Chronic Pain: How Hypnosis can Help with one of Life's Most Difficult Challenges

How Can Hypnosis Help with Chronic Pain?  

                                 Pain is real.  It is hard to bear physically, and also emotionally.  Chronic pain is one of the most debilitating conditions, and it is vital to engage is good self care when we are in pain.
                                Pain is important.  It is a signal from our body that something is wrong, and is designed to get us to act in order to take care of ourselves.  We must respect and pay attention to pain.  Pain should always be checked out by a medical doctor who is capable of diagnosing what is causing the pain and prescribing a course of treatment.  

                                   The challenge of chronic pain, though, is frustrating for both doctors and patients.  Pain can be misleading. It can persist when there seems to be no reason for it do so so.  Pain can show up in one place from an injury from another place on the body altogether. 

                                   It is important to understand that all pain is in the brain, it is a complex and complicated experience that is mediated through various regions of our brain.  How much pain we feel is not directly related to how much we are injured or hurt. How quickly our pain subsides is not always directly related to how quickly we are getting better.   How can this be the case?

                               Though we seem to feel pain in various parts of our body, all pain is actually in our brain.  Our brain takes signals from the body, from our five senses, and processes those signals through the centers of the brain responsible for thoughts and feelings, and then produces pain signals as it deems appropriate.   
                                During World War I, doctors noticed that soldiers with horrifying injuries were coming off the battlefield with far less pain than the doctors expected.  They were in far less pain than civilians with similar injuries.  Why?  Because the very fact that they were off the battlefield, out of harm's way, and safe in a hospital made them feel better.  The fact that they were no longer in battle changed the way their brains were processing the pain signals coming from their bodies.  Our perceptions, our emotions, and our thoughts change how we experience pain.
                       Factors that determine how we experience pain:

  1. Pain is an emotional experience:  Often, when we are in pain, we also feel fear, grief, frustration, anger, anxiety, depression, loss of appetite, fatigue, insomnia, and perhaps many other emotions.   It's important to understand that these feelings can make how we perceive our pain worse, and, also, pain can make these emotions more intense.   Pain can bring forth emotions, emotions can summon pain.  How we think, how we feel emotionally, and how we feel physically are all intertwined. 

2. Our experience of pain is not dependent on the extent of injury, but more on how we think about it and our previous experiences.   Fear makes pain worse. If we fear the pain means more injury is taking place, we will feel more pain than if we know we are safe, well, and healing.  Trust in our doctors, being in a safe environment, being well educated about our condition, all have real impacts on how we perceive pain.

3. Perception is everything.  Documented cases of patients in emergency rooms in excruciating pain exist where, when they are examined, are found to be unharmed and uninjured.  They only thought they had been injured. The belief that they had been injured and were in danger led them to feel that they were in pain.  This is also the case with childbirth.  Women who trust their doctors or caregivers, understand the process, and feel relaxed and safe report far less pain than woman who are afraid, find themselves in the hands of people they don't know or trust, or who do not understand what is going on.  

     Chronic pain occurs when the brain continues to perceive the sensations coming from an area of the body as pain.  This can wear us down, limit our lives, and it's also a difficult situation to treat.  How can hypnosis help?

Hypnosis can change perception.  It can change how the brain is interpreting the sensations coming from the body.  It gives the brain a chance to reassess the situation, and can allow the brain to figure out that no further injury is occuring.

Hypnosis can change how we think about the sensations coming from the body.  Sensations from our nerves travel through our nervous system, and enter spinal column through the dorsal horn.  They then enter the brain through the brain stem, where basic instincts take over (like pulling your hand away quickly from a hot stove) and then the enter the limbic region of the brain.  The limbic region is where emotion is processed.

  Hypnosis can change how we feel about the sensations coming into the brain, and so change the amount of pain we perceive ourselves to be in.
Hypnosis can change the way bodily sensations are thought about.  Pain is bodily sensation interacting with cognition, or thinking.  Ife we change the way we think, we change the way we feel. 

 Hypnosis can also relieve tension and stress, both of which can intensify pain.  

Hypnosis can help reprogram negative ideas that are worsening discomfort.  Often, when we have been ill or injured, we feel loss, we feel anger.  We worry about a compromised future, we can predict dire things, and those negative thoughts increase our pain.  

Hypnosis can help us see the good around us and the good that awaits us in the future.

Hypnosis can help redirect our attention and our perceptions, so our pain isn't always in the forefront of our experience.  

Hypnosis can help build inner strength: through hypnosis, we can increase our sense of control over our lives, repair ego damage done by the trauma of pain and illness.  It changes how we think, how we feel, and how we look forward to the future.

