 A
good nights sleep...
We all expect to get a good
nights sleep. For most of us it's the natural end to the day. Something
we take for granted. We drift off to sleep and awaken 7 or 8 hours later
feeling rested and refreshed. For many people however all that is just a
dream, or at least it would be if they could only get to sleep. We all
know how unpleasant we feel for one sleepless night, imagine it going on
and on and on.....
Insomnia
Although there are a number
of problems associated with sleep, or a lack of it, they all tend to
leave the sufferer not only feeling tired but also anxious and
distressed. All these problems tend to be lumped together and given the
catch all name Insomnia.
Some individuals find they
have difficulty getting off to sleep whilst others wake in the middle of
the night and struggle to get back to sleep again. Another problem
occurs when people tend to awaken very early and again cannot get back
to sleep. It's worth noting that whilst many people suffer one or more
of these conditions it is very rare for anyone to go entirely without
sleep. What's more in physiological terms, human beings can function
quite normally on quite small amounts of sleep.
What constitutes a normal
nights sleep is often assumed to be at least 7 or 8 hours whereas in
reality many people function happily with as little as 5 hours.
The quality of the sleep we
get is also important. Natural sleep follows a 90 minute cycle from
light sleep through REM (rapid eye movement) sleep (when we dream) to
deep sleep and back again. This natural rhythm can be disrupted by many
things including alcohol, tobacco and some prescription drugs. The
result is often poor quality sleep so that we awaken after a long nights
sleep feeling as if we've hardly slept at all!
Can Hypnotherapy help?
The short answer is that in
many cases it can.
But it is worth noting that
Insomnia can be caused by some medical conditions, so it is always worth
getting yourself checked out by your GP before considering other options
such as Hypnotherapy.
If there is no physiological
reason for your sleep problems then Hypnotherapy can be useful in many
ways such as; helping you to relax (a prime requirement for sleep) both
physically and mentally, breaking down poor sleep habits and
re-establishing good sleep habits and also helping to remove any
underlying anxiety conditions. It is also possible to learn Self
Hypnosis and use it as an aid to inducing natural sleep.
As a bonus Hypnotherapy has
no unpleasant side effects and is non addictive.
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