Sleep Hypnosis for Insomnia

Hypnosis is a state of altered consciousness, a type of trance state.  Everyone in their lives experiences different forms of trance states on a daily basis.  For example, perhaps you have had times when you've driven to work and once you get there realize that you basically on autopilot and don't really remember the drive at all.  Or you are sitting down to watch a favorite movie or read a book and loose all sense of time.  These are some forms of trance.  People tend to have different levels of hypnotic suggestibility sometimes called hypnosis susceptibility. 

Hypnosis is more specific in that there is an induction and various stages to purposefully reach different levels of hypnosis.  Some hypnosis can be fairly light where you remember everything and participate actively in the trance state.  Other hypnosis such as that used in surgeries induces a very deep state of trance, allowing surgery to happen without the use of drugs or anesthesia. 

Did you know that regular, good sleep is linked with living longer, feeling happier, and looking younger? After water and food, sleep is the most important factor in keeping us healthy and alive. Go without sleep for too long and you run the risk of of becoming psychotic, or worse of death.

Insomnia comes in three different durations:

• Transient – lasts a day or two, very short term
• Short-term – generally lasting only a few weeks but no more
• Chronic/Long-term – lasts three weeks or more.

There are many different causes of insomnia, some of which like sleep apnea are medically based. Its important to talk with your doctor and rule out these conditions before trying sleep hypnosis.

Other factors that can lead to insomnia include:

Physical Conditions:

• certain forms of cancer such as pancreatic, bone, and brain cancers
• aches and pains
• arthritis
• migraines
• food poisoning
• premenstrual and menapausal sypmtoms, pregnancy
• pain from a physical injury
• high blood pressure
• breathing problems such as asthma, allergies, and colds
• restless leg syndrome
• chonic pain syndromes

Environmental:

• Allergies
• too much light – especially if you work evenings or graveyard shifts
• noise from traffic, snoring, etc
• wrong type of mattress or pillow leading to chronic back and neck pain

Psychological:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• stress
• excitement
• post traumatic stress
• grief and loss
• worry
• virtually any psychiatric disorder

Habits:

• too much caffeine or caffeine withdrawal
• nicotine, alcohol,and illegal drugs
• any medication that includes a stimulant such as asthma and allergy medication, decongestants, corticosteroids
• withdrawal from drugs
• working at night
• exercising strenuously too close to bed time
• sudden, rapid weight loss

While hypnosis is generally used by therapists as a state of very relaxed concentration, it can also be used very effectively to induce sleep, especially if you haven't been getting enough sleep.  For people with insomnia, an effective hypnotic induction will relax the body to such a degree and the mind will follow.  Sleep hypnosis can be a lifesaver if you suffer from any type of insomnia.  

If you suffer from chronic insomnia, sleep hypnosis is generally the best type of treatment with no negative side effects available.  Long term use of hypnotics and prescription sleep medication such as ambien can lead to dependence and worse insomnia when you want to stop taking the medication.  Hypnotic dependence is no joke and requires medical management to withdraw safely – generally hospitalization for detox and perhaps even ongoing substance use treatment for support.  Sleep hypnosis, on the other hand, works naturally without any drugs to create a deep state of relaxation and enable you to sleep much more soundly without the risk of withdrawal.  

When purchasing sleep hypnosis products, keep in mind the format that you plan to use whether that is CD or MP3.  Sleep hypnosis recordings are very sophisticated and work to change the brain wave state patterns.  They do this through biurnal beats.  Unfortunately, the integrity of the beats and the sounds you can't hear (but your brain can) are not kept in tact when transferring from one medium to the other.  The best CDs are also encrypted so that they can't be downloaded to you iPod or MP3 player.