CLINICAL HYPNOTHERAPY FOR
SLEEP
When your mind won't switch off.
WHEN SLEEP BECOMES SOMETHING YOU THINK ABOUT
Sleep is something that should happen naturally. But when it doesn't, it can quickly become something you start thinking about far too much.
You may struggle to fall asleep, wake repeatedly during the night, or find yourself wide awake much earlier than you want to be.
And sometimes the problem isn't simply sleep itself.
The more you think “I have to sleep”, watch the clock or worry about how you'll feel the following day, the more difficult it can become to relax naturally.
Over time, bedtime itself can become associated with frustration, alertness or anxiety rather than rest.
The harder you try to sleep, sometimes the harder sleep becomes.
HOW CAN CLINICAL HYPNOTHERAPY HELP?
Clinical Hypnotherapy can help us work with the thoughts, habits and learned responses that may be contributing to your difficulty sleeping.
Rather than trying to force yourself to sleep, the focus is on helping your mind and body rediscover the conditions in which sleep can happen more naturally.
Sometimes there is an obvious trigger — stress, worry, a change in circumstances or a period of disrupted sleep. At other times, the original reason may have passed but the pattern has remained.
Depending on what's happening for you, I may combine Clinical Hypnotherapy with DAtechnique®, relaxation, visualisation and other techniques to help you develop a calmer relationship with sleep.
Then a larger statement:
We don't force sleep. We work on what's getting in its way.
WHAT CAN WE WORK ON?
SWITCHING OFF Helping to quieten a busy mind when it's time to sleep.
FALLING ASLEEP Working with the thoughts and responses that may be keeping you alert at bedtime.
NIGHT-TIME WAKING Helping you respond differently when you wake during the night, rather than becoming increasingly frustrated or alert.
EARLY WAKING Working with the thoughts and reactions that can make it difficult to settle again when you wake earlier than intended.
SLEEP-RELATED ANXIETY Reducing the worry about whether you'll sleep — and how you'll cope the following day if you don't.
BEDTIME ASSOCIATIONS Helping your mind reconnect your bed and bedtime with relaxation and rest rather than worry and wakefulness. The aim isn't to make you try harder to sleep. It's to help you stop having to try so hard.
WHEN WORRYING ABOUT SLEEP BECOMES PART OF THE PROBLEM
One difficult night is something most of us experience.
But after several poor nights, it's easy to start wondering what will happen tonight.
Will I sleep?
What if I wake again?
How will I function tomorrow?
That anticipation can create its own cycle of alertness and frustration.
Part of our work can be about changing your response to sleep itself — reducing the pressure, breaking unhelpful associations and allowing bedtime to feel like bedtime again.
The aim isn't to make you try harder to sleep. It's to help you stop having to try so hard.
SOMETIMES THERE'S MORE TO IT
Difficulty sleeping can sometimes be related to an underlying physical or medical issue, medication, pain or another sleep-related condition.
Clinical Hypnotherapy isn't a substitute for appropriate medical assessment or treatment.
If your sleep difficulties are persistent, unexplained or suggest that something else may be contributing to the problem, I may recommend speaking with your doctor before we work together.
YOUR SLEEP. YOUR APPROACH.
There is no single formula for better sleep because there is no single reason why people struggle with it.
We'll look at what's happening specifically for you — when the problem began, what happens at bedtime, what happens when you wake and what thoughts or feelings have become associated with sleep.
From there, we can shape our work around your sleep patterns, your circumstances and what you'd like to change.
And where appropriate, I'll give you relaxation or self-hypnosis techniques you can continue using yourself.
READY TO CHANGE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH SLEEP?
You don't need to know why you're not sleeping before you contact me.
Let's start with a relaxed conversation about what's happening and whether Clinical Hypnotherapy could be appropriate for you.