Insomnia is a classification of sleep disorder in which a person has trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early. These disorder may also be defined by an overall poor quality of sleep.
Insomnia is the most commonly reported sleep disorder. About 30 percent of adults have symptoms of insomnia and less than 10 percent of adults are likely to have chronic insomnia. Insomnia is more common among elderly people and women. Insomnia is one of the more common symptoms of stress and depression. Whilemany clients come to see a Hypnotherapist with a wide range of symptoms to eliminate, many of them have a sleep disturbance in addition to the symptom they have come to eliminate. Whether you have had a hard time falling asleep, or you fall asleep promptly and then awaken later and are unable to fall asleep again, you have insomnia.
There are 4 types of Insomnia:
1. Psycho-reactive Insomnia: This is caused by tension. The person gets into bed and begins to think about the activities that went on throughout his day. He may think about what he has to do tomorrow. He may be thinking about some other problem. His mind is keeping him awake with worry. In addition, he may begin to worry about getting to sleep because he has to waken in the morning. He may worry that he may become ill or die from lack of sleep.
2. Endogenous Insomnia: This is caused by a discomfort within the body ranging from indigestion to pain.
3. Exogenous Insomnia: This is caused by external disturbances such as noise or a partner's snoring. This is the easiest type of insomnia to cure.
4. Functional Insomnia: This is caused by a functional problem in the subject's sleep-wakefulness center in the brain.
Many people have had insomnia of a long-standing nature and may develop an irrational fear or phobia of getting into bed. They are afraid to get into bed because they expect to lie awake. This negative expectancy will bring about insomnia all by itself. An understanding of the human organism is the first prerequisite in bringing about a healthy sleep cycle.
1. No one has ever died from or become ill from lack of sleep. The body and mind will get at least the minimum amount of sleep that it needs, no matter what. If you lose some sleep one night, the next night you will get some additional sleep to make up the loss.
2. We all have an internal clock. This internal clock brings about an apex of fatigue in cycles. Although the cycle is different in each individual, it generally runs between four and six hours. In other words, every four to six hours, you will have an apex of fatigue, and this will be when it will be easiest for you to fall asleep. After the apex of fatigue, you will ex¬perience a renewed feeling of energy and at this time it will be quite difficult to fall asleep.
3. Although subjects complain of not having slept a wink all night, it has been proven in sleep laboratories that we all sleep during the night. Sometimes the sub¬ject feels that he has been lying awake thinking, but actually he has been sleeping lightly -and dreaming.
4. Trying to fall asleep: There is a law of nature call¬ed The Law of Reversed Effect. It says that if you try to do something, you will get the opposite. The harder you try, the more you will get the opposite. So, trying to fall asleep will insure that you will remain awake. It would be better for you to try to remain awake!
5. Sleeping pills can help: During sleep it is the dream phase of sleep in which you get your rest. Sleeping pills suppress the dream phase of sleep. That is why one generally awakens more tired than before going to sleep after using sleeping pills. You will get more rest by lying awake quietly than you will from narcotic induced sleep. In addition, one builds up a tolerance to this type of medication so that more and more is needed. In addition to the tolerance, an addiction to this type of medication is also likely.
Most of us have had difficulty sleeping at one time or another and it is estimated that 1 in 3 people experience insomnia occasionally. It is unsurprising that so many of us have suffered from insomnia at times as it is often caused by the individual. Stress, worry, anxiety, overeating, not exercising enough, lack of confidence, work or even a small change to your routine can cause insomnia.
This is why hypnosis is a powerful and effective means of helping you conquer insomnia. During hypnosis the critical barrier or faculty shuts off and that gives the hypnotherapist to ability to access the person's subconscious mind. When the subconscious mind is accessed, a qualified hypnotherapist is able to directly change and influence the internal beliefs of that person, and promote suggestions that help the person get to sleep at night.
Hypnosis will also help you understand the cause of your insomnia by teaching you relaxation techniques and the ability to focus on just why you haven't been able to fall or stay asleep recently. I have worked with clients who found that at a particular time of the night, they would always wake up. With regression therapy, we were able to uncover that this was simply a time that the subconscious mind used in order to have the person "think" about their challenges. The subconscious mind ‘s function is to protect you, without judgement, so, for example, if you are worried about your job, your relationship, your health, this triggers emotional beliefs and the subconscious kicks in to protect that belief. The belief may be that you are not worthy, and so you wake because that is the program playing in the background and you start to think about things.
For some clients, it has simply been a case where, because of many stressors in their lives happening at the same time, they are unable to ‘shut their minds down’. It’s often described as having a gerbil on a wheel going 100km an hour to nowhere. This, as well as continued waking through the night or at a specific time, affects the minds natural ability to vent thoughts because it is not slowing down enough to allow the process to happen in the dream state. In order to vent, the mind needs to be able to calm itself and relax to a deep level.
The suggestions made to you while in hypnosis will help you gain control of your sleeping patterns with by learning, for example, how to use positive thoughts to tackle insomnia, how to relax your mind and your body before going to sleep, and help you deal with the cause of the sleep interruption - a healthy mind is a healthy body and a healthy body is one that has conquered insomnia.
Hypnosis works! Without the aid of sleeping pills and drugs. The interesting thing about sleeping pills is the research provided using the placebo effect. This means that subjects were given what they thought to be a sleeping pill, but in fact was really a sugar pill (placebo). The mind believed that it would fall asleep because of a sleeping pill (we know by the name what it does) and so it does. THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND DOES NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A REAL AND AN IMAGINED EVENT. This is why hypnosis works so well. Hypnosis changes the way the subconscious mind works. It creates the belief that something is possible, acts on it as if it is real, and creates a new outcome. In this case, sleep.
Until you consider using Hypnotherapy to help you get your sleeping patterns back on track, here are some suggestions to help you:
1. Find out when your time of greatest fatigue is in the evening. At least an hour before your time of greatest fatigue, take a warm bath, slightly warmer than body temperature, soak and relax for 20 minutes or so. (It is important to note that a shower just won't do.) A bath is strongly recommended.
2. Have a warm, decaffinated beverage. Warm milk does help!
3. Discontinue thoughts of problems that you have, or what needs to be done tomorrow. If you are worried about forgetting what you have to do tomorrow, write it down.
4. Stay away from stimulating thoughts and televi¬sion shows. If you must read, then read something that is boring.
5. Reserve your bed for sleep. Do reading and televi¬sion watching from a chair only.
6. Get into bed at least 20 minutes before your apex of maximum fatigue. Once in bed, if worries begin to pop into your mind, tell yourself, "I'll think about it tomorrow, I'll think about it tomorrow". This will go a long way toward eliminating excessive thoughts and can be repeated several times. Do not try to make your mind blank. Do not try to fall asleep. Just allow yourself to rest.
