Nanaimo Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis

Insomnia, from the Latin "in" (not) and "somnus" (sleep), is a condition  in which people have a  difficulty falling asleep and remaining asleep. It includes a broad spectrum of sleep disorders, from lack of quantity of sleep to lack of quality of sleep. Insomnia is often separated into three types. Transient insomnia occurs when symptoms last from a few days to a few weeks. Acute or short-term insomnia is when symptoms last for several weeks. Chronic insomnia is characterized by insomnia that lasts for months and years.

Insomnia can affect all age groups and is more common in adult women than adult men. The condition can lead to poor performance at work or school, obesity, depression, anxiety, poor immune system function, reduced reaction time, and an increased risk and severity of long-term disease.

What causes insomnia?
Insomnia can be caused by physical factors as well as psychological factors. There is often an underlying medical condition that causes chronic insomnia, while transient insomnia may be due to a recent event or occurrence. Causes of insomnia include:
Drugs, alcohol, and medicines: caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, stimulants, antidepressants, heart and blood pressure medications, allergy medicines, decongestants, weight-loss medicines, antihistamines, cocaine, ephedrine, amphetamines, antibiotic drugs and much more

Disruptions in circadian rhythm: jet lag, job shift changes, high altitudes, noisiness, hotness or coldness
Psychological issues: stress, anxiety, depression, mania, schizophrenia
Medical conditions: brain lesions and tumors, stroke, chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, congestive heart failure, angina, acid-reflux disease (GERD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, sleep apnea, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, hyperthyroidism, arthritis

Other factors: sleeping next to a snoring partner, parasites, genetic conditions, overactive mind, pregnancy/

Who gets insomnia?
Some people are more likely to suffer from insomnia than others. These include:
Travelers ,Shift workers with frequent changes in shifts , The elderly , Drug users
Adolescent or young adult students , Pregnant women
Menopausal women ,Those with mental health disorders
What are the symptoms of insomnia?
Insomnia itself may be a symptom of an underlying medical condition. However, there are several signs and

symptoms that are associated with insomnia.

    * Difficulty falling asleep at night
    * Awakening during the night
    * Awakening earlier than desired
    * Still feeling tired after a night's sleep
    * Daytime fatigue or sleepiness
    * Irritability, depression or anxiety
    * Poor concentration and focus
    * Being uncoordinated, an increase in errors or accidents
    * Tension headaches
    * Difficulty socializing
    * Gastrointestinal symptoms
    * Worrying about sleeping

How is insomnia treated?
Some types of insomnia resolve themselves when the underlying cause is removed or wears off. In general, treating insomnia focuses on determining the cause of the sleeping problems. Once identified, this underlying cause can be properly treated or corrected. In addition to treating the underlying cause of insomnia, both medical and non-pharmacological (behavioral) treatments may be employed as adjuvant therapies.

Non-pharmacological approaches to treating insomnia include:
Improving "sleep hygiene" - don't over- or under-sleep, exercise daily, don't force sleep, try to maintain a regular sleep schedule, avoid caffeine at night, do not smoke, do not go to bed hungry, make sure the environment is comfortable

Using relaxation techniques - such as meditation and muscle relaxation
Cognitive therapy - one-on-one counselling or group therapy
Stimulus control therapy - only go to bed when sleepy, refrain from TV, reading, eating, or worrying in bed, set an alarm for the same time every morning (even weekends), avoid long daytime naps

Sleep restriction - decrease the time spent in bed and partially deprive your body of sleep so you are more tired the next night.
Medical treatments for insomnia include:
Prescription sleeping pills (often benzodiazepines)
Antidepressants
Over-the-counter sleep aids..

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Hypnotherapy for sleep.
How it can help you
If you have insomnia, those can be some very welcome words. Insomnia can be the result of worry, fears, anxiety, and badly functioning brain wave patterns. In order to fall asleep, your brain must go from a BETA brain wave into ALPHA. Alpha state is where everything is dreamy, where visualizations are clear and that sleep switch in your brain is ready to let you go into DELTA and THETA, and be asleep.

So, how do you make this happen?

When the conscious mind is busy, with worry, anxiety, fears, anger, emotional conflicts, etc. the brain has a hard time letting go of it's conscious processing. Some people hear music in their head, repeat endless statements with their inner voice or just worry so much about not being able to sleep that they indeed cannot sleep!
If you have insomnia, you know the problem. You start worrying early in the day about whether or not you are actually going to be able to sleep that night. And once you miss a night of sleep, you worry even more about not sleeping the next night. And this PERPETUATES the problem. Worrying about insomnia creates the insomnia.

You can change it. But you are going to need help. Your brain is an expert at having insomnia. It does not know how to do it any differently. If it did, you wouldn't have the sleep disorder any more. So, in order to sleep deep, you are going to have to teach your brain how to go instantly into an alpha state, how to use subconscious triggers to eliminate worry and anxiety and stay asleep once you are asleep.

Hypnosis is very effective in treating chronic insomnia. It is easy. It works. I wish more people would try it, instead of all the pills and drugs. The interesting thing about sleeping pills is the placebo effect. This means that when you think you are taking a sleeping pill, but it is really a sugar pill (placebo) your brain believes that it will fall asleep and so it does. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I put myself into a state of trance, and imagine that I am taking a sleeping pill. I am usually asleep in a few minutes. Even though my conscious mind knows that this was not real, my subconscious mind does not know and this is the important part.

THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND DOES NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A REAL AND AN IMAGINED EVENT. This is why hypnosis works so well. Hypnosis changes the way the subconscious mind works. It creates the belief that something is possible, acts on it as if it is real, and creates a new outcome. In this case, sleep.

Ron Thompson ACCHT

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