Individuals will normally vary in their need for and the satisfaction they derive from sleep. Insomnia may cause problems during the day, such as tiredness, a lack of energy, difficulty in concentration and irritability.
Insomnia can be classified as transient (short term), where a person has not been able to get any sleep from the last few days or weeks, intermittent (on and off) or acute.
Transient insomnia lasts anywhere from a single night to a few weeks. If episodes of transient insomnia occur from time to time, insomnia is said to be intermittent.
A person with acute insomnia will either not be able to sleep properly, or will have difficulty sleeping for about 3 weeks to six months. Insomnia is considered to be chronic if it occurs on most nights and lasts for a month or more.
Individuals with certain physiological and psychological conditions are more likely to be affected by insomnia. The following are some examples:
- Advanced age (insomnia occurs more frequently in those age 60)
- Female gender
- A history of depression or having a negative mindset
- Other conditions (such as stress, anxiety, a medical problem, or the use of certain medications) including the above conditions, insomnia is likely to happen on the individual.
- Reaction to Stress
- Environmental noise
- Extreme temperatures, too old or too warm
- Change in the surrounding environment i.e bedrooms
- Sleep/wake schedule problems such as those due to jet lag
- The side effects of medication Treating Insomnia
In general, the available treatments for chronic or acute insomnia may consist of:
- First, diagnosing and treating the underlying medical or psychological problems
- Identifying behaviors that may worsen insomnia and stopping (or reducing) them
- Possibly using sleeping pills, although the long-term use of sleeping pills for chronic insomnia does not solve the problem and there may be health-damaging side effects, such as addiction
- Trying behavioral techniques to improve sleep, such as relaxation therapy, sleep restriction therapy, reconditioning or hypnotherapy
There are specific and effective techniques that can reduce or eliminate anxiety and body tension. As a result, the person’s mind is able to stop “racing,” the muscles can relax, and restful sleep can occur. It usually takes much practice to learn these techniques and to achieve effective relaxation.
Sleep RestrictionSome people suffering from insomnia spend too much time in bed unsuccessfully trying to sleep. They may benefit from a sleep restriction program that at first allows only a few hours of sleep during the night. Gradually the time is increased until a more normal night’s sleep is achieved.
Another treatment that may help some people with insomnia is to recondition them to associate the bed and bedtime with sleep. For most people, this means not using their beds for any activities other than sleep and sex.
As part of the reconditioning process, the person is usually advised to go to bed only when sleepy. If unable to fall asleep, the person is told to get up, stay up until sleepy, and then return to bed.
Throughout this process, the person should avoid naps and wake up and go to bed at the same time each day. Eventually the person’s body will be conditioned to associate the bed and bedtime with sleep.
Hypnotherapy can be a rapid technique to break the debilitating habit of sleep deprivation. Using hypnotherapy (usually in two or three sessions) can make getting to sleep easier, getting back to sleep after waking up easy, giving a better quality of life.
In the hypnosis session, we use several techniques, besides relaxing you deeply, which is exactly what you need for your body and mind to ‘tip over’ into sleep. We are also able to reprogram the mind to get normal natural sleep. In some of the chronic cases, we will get to the source of the insomnia and thus freeing you from sleeplessness.
Additionally, hypnosis is excellent for stopping the ‘chattering mind’ that plagues so many insomniacs.
We also teach our clients to use Self-Hypnosis. The following is a quick review of what we do:
- How to use Self-Hypnosis to get to sleep
- Hypnotizing yourself Guided Self-Hypnosis for Insomnia
Firstly make sure that your body is relaxed. Relaxation occurs when your body is free from tension in the muscles. A good technique to accomplish this is to want to relax all the muscles in the different areas of your body.
Starting with the area of the feet up through the knees, next relax your thighs then abdomen, back, shoulders arms and hands, all the way to your fingertips, move to your chest, throat, facial muscle, mouth and jaw areas. All this time feel a wave of calm relaxation flowing through those body parts.
Continue by taking gradual deep breaths through your nose, and then slowly exhale out through your mouth (The brain and body require more oxygen to enter hypnosis). Next, roll your eyes up (eyelids closed, looking up into the forehead). This causes the eyelids to “flutter”, replicating the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) of sleep.
Now concentrate on your breathing and, only on the exhale, mentally repeat “Relax, calm, peaceful, restful, sleep” or “Beautiful, deep, restful, sleep”. You will find yourself drifting off to sleep.
By now, indeed, you have hypnotized yourself, and that state of mind will draw you into unconscious sleep. During a one-on-one session with a Hypnotherapist you will be coached how to correctly do all this, and the success rate is 95%. For more information: http://hypnosisoneonone.com/oneonone/category/insomnia/
Nancy Ho
Nancy Ho has been practicing and using Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy to help thousands of individuals to overcome their issues for many years. Nancy is based in Singapore and offers one-on-one Hypnotherapy sessions. She can be contacted for a one-on-one session at 62727118.
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