Sleep Hypnosis Concise Guide

With sleep disorders rising across the globe, people have been resorting to various techniques of relaxation in order to make it easier to improve the quality of sleep. People today have more stressful lives than ever before. With work, family, and other commitments to take care of, most people hardly ever find the time for relaxation or sound sleep. It is shocking just how many people get by with 3 or 4 hours of sleep every night, way less than what is sufficient or required for the average person. As a result, sleep deficiency has become a chronic problem around the world and left sleep experts to define dissolution to this growing crisis.

Of course, no one can go without sufficient sleep for too long, and most people who cannot get normal sleep often reach for sleep aid. The use of sleep aid has increased in recent years, leading pharmaceutical companies to come up with natural and holistic solutions to help people sleep better without consuming excessive chemicals. Because sleep is controlled by the hormone called melatonin, natural supplements containing melatonin have become popular among those who want a safe method to get better sleep every night.

No matter how natural a product claims to be, it is never a great idea to become dependent on sleep supplements. Those who form a habit of consuming sleep supplements regularly are unable to fall asleep if they quit taking the supplements. This forms a dangerous addiction that’s hard to get rid of.

As if the sleep disorders were not enough, there is now the problem of too many people dependent on sleep supplements, without which they are unable to fall or stay asleep. This has led researchers to find alternative methods to help people fall asleep. And one of them is sleep hypnosis.

About Deep Sleep Hypnosis

Most of us know hypnosis to be a trance-like state when neural activity is a minimum, and the person is not aware of his surroundings anymore. Hypnosis is something that a lot of people have seen on stage performed by magicians. In movies, hypnosis is performed by psychiatrists to extract the deepest thoughts out of their patients. In reality, hypnosis isn’t exactly what we think it is. Hypnotherapy is used by clinical hypnotherapists to help patients let go of their fears, worries stress, and everything else that disturbs their minds and makes falling asleep difficult. This is called deep sleep hypnosis, and there are hypnotherapists trained in helping patients improve their quality of sleep with the power of hypnotherapy.

Deep sleep hypnosis is often like a guided meditation where the hypnotherapist guides the patient into a trance-like state where the mind is completely relaxed and all negative thoughts and worries have ceased to exist.

Hypnotherapists use different methods to put patients into a relaxed state of mind, including guided imagery, symptom control, and focused attention. The patient is asked to let go, breathe deep, and take it easy during a hypnotherapy session. These terms are used over and over again to encourage the person to enter a state of relaxation.

Similar to guided meditation, during a hypnotherapy session, you are guided by the therapist through every step designed to calm the mind and relax the body until you fall asleep. Hypnotherapy sessions usually take place in a sleep clinic where the individual is monitored in order to determine the effectiveness of the technique. Besides sleep, hypnosis is also used to help with anxiety and weight-related issues.

Do Sleep Hypnosis Tapes Work While Sleeping?

Not every person wants to go to a sleep clinic in order to experience sleep hypnosis. Going to a sleep clinic for this exercise is expensive and time-consuming. An easier way to experience sleep hypnosis is to use audio downloads for guided hypnotherapy. There are both free and paid guided audio downloads available online, which anybody can download on their phones or computers and listen at a convenient hour.

However, most people face a problem while listening to these downloads- the problem of falling asleep. It must be kept in mind that hypnosis is different from being asleep. Hypnosis may be a trance-like state, but people are still capable of receiving input and following instructions. However, when a person is asleep, he is not capable of receiving input or following instructions.

Falling asleep while listening to hypnosis audio is not unusual because the purpose of the audio is to put you into a relaxed state of mind. In fact, sleep hypnosis is designed to help you fall asleep more easily. But you are not supposed to fall asleep while listening to the audio, rather after you have completed the exercise.

It is up for debate if the hypnosis audio is effective when a person falls asleep listening to it. Most probably, a sleeping person will not be able to carry out the instructions in the exercise, and even though he falls asleep while listening to the audio, it will not help him achieve a better quality of rest in the long run.

Does Sleep Hypnosis Work for Weight Loss?

Losing excess weight is a challenge that many people struggle with. Some put on excess weight because of unhealthy eating what some put on weight because of medical issues. Regardless of the reason why they put on weight, everyone wants to be lean and healthy. However, weight loss isn’t as easy as those commercials make it seem. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, not something that most people are willing to go through.

That is when people resort to using hypnotherapy in order to lose weight. But does it work at all?

Weight loss hypnosis has been subject to a lot of research over the years because it is interesting to find out is hypnotherapy can indeed be helpful so overweight people shed those extra pounds. Much to the dismay of many people, it has been found that hypnotherapy is only slightly effective when combined with diet and exercise. Hypnosis alone is of no use in aiding weight loss.

Some studies found that hypnosis helps people control their appetite and feel more satisfied after eating a meal. Because gaining or losing weight is not a mental phenomenon, weight loss is hardly ever possible with hypnosis alone. However, combined with diet and exercise, it could be effective to a very slight degree.

Does Sleep Hypnosis Work for Anxiety?

Even though hypnosis may not be too effective for weight loss, it has proven to be highly beneficial in treating anxiety, stress, worries, and panic disorders. Anxiety and panic disorders are usually serious mental disorders that require extensive treatment in order to keep under control. Some people are never cured of these disorders and have to be under treatment their whole lives; we keep the condition under control.

This is where hypnosis is helpful. Hypnotherapy is one of the safest ways to keep anxiety under control, and eventually get rid of it completely. This is done by a hypnotherapist who is licensed to treat patients.

The process involves helping the patient relax completely with the use of hypnosis, and then the hypnotherapist may ask them to focus on their anxiety or panic. This involves bringing to awareness the sensations and feelings associated with panic and anxiety, such as trembling, fear, heart palpitations, dry mouth, fast breathing, the feeling of being trapped, etc. once the patient starts having these feelings, the therapist will use words of encouragement to make the person feel more relaxed, such as “You are safe” or “It will soon pass” or “You are in control of your anxiety.” The therapist will also offer ways to cope with these feelings, such as taking deep breaths or diverting attention to something else or repeating an affirmation. Although it seems like a lot of hocus-pocus, hypnosis has actually shown to work for most anxious patients.

Hypnosis also is used to treat agoraphobia, a condition that involves the fear of crowds and restrictive circumstances. With the use of hypnosis, a person can learn how to cope with these feelings and eventually overcome them to live a normal life. Hypnosis is safe and doesn’t use medications, which means it can be used on any person of any age. Besides anxiety and panic disorders, hypnosis also helps a person improve self-esteem, overcome negative thoughts, and manage other emotional issues. Hypnosis is also often part of the treatment process for conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and headaches and migraines.

Where To Get Started with Sleep Hypnosis

There’s no right age or time to start practicing sleep hypnosis. However, it does take a lot of patience and time and can often take weeks or months to show results. Whether you want to use hypnosis for sleep, anxiety or weight loss, you have to stick to it. Getting the help of a licensed therapist is the best bet to ensure you don’t do it wrong.