Counting Sheep - Are You Getting Enough Sleep?
Have you ever laid awake at night, your mind racing only to finally drop off to sleep, what seems like minutes before your morning alarm sounds? For sufferers of insomnia this can be their reality, night after sleepless night. According to The National Institute of Health insomnia affects 30% of us at one time in our lives.
There are a few different types of insomnia with varying causes and effects;
Acute Insomnia- this tends to be for a brief period and can occur following a stressful event or change in the person’s life or during or after traveling. This type of insomnia tends to resolve itself, normally without requiring treatment.
Chronic Insomnia- this is more long term and is categorized as chronic if the insomnia occurs more than three nights per week and lasts for three months or over. The causes of this type of sleeplessness can be really varied.
Comorbid Insomnia- this occurs alongside, and may be caused by, another medical/health disorder such as a mental or anxiety condition. An inability to sleep could also be linked to ailments causing pain like arthritis, or chronic back pain or a neurological condition like Parkinson’s disease.
Insomnia tends to play out in two different ways. Onset Insomnia is when there is difficulty falling asleep at the beginning of the night. Whereas Maintenance Insomnia is the problem with staying asleep, the sufferer can wake up during the night or very early in the morning and have trouble getting back to sleep.
The debilitating effects of sleeplessness can negatively affect everyday life, sometimes making things unbearable. If you are having difficulty sleeping and also suffer from one or more of the following, it may be time to seek help;
Low mood and lack of energy
Lack of concentration
Fatigue
Increased irritability &/or mood swings
Difficulty in relationships
Problems at work or school
The causes of insomnia are varied. Anxiety and/or depression can be linked to sleeplessness and one can onset the other. The good news is that these conditions can be treated by Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy, relaxation exercises and mind management techniques.
Whatever the initial cause, sleeplessness inevitably can cause more worry and anxiety about not being able to sleep and this often starts a vicious cycle, turning initial acute insomnia into a more chronic situation.
Lifestyle factors can also play a part. For example nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, exercising or eating dinner late in the evening can all have an impact. Or maybe you work late into the night and then find it difficult to switch off.
Hypnotherapy can help insomnia massively and is a natural aid and cure, as a pose to taking addictive sleeping tablets.
If you come to Healthy Habits for help with insomnia we will discuss and look at lifestyle factors as well as other initial causes for the issue. We will then treat the causes with Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy, NLP techniques and relaxation mind management tools. We will also identify and advise on any lifestyle habits that need tweaking to help you.
Depending on the individual case between 2 & 4 sessions may be needed.
‘I’d been suffering on and off from insomnia for several years prior to last year when it became unbearable. My stress levels were sky-high because of work overload and at the point that I sought help from hypnotherapy I’d not slept for more than a couple of hours per night for a fortnight. My personal and professional life was suffering and I was really at my wit’s end. I read about some success stories where a couple of cases of insomnia were cured by hypnotherapy and decided to give it a try. After three sessions I am now sleeping soundly every night so far! I can’t believe it – such a relaxing therapy is so powerful!’
Catrina
