How is your Sleep?

Sleep is one of the most important factors we as human beings can measure how our day is going to g. It's an active, restorative process essential for physical health, mental wellbeing, and cognitive function. Getting quality sleep, means our bodies are able to repair tissues, consolidate memories, and process emotions from the day.

If you have had a great night’s sleep and you wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated then, it’s likely all systems go. However, on the flip side, waking up feeling groggy, uninspired, and still sleepy means that the day may not go as you planned.

So, how is your sleep going?

Are you struggling with it and is it is actually becoming a hindrance rather than a help to how you function?

According to Mental Health UK Adults https://mentalhealth-uk.org/help-and-information/sleep/ up to the age of 64 need around 7-9 hours sleep per night, but the reality in the facts they state are different; (Data used from Mental Health UK)

• Almost 1 in 5 people in the UK aren’t getting enough sleep.
• 25% of adults in the UK cite money worries as negatively impacting their sleep.
• 26% of adults in the UK cite Covid-19 as negatively impacting their sleep.
• 66% of adolescents cite poor sleep as negatively impacting on their mental health.
• 37% of adults in the UK cite work as reducing the amount of control they feel they have over their sleep.
• Women, Black, Asian and other minority ethnic adults are disproportionately likely to experience poor sleep likely due to social inequality.

If you are finding yourself reading this and nodding then you are in the right place. Although the market for ‘drugs’ help aid sleep is not short, hypnotherapy offers a natural solution to aiding better sleep.

Sleep Cycles

Let’s take a look at sleep cycles. I believe that understanding something helps get behind the issue.

We all sleep, give or take, in roughly 90 minute cycles and they look like this;

Table taken from the https://www.sleepfoundation.org/stages-of-sleep

Disruption to any part of this cycle can impact sleep quality and daytime functioning.

The first 3 stages of Non-REM (NREM) in the table are where we gradually get to a deep sleep from Stage 1 being the Lightest - Stage 2 a Light sleep and Stage 3 the Deep Sleep finally and hopefully you are well on your way to Stage 4 which is the REM sleep.

REM is Rapid Eye Movement Dreaming where we have our most profound sleep.

We don’t enter this until around 90 minutes, and initially you will likely only get a few minutes of REM but as the night progresses you may experience further deeper REM. It’s this stage where we process our learning and it can help, as we say in Solution Focused Hypnotherapy, empty the stress bucket.

Addressing Underlying Stress

I am not going to go into the list of things that are likely keeping you awake, or preventing you from having a full and complete sleep; you know yourself what these are. Many sleep problems stem from stress, anxiety or unresolved emotional issues. Hypnotherapy can address these root causes whilst simultaneously improving sleep.

Hypnosis can help by inducing the hypnotic state itself which is characterised by deep physical and mental relaxation, similar to the early stages of natural sleep.

Regular hypnosis sessions help retrain the nervous system to achieve this relaxed state more easily, helping put us in a relaxed state, working our way through a guided meditation of our body giving us the time to relax and clear our mind.

SFH and changing sleep-related Beliefs

When we are in a negative mindset around sleep this perpetuates the issue of getting the sleep we need. For example, ‘I am a bad sleeper’. ‘I need 8 hours or I’ll feel awful’. SFH helps replace these unhelpful thought patterns with positive and realistic expectations.

Creating Positive Sleep Associations

Using guided imagery and suggestion, hypnotherapy can help rebuild positive associations with bedtime by creating positive routines and mental and emotional states conducive to sleep.

Hypnotherapy can help many of us maintain a better balance of sleep and help ensure that we are getting the right amount for you.

If you are new to hypnotherapy, I offer a 30 minute, either online or in person Relaxation Session. This you can book in via my website here; https://tayloredhypnotherapy.com/services.