Hypnosis can trigger healing.  Patients who use hypnosis recover more quickly, report less pain, and suffer fewer complications than those who do not.   Hypnosis allows the brain to release the body's natural healing powers, the same healing powers that are released during deep stages of sleep.  Hypnosis can allow the brain to redirect, rethink, review, and allow the body and mind to heal.

Using hypnosis to help with chronic pain and illness can be an important piece to a treatment plan.  Call, text, email, or facebook message me to find out more, or if you have any questions.  Find out if hypnosis is right for you.



                               

The Best Investment for Happiness and Health

The Best Investment for Happiness and Health

          Much money is spent on things we think are going to bring us happiness. From gym memberships to bigger houses, clothes, vacations, supplements, you name it.  Most of us spend a lot of money on things we hope will add to the quality of our lives.  One investment, though, seems to outperform all others. It's also basically free, and is guaranteed to not only add to our current happiness, but improve our health as well.

         Friendship and social connection are more important to our health than we can really know. Friends reduce stress, help us find solutions, see problems differently, and make the things we do each day more enjoyable.  Investing time and energy into relationships pays off over the course of our lives in ways we can barely count.  
        However, many of us are feeling more alienated from others than ever. These days, it's difficult for many of us to remain connected socially, and even more difficult to make new social connections.  

  

         Having friends is an important part of self care. According to research done at Harvard Medical School, social connections improve our overall health and also seem to keep our brains sharper as we age. Positive relationships where we feel supported, respected, and appreciated improve our health, both physical and mental.  They also improve our mood, our mindset, and our outlook for the future.  

     People who make a point to connect socially with others live longer lives and enjoy better health.  In a recent article in the New York Times, called "How to Maintain Friendships," Anna Goldfarb wrote that the bonds of friendship are critical to maintaining physical and emotional health.  She goes on to write that strong social ties boost the immune system, increase longevity, decrease the risk of contracting certain chronic illnesses and increase the ability to cope with chronic pain. 

     Most of us know that friendships improve our lives.  The problem becomes, though, how do we make and keep them? It has become difficult these days, especially as we get older, to make and keep friends. We are more socially isolated than ever before, and social isolation is one of the most damaging stressors we can face.

  What do we do?  I am often being asked, "How do I make friends? How do I reconnect with old friends?"  People are busy and distracted. It can be difficult to figure out how to break through all of the noise and connect.  But it can be done. 

   The first step to renewing our social circle is to have a clear idea about what friendship should look like.  Friendship should be positive. Friends are people who are consistent, offer support, and with whom we can laugh. They are also people with whom we can be vulnerable.  The overall tone is one of positivity.  Our friends lift us up, celebrate our successes, help us process our defeats, and help us laugh about life, ourselves, and everything else.

 The second step is to examine why your social circle has been getting smaller. How have you been spending you time? Is it on things that are important to you?  Try making a list of things you enjoy doing, both the big things and the small things.  Keep the list where you can see it and add to it as more occurs to you.  How much time do you spend doing these things?  How can you add more of them to your life?  What can you do less of to make more time for the things on your list?

  Then, see how you can involve others in your activities.  Are there groups of people already doing some of the things on your list?  Can you join them?  Can you invite someone to join you for a walk? To go to a movie? To try out a new restaurant? Join a knitting group? A bowling league?
 Extend an invitation and keep an open mind.  It can be hard to reach out with an invitation, but bear in mind that most of us like to be invited, and many of us are feeling disconnected. People like others who make them feel liked. People like others who make them feel heard and accepted.  Bear that in mind as you reach out.  Take a risk, stay positive, and focus on just having a good time and getting to know the other person.  See what happens.

 It's also important to nurture friendships with people who are already dear to us, but maybe we've become disconnected from them, or maybe we take them for granted.  Who are the people in your life who have always been kind? 
       That might be a short list, but those that make the list are the ones to make time for, reach out to, and connect with. Nurturing our relationships is one of the biggest investments we can make for ourselves. It's an investment in long term health and happiness.

 Did you know that hypnosis can help us improve our relationships?  It can.  By relieving symptoms of social anxiety and worry, hypnosis can help us reach out and connect with others more easily. 
Hypnosis also can help us problem solve, view events or issues in a new way, and learn new ways to behave and interact with others.  

  Don't hesitate to contact me to find out more about how hypnosis can help you!  I love to answer questions!

How Hypnosis Helps IBS

How Hypnosis Helps with IBS

          What is Irritable Bowel Syndrome?  No one seems to know for sure. Ask the medical community and it seems to be a confusing cluster of symptoms that have no real remedy.

Ask a person who has been struggling with IBS, though, and they will not be so unclear: IBS is a serious problem that causes pain and makes life difficult. At best, it is living with discomfort and symptoms that just make doctors shrug.  At worst, it is gut wrenching pain, and stomach events that can be painful, traumatic, and humiliating.

