Sleeplessness, or the inability to both fall asleep and stay asleep, is an affliction that is suffered by millions of people. It will come as no surprise that sleep disorders over the long term will lead to multiple health problems, including fatigue, irritability, decreased performance, and potential long-term mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression. As with all the treatment options out there for insomnia, hypnosis is a therapy option that is slowly drawing increasing interest. So is hypnosis in a position to help those who suffer from insomnia? But what is hypnosis for sleep and might it be useful to those of us who have insomnia?
To learn more about the benefits of hypnosis for insomnia and can hypnosis help with insomnia. Continue reading this informative blog.
What Is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is therefore a state of being where a subject’s conscious mind is rendered inactive and the rest of the personality comes into play. It is a condition reached during a hypnotherapy session in which an accredited hypnotherapist leads a specific individual into it using word prompts, relaxation methods, and imagery. The myth of hypnosis is that people are out of control and can easily be led in certain directions. It is however a treatment process where the mind is made very receptive and thus assists in dealing with behaviors, habits, and or emotional problems.
How Is Hypnosis Favorable For Insomnia?
Self-hypnosis for insomnia means focusing on making the mind and body relaxed and on decreasing the stress and anxiety that accompanies wakefulness. With hypnosis, one can help lead a person into a relaxed state to replace negative thinking that causes one to be awake at night. The therapist may have recommendations that will give the person pleasant associations with the idea of bedtime and make him or her feel calm, relaxed, and sleepy.
Hypnotherapy sessions can also handle the following underlying causes of insomnia: stress, anxiety, or trauma among others. In this way, hypnosis serves to unaddressed root causes, leading to enhancement in duration and quality of sleep.
Advantages Of Hypnosis For Insomnia
- Promotes Deep Relaxation: Hypnosis also relieves the nervous system’s tension and provides the prerequisites for a restful night. That helps wind down the body and the mind from the ‘fight or flight’ position associated with insomnia to the ‘rest and digest’ position.
- Reduces Anxiety: A majority of those who experience insomnia also have to deal with anxiety whenever they want to sleep. In anxiety sufferers, hypnosis can work in minimizing this/by addressing worried thoughts which makes it easier to fall asleep.
- Improves Sleep Patterns: Hypnosis is beneficial to bring alterations that correct brain patterns regarding sleep. For example, hypnotherapists might use suggestions that can cause clients to remember only positively the bed and bedroom by spending less time awake in bed.
- Addresses Root Causes: While sleep medications are focused on alleviating symptoms, hypnosis is somehow able to discover and eliminate the root of the issues, for instance, stress or emotional problems may cause insomnia and hypnosis can solve this problem, unlike other medications for sleep.
- Non-Invasive and Drug-Free: Hypnotherapy is one way to manage insomnia without the use of drugs or chemicals. Hence it is a safer option for those who cannot tolerate sleep medicines or those who experience side effects in taking such products.
Supporting Scientific Data For Hypnosis Efficiency For Insomnia
Some research has been done focusing on the ability of hypnosis to increase the quality of sleep. A study conducted by Sleep showed that through hypnosis people can stay longer in slow-wave sleep, which is the most restorative stage of sleeping. In research conducted in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, subjects who opted for hypnotherapy enjoyed better sleep as the instances indicated that hypnotherapy helped them minimize instances of insomnia after they had multiple tapings.
Although hypnotic suggestion appears not to be of benefit to all patients with insomnia, it seems to have a substantial subpopulation of patients for whom it may have a meaningful effect predominantly in cases with reported stress, anxiety, or other emotional causation factors.
What Does The Initial Hypnotherapy Session Look Like?
When you go for the consultation, you will be required to spend some time with your hypnotherapist detailing your sleep problems, your daily life, and anything else that may be causing this problem. The therapist will then help you into a state of hypnosis by using words, breathing, and visualization.
After having achieved that, the therapist may give additional verbal interventions designed to induce sleep. These suggestions might include:
- Linking positivity with bedtime.
- Letting out stress or concerns that make a person wake up.
- Cognitive restructuring of a sleep schedule for a comfortable night’s sleep.
Some therapists may also offer you follow-up soundtracks prepared for use as bedtime tracks to help remind you of the suggestions made in the session.
Choosing Self-Hypnosis For Insomnia
More to the point, some other individuals also have deemed it beneficial to consider the option of practicing hypnosis on their own at home to cure their condition of insomnia. It is possible to see a hypnotherapist who has learned hypnosis. Some of the hypnotic techniques you can use to hypnotize yourself through firstly is using relaxation techniques, breathing techniques, and then the use of imagination. For instance, there are hypnosis scripts or music designed for improved sleep, and over time, anyone can hypnotize him or herself to sleep.
Combination Of Hypnosis With Other Sleeping Techniques
Even though deep sleep hypnosis for insomnia can be very effective, it works best in providing synergy with other sleep-enhancing aids. Here are some complementary strategies that can enhance the effects of hypnotherapy:
- Sleep Hygiene: The importance of adopting favorable sleep cycles; going to bed and waking up at the same time, avoiding electronic devices before sleep, and ensuring that the bedroom environment is conducive for quality sleep also enhances hypnosis.
- Relaxation Techniques: Stepping exercises including deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and meditation help to overcome stresses and tension that cause difficulty in sleep.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I): CBT-I is a very effective form of therapy that assists people change their unhealthy attitude toward sleep. Perhaps, the outcomes will be even better if practiced in combination with CBT-I and hypnosis.
Conclusion!
Hypnotherapy for insomnia is an effective treatment since it is a non-invasive and drug-free method of tackling signs of insomnia including stress, anxiety as well as other emotional problems. Hypnosis also emphasizes relaxation, and positive attitudes towards sleep and reduces anxiety and other sleep disorders as well. Scientific research has indicated that it can be useful for some people, though not all, especially when coupled with other sleep promotion techniques such as CBT-I and other sleep-promoting behaviors. If you are worried about your sleeping patterns and desire to attain mental peace via sleep hypnosis for insomnia then get in touch with Solid Foundation Psychiatry today!
