Hypnotherapy for sleep loss
Sleep loss can be an incredibly debilitating and frustrating problem that most, if not all, of us will experience in our lifetime. We lose sleep when we're excited, nervous, stressed, pregnant, grieving, angry, upset, unwell, anxious, conflicted, jetlagged, and the list goes on.
For some, it's getting to sleep, others it's waking several times a night and not getting good quality sleep, and for others, it's waking up way early and not being able to get back to sleep.
Studies suggest that sleep deprivation is a significant risk factor for developing hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The day after sleep deprivation, sympathetic nervous system activity and blood pressure are elevated. These increases may be associated with the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, especially if this is a common occurrence.
Because sleep deprivation is related to reduced salt excretion, and impaired glucose tolerance, excessive intake of calories or salt should be avoided if one isn't getting enough sleep. In addition, since alcohol intake, (a common thing people use for getting to sleep), with sleep deprivation, tends to elevate blood pressure, people also should avoid drinking alcohol after not getting enough sleep.
Friedrich & Schlarb (2018) provided an overview of psychological interventions to improve sleep in college students. Relaxation techniques, mindfulness and hypnotherapy provided medium effects with CBT approaches providing the best effects for the improvement of different sleep variables. The authors recommended that for even greater effects CBT should be combined with relaxation techniques, mindfulness and hypnotherapy for improving sleep.
With cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapy, there are many ways to crack a sleep loss nut! Sometimes it's remarkable how one simple behaviour like looking at the clock when one gets up is enough to turn the light out on sleep! Simple then we just suggest to the client that if they wake they will not look at the clock. We can also run this scenario through to practice it in our imagination or learn simple distraction methods for getting back to sleep. These have worked very well for some in my practice.
For others, it's not so easy.
Often a significant stressful or traumatic event can trigger insomnia but one finds it very difficult to regain a healthy sleep pattern and despite the stress/trauma no longer being a problem, the sleep problem remains. This is when, so long as nothing else is at play, we treat it as a habit and identify ways to break or change it.
If one has a chronic health condition such as cardiovascular disease or autoimmune disease then sleep loss is somewhat more difficult to conquer. Typically people who are on various medications that have side effects, pain, constant stress, and those with specific problems with their breathing may also experience sleep loss.
In this case, with cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapy, we have to help the client work with their health issues and identify alternative ways to get more sleep to prevent sleep deprivation. A few examples include getting all the sleep they need in parts rather than all at once, changing medication for ones that have fewer effects on sleep, learning to manage the stress better, gaining better control of their health or other underlying conditions, and analysing other lifestyle issues that may be contributing to sleep deprivation e.g., alcohol, smoking, poor diet, inactivity, high blood pressure or being overweight or obese.
In these instances we wouldn't be working on sleep deprivation, but rather tackling the underlying and associated issues that are contributing to sleep loss, and then the sleep will take care of itself!
Schedule a call to find out more about how hypnotherapy could help improve your sleep https://calendly.com/karenbartle/hypnosis-initial-chat
References:
Friedrich, A. and Schlarb, A.A., 2018. Let's talk about sleep: a systematic review of psychological interventions to improve sleep in college students. Journal of sleep research, 27(1), pp.4-22.