The cause of IBS has not really been determined.  Theories, though, about the cause are varied, and range from dietary issues such as food allergies, to an overly sensitive enteric (or gastrointestinal) nervous system, to bile acid malabsorption, to chronic alcohol abuse, to peristalsis, to a sedentary lifestyle.

It may be that all these elements make the symptoms of IBS worse.  We do know, however, that a series of changes seem to help most people with these symptoms.

It might be helpful to start a diary or journal.  Keep a running log of food eaten and symptoms.  It would also be helpful to note other factors such as stress level, exercise, medication taken, or anything else you think might be impacting your symptoms.  Think like a detective, look for clues and emerging patterns.

Another step would be to make sure you are eating regular, well balanced meals.  This means eating at the same time each day, three times a day. Eating too little at one meal, and then too much at another can induce symptoms. Make a habit of eating regular meals that are balanced, that is, that contain a combination of macro nutrients.  Allow sufficient time to eat your meals and allow yourself time for regular bathroom habits.

How Hypnosis Helps

       Many clinical studies show that hypnosis helps reduce or eliminate symptoms of IBS.  Hypnosis that uses progressive relaxation techniques, stress reduction, along with suggestions specific to a client's particular symptoms or concerns seems to be most effective.  One study, done at Britain's University of Manchester, showed that hypnosis helped 70% of IBS patients treated. 

       Hypnosis offers symptomatic and psychological benefits along with physical relief of symptoms.  What's more, in follow up studies, clients who used hypnosis to reduce or eliminate their symptoms were found to still be symptom free five years after terminating hypnosis!

  Why Does Hypnosis Work?

   The digestive system is very sensitive to stress.  Stress makes symptoms of IBS worse.  Hypnosis, by its very nature, helps clients not only reduce stress, but also be better able to cope with stressful situations, so that their overall level of stress is reduced.

   The vagus nerve runs from the brain through the whole digestive system, and controls much of the digestive process. Vagal tone, or the health of the vagus nerve, impacts the health of the digestive system.  Hypnosis has been shown to improve vagal tone, so it  impacts the health of the digestive system.

        The brain and body have powerful tools for healing. Our bodies want to be healthy, and they want to heal.  The healing abilities of our brains and bodies are released during sleep.  The immune system, autophagy, growth hormones, and other healing processes are activated during sleep, which is why we often feel better from ailments after a good night's rest.  

      Hypnosis mimics certain stages of sleep. When clients are in hypnosis, as shown in studies using MRI technology, brain activity and brain waves look a lot like sleep.  Hypnosis has the power to release the healing powers of the body that are only available to us when we sleep deeply. Some studies show that the brain, under hypnosis, can target certain things to heal; the suggestions given during hypnosis can help the brain and body "decide" where to target healing.

 Hypnosis can also improve sleep quality and duration.  Most hypnotists teach their clients self hypnosis, and give them strategies to help improve and deepen sleep, so the powers of healthy sleep are not only activated in session, but carried out once the client is home as well.

  Through stress reduction, improved self care, improved sleep, and hypnosis, IBS symptoms can become much more manageable.  If you are interested in learning more, contact me.  Inquiries are always free and I would be happy to answer any questions or provide any information via email, text, or by phone call!  Contact me today and start on your healing journey! 

  

  

How A Daily Dose of Kindness Can Protect Us

How A Daily Dose of Kindness Can Protect Us 

                    Modern life is stressful. We know this.  All we have to do is look at the numbers of people diagnosed with mood disorders. Those numbers have been skyrocketing.  Even our children are stressed; mood disorders and other symptoms of stress such as school refusal have been increasing among school aged children for years.

                  Stress hurts us physically and emotionally. It wears down our ability to cope, to find solutions, to look forward to positive outcomes.  It weakens our hearts, and impairs our ability to burn fat and use food as fuel in a healthy and balanced way.  It dampens our creativity and keeps us focused on the negative. Stress, especially long term stress, erodes the quality of our lives.

                  But we do have tools available to us to combat all of this stress and its symptoms. Simple things that we can do that end up having a profound effect on our ability to protect ourselves from the symptoms of ongoing stress are available to all of us are at our fingertips.   A simple but powerful technique to help combat stress and protect ourselves is to create an environment, as best we can, of positivity.  This includes the environment around us and also the environment in our own minds.

                 We begin creating this positive environment by spending time each day taking caring notice of ourselves. We can check in with ourselves to see how we are feeling and see if there is anything we can do to take care of ourselves.  And we can say kind things to ourselves.

              Seems simple, doesn't it?  Yet giving ourselves a little kindness each day in the form of truly being present and checking in with what we need and giving ourselves a positive self statement can have profound effects on the quality of our lives over time.
 
              Check ins reduce stress by allowing us to become more in tune to what we need, and so allowing us to take action to meet these needs.  How does this work?  How many times have we found ourselves working through lunch? Or racing from one place to another either at home, at work, or out doing our errands, and suddenly realizing we haven't had any water or a break all day?

             This is stressful. Ignoring the signals our bodies send to us to try to get our needs met sends messages to our minds and to our bodies that are negative and stress inducing.  Taking one minute to take a deep breath, be present, and see what we need and what we can do about it starts to turn this around.
    Maybe, when we pause to check in with ourselves, we find we need some lunch, a drink of water, or we are cold and need a sweater.  Maybe we need to get up and walk around for a few minutes, or sit down and rest.  Taking one minute a few times a day to be present, check in with ourselves and address our needs as we are able goes a long way to reducing the daily stress that builds up in our lives.

             Aside from Check-Ins, a daily positive self statement helps reduce stress, too.  We can be so negative with ourselves in our own minds.  We predict doom, tell ourselves we aren't enough, tell ourselves to not expect so much.  The problem is, our minds believe us.  What we believe, we set about making true.  Creating an atmosphere of positive thought in our own minds is the antidote to negative self talk.
          Think of a positive thing to say to yourself each day, and say it in the morning, and also when you notice your thoughts turning negative.  Some examples of positive self statements that people have used successfully are:
  Every day I do my best.
  I am capable, beautiful, and loved.
  I am good enough, I have enough, I do enough.
  Every day I live in the quiet expectation of good.
  I can be happy.
  I am a good, kind person and deserve to feel well and live a good life.

Every day, we can use these simple tools to help combat stress and lift us up, protecting us from the negative effects of modern life.

Remember to check in, a few times a day.  Some people find that checking in before meal time really helps them to be better in tune with their appetite and what food their bodies really need.  But do whatever works for you, try to find three times a day to check in and see what you need.

And give yourself one positive self statement a day.  Notice, as time goes on and you practice these two simple steps, how much better you feel.  Notice how the symptoms of stress start to reduce.

                  

               

Hypnosis

What is it? What can it do? Who can it help?

 Hypnosis is a natural state of consciousness that we all use daily. It is a state much like the state
we are in as we are falling asleep, or when we are driving a car on the highway lost in thought.
A hypnotist uses the state of hypnosis to communicate directly with the subconscious mind using
suggestions that reflect the client’s goals in order to solve problems, change habits or beliefs,
improve relationships, change perceptions, among many other things. It has been used to speed
healing after surgery, for addressing pain during childbirth, for anesthesia. A powerful and effective,
yet often misunderstood tool, research shows that 93% of clients achieve their goals after 6 sessions,
some need less.  

How does it work? Hypnosis is really two things: the state of being in hypnosis and
the power of suggestion.
When suggestions are carefully crafted to match the client’s goals, the subconscious mind readily
accepts them. The result is lasting change.

 It works very powerfully because our subconscious minds are really in charge of much of
what we do. Think about it this way: when we first learn something,
like driving a car or riding a bike, it takes our conscious minds a lot of effort.  
At first, it can seem like there is too much to think about, too much to remember.
As we practice, though, it becomes easier. And then we get to the point where we do much of it without
thinking about it.  This is because our subconscious mind has taken over much of the task.

Our subconscious mind is in charge of everything of which we are not immediately aware,
from our heart beating and breathing, to healing, to reacting when we touch a hot stove, to walking home
while having a conversation with someone; much of what we do is relegated to the subconscious mind.

Our subconscious mind’s primary goal is to keep us safe and alive. It creates fears to protect us.
It creates beliefs to help us understand our world and direct our behavior in a way that keeps us safe and
protected. It is a literal thinker, yet understands symbols and stories.

Very often, we learn behavior patterns when we are very young,
and do not have the ability to think critically about things.  
These beliefs and behaviors become ingrained in our subconscious
minds, and become our fall back pattern.  So, even when the behavior is no longer serving our
needs, we tend to fall back on it, especially when we are distracted, stressed, tired, overwhelmed,
or out of sync somehow.

 Hypnosis allows clients to make changes quickly by directly communicating with the
subconscious mind. The subconscious mind can learn and change, and hypnosis helps it do that.
It allows these unconscious behavior patterns and beliefs to be brought to awareness, examined, and
changed. It also allows the subconscious mind to think about beliefs and habits in a different way,
so that a new fall back behavior can emerge. Fear can be reduced, symptoms of anxiety,
depression, stress and worry, which cloud our ability to see solutions, can be reduced.  
The perception of pain can be reduced. New solutions to problems can be discovered,
as the subconscious mind is prodded to see the problem in a different way.

Hypnosis is a powerful tool that can effectively help anyone overcome problems, such as:

Smoking cessation

Weight loss

Chronic Pain Management/Headaches

Improving habits and lifestