What Is Insomnia?
Sleep is an essential human physiological and psychological need. Our bodies go into repair when we are asleep. In fact, lack of sleep can do harm to our immune system. In sleep, our minds are still active, attempting to resolve and make sense of our emotional and mental issues. This psychological resolution takes place through the medium of our dreams.
Insomnia is poor-quality sleep due to one or more of the following reasons:
- Difficulty falling asleep easily and naturally, without the use of drugs
- Awakening frequently during the night with difficulty returning to sleep
- Waking up too early in the morning and not being able to go back to sleep
- A general lethargic feeling or low energy level after awakening from sleep in the morning
No human is immune to the problems of sleep. Sleep is nature’s holistic way of regenerating our human body. We all have to face the stresses of modern twenty-first century living. We are wound up tight inside because things happen so fast and we just don’t seem to have control of our circumstances. The result is very often shown in the quality of our sleep – restless and unsatisfying sleep because we are unable to resolve the issues of the past few days.
The majority of us cannot function properly without sufficient sleep. Any person who has operated heavy machinery or driven a car will realise just how important a good night’s rest is. Sufficient sleep is a critical requirement for all of us to be able to function at our optimum levels of performance.
Types of Insomnia
Individuals will normally vary in their needs 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 6 months. Insomnia is considered to be chronic if it occurs on most nights and lasts for a month or more.
The Causes of Insomnia
Individuals with certain physiological and psychological conditions are more likely to be affected by insomnia. The following are some examples:
There are many causes of insomnia. Transient and acute/intermittent insomnia usually occur in people who are temporarily experiencing one or more of the following:
Treating Insomnia
Many people with insomnia believe that they need medication to treat it. However, there is no guarantee that these will have long-lasting effects. Even then, medication may have undesirable side-effects such as addiction. There are alternative treatments to medication.
In general, the available treatments for chronic or acute insomnia may consist of:
Hypnotherapy is by far the most effective tool as it targets the hidden roots of the problems that cause insomnia, especially acute and chronic insomnia.
Relaxation Therapy
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 Restriction
Some people suffering from insomnia spend too much time in bed, unsuccessfully trying to sleep. They may benefit from a sleep restriction programme 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.
Reconditioning
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 feeling 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 as a Treatment for Insomnia
Hypnotherapy can be a rapid technique to break the debilitating habit of sleep deprivation. Using hypnotherapy 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 reprogramme 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:
Guided Self-Hypnosis for Insomnia
Here’s a short script for a guided self-hypnosis. Find yourself a quiet and comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed. Make sure that you take of all your accessories, switch off your handphone before you begin so that you won’t be disturbed.
First, make sure that your body is relaxed. Relaxation occurs when your body is free from tension. 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. During 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, you have hypnotised yourself, and that state of mind will draw you into an 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%.
Would you want to live a calm and composed life?
Hypnotherapy is a very effective and permanent solution to your problems. When you require my assistance, please do not hesitate further and contact me. There are 3 ways to contact me: |
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