In Part 3, of this mini-series, I will explain how hypnosis and talk therapy help us to improve sleep patterns.
Anybody who suffers with insomnia will know that stress is the enemy of sleep: stress of not getting to sleep; stress of waking up too early; stress of not falling back asleep quick enough; stress of inevitably feeling tired the next day.
Stress, stress, stress.
During the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep, our brain processes the stresses of our day and transports emotional, sometimes distressing memories, into narrative memories.
We have all experienced this. Someone upsets you during the day, perhaps disproportionately, and we can't stop thinking about it. During the night we process this and, in the morning, we feel a lot more calmly about the event or perhaps it has even left our mind altogether.
REM sleep is great, it also helps us to seal important learnings of the day but the brain uses a lot of oxygen at this stage and it's exhausting for us.
Typically, we get about 20% of REM sleep a night and, if the brain is still processing stress at the end of its REM period, it is likely to wake us so to protect us from overdoing it.
This is why we can awaken with our mind racing and feeling quite anxious.
Conversely, the brain might not wake us up, and we extend the REM sleep, this generally happens when we awaken feeling sluggish, despite a great night's sleep - oftentimes this is associated with depression.
Hypnotic trance works in the same way as REM sleep, it allows us to decompress and relax the mind. After a hypnotherapy session, there is less stress to process at night and therefore a greatly reduced chance of waking up at the end of your REM sleep period.
During the talk therapy part of the hypnotherapy sessions, we discuss what causes stress and what chemicals we can naturally stimulate to reduce stress.
Contact me today for a free initial consultation to find out more.
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