis will help people who suffer from sleep disturbances. I would say it would. But it's not yet proven," he added.
"I have found hypnosis can be helpful, even for non-susceptible patients," she said. "Because it gives them something to focus on, and helps them to relax and quiet their mind before sleeping."
Hutchison added that, "there is anecdotal evidence that the relaxation achieved can help improve sleep quality. In fact, I have been recommending sleep hypnosis phone apps for about the past five years."
Findings from the study were published this month in the journal Sleep.
Want to learn effective strategies to help you develop more quality based sleep? Here at Cumbria Hypnosis we use an array of different psychological tools to help anyone with sleeping disorders. Find out more here or try our popular Mind-Sync Sleep Easy mp3 for a peaceful and rewarding night’s sleep.
David Faratian (NLP Practitioner and Clinical Hypnotherapist)



The Alternative Doctor

When people have problems where is the first place they turn? In most instances, if it can’t be dealt with through talking, it is either toward their doctor, their counsellor or their priest. With today’s technology most people will even ignore all the above and head straight for Dr.Google, that font of all knowledge and solutions. The internet can certainly provide many answers as can conventional medicine but these solutions usually involve medication, chemicals and sticking with what makes scientific sense, which may explain why alternative therapies rarely get a look in. How often do we type ‘how can I treat weight problems’ or ‘what helps with smoking addiction’ and get back a list of solutions which tend to leave out the many successful alternatives which have a proven track record but for some reason people don’t really know about, like homeopathy, reflexology, aromatherapy, nlp and of course hypnotherapy and hypnosis.

How many people really know that hypnotherapy can offer treatment for, and help with a full range of niche conditions including
Irritable Bowel Syndrome, migraines, sexual problems like impotence, premature ejaculation, vaginismus, insomnia, pain control, fears and phobias for flying, needles, heights, dentists, fear of horse riding, fear of childbirth to name but a few; general anxiety, addictions and habits like gambling, alcohol and sex, habit control for losing weight and smoking, solutions for relationship problems, anger management, improved self confidence, children’s problems like bed wetting, nightmares, bullying, and even relief from menopause symptoms, and developing better sports performance. The list is actually extensive and yet the fact that these complimentary remedies are ranked so low in search engines says a great deal about how narrow minded and conditioned we are as a society to be skeptical about anything that doesn’t always have a logical basis.

The truth is though, that alternative therapies like hypnotherapy are gaining more and more credibility from medical organisations like the British Medical Association even though the NHS (National Health Service), still appears to relegate hypnosis to the same category as trivial showmanship and voodoo. Fortunately though more and more general practitioners are welcoming alternatives for conditions like hypertension and
sleeping disorders because often the Doctor can only treat symptoms with a medical cause and in the case of primary or essential high blood pressure, in 90% of cases there simply is no medical cause and so hypnotherapy, meditation and relaxation strategies are regarded as the most sensible route. Insomnia, like hypertension can often have no visible medical solution because the symptoms are driven by latent stress and therefore a psychological alternative is needed.

Most conditions, which have a medical diagnosis are undoubtedly aggravated, at least in some respect, by psychological roots and the causes are more often than not given the title ‘stress’, so it certainly stands to reason that neuro-linguistic therapies come into their own when dealing with the vast majority of medical conditions.

Certain phobias, which for years were treated with several sessions of psychiatric interventions, can now be dealt with through rapid phobia NLP in just a handful of sessions and more importantly, the cure is permanent. NLP is also particularly effective for habit control and although weight loss and smoking are a given, the efficacy of NLP to deal with habits as niche as addiction to
alcohol or gambling, is hard to disprove. The reason is also logical, because despite medicine being able to dull or numb certain emotional triggers, which lead to the compulsions and obsessions of the habits mentioned, they rarely offer enough of a change in attitude or behavior, which could be seen as sustainable and visible in the long run. Tranquillizers and anti-depressants cannot take away the emotional attachment a gambler has for the momentary win or the person who exercises an unhealthy interest in porn because of the perceived high. NLP and hypnosis can however recondition the patterns of behavior by firstly teaching the person how to disconnect emotionally from any ‘buzz’ associated with habit and then helping them to develop recognition strategies for neutralizing the first signs of the old pattern.
In fact the exciting realization that alternative therapies can not only be effective for standard habit control and phobias, but can more directly affect the human immune system is opening up the debate about complimentary therapy even more. The relatively new study of psychoneuroimmunology has shown scientifically that there is a relationship between the mind and the human immune system. Encouraging the client to think about their immune system, and focus on what it can do for them, does have a beneficial effect. Guided visualisation and positive affirmations, while either meditating through self-hypnosis products, or being treated more directly in real time by a professional hypnotherapist can give the psychological edge a patient needs to deal more productively with conditions even as serious as cancer.
This clinic offers treatment for all the areas discussed whether you live in Cumbria, Barrow-in-Furness, Dalton-in-Furness, Ulverston, Kendal, Windermere, Whitehaven or you are looking for more indirect supportive measures for self-hypnosis through our full range of audio relaxation
self- hypnosis CDs and mp3s