In the past few years, quite an industry has grown up around people’s sleep problems. As we all know, if an individual does not have the correct amount of sleep he or she will not be able to function properly during their waking hours.
New reasearch suggests that ideal ammount of sleep for adults is at 6.5 and 7.5 hours a night, but there are still those who sleep less than five or six hours.
In reality, there is no prescribed or correct number of hours that one should sleep and it is just as much to do with the quality of sleep rather than just the number of hours one spends in bed.
Before anyone starts to take drugs in order to help them to sleep or signs up to a sleep lab, it is well worth looking at the alternatives - especially hypnosis or self hypnosis.
Look at the Root Cause of Your Sleep Problem.
Before we discuss hypnosis, there is one aspect of our lives which I think is worth mentioning and which will help an individual even before he or she begins to look for an insomnia cure. It is well worth looking at the main cause of sleep deprivation and if that can be dealt with, then our patient is home and dry!
Yes we all know about:
- Dimming the lights.
- Establishing a ritual.
- Not drinking caffeine hours before sleep.
- Going to bed at the same time every night
- In other words, developing a sleep routine.
But if the root cause of the insomnia is not dealt with then even developing proper sleep hygiene is not going to help.
Are you stressed?
Of all the causes of insomnia, stress is the most common.
Relationship stress, financial stress, career stress... there are many types of stress which affect sleep patterns.
Taking a warm bath, drinking a cup of milk, etc are attempting a physical cure, whereas the problem is psychological.
I have always advised people to take a very close look at what is stressing them, acknowledging it and then dealing with what is stressing them.
By dealing with it I do not mean solving it. I mean doing something about it, no matter how small. It’s amazing how a little bit of physical activity such as picking up the phone and telling your creditor that you are unable to pay a debt or telling a girlfriend or boyfriend that you no longer want to see them and all the 1001 other things that stress us, is not only very therapeutic but an amazing aid to sleep.**
Hypnosis for Sleep.
Dealing with stress will obviously help and if the problem persists – and a lot of the time it persists out of habit – it may be time to look towards hypnosis or self-hypnosis in order to rebuild proper sleep patterns.
This is not the platform to discuss the techniques involved in hypnotic induction. Rather, I will go over how you can use self-hypnosis mp3s and CDs to solve your sleep related problems.
- Using something like relaxing mp3s or tracks in order to start off the self-hypnosis process is an excellent shortcut and with very little practice it is possible to induce a very calm state in seconds.
- It is that calm state which is an excellent starting point which, coupled with a new pre-sleep routine. This practically guarantees to result in a proper night’s sleep.
Developing new habits can take some time but with the aid of self-hypnosis, it is possible to instruct oneself with a single trigger sentence.
The usual rules apply in self-hypnosis. That is to say:
- Find a nice quiet private place.
- Wear loose comfortable clothing.
- Relax physically (take your time over this).
- Concentrating on a single point, telling your body but it is feeling heavier and gradually warmer and allowing yourself to drift into a nice relaxed state.
Remember, your eyes are open but eventually you will find they want to close. With practice you will be able to cross the line between relaxation and sleep very easily and eventually it will happen automatically.
At the very beginning, you will be consciously attempting to put yourself in that twilight zone between relaxation and sleep via a form of hypnosis. Very quickly it will become a habit and sleep will come to you very naturally.
The thing to remember is that prior to even attempting deep relaxation techniques, it is well worth taking the trouble to remove as many external factors affecting stress levels as possible.
To summarise, consciously and physically remove what may be stressing you, develop a sleep routine followed by a relaxation routine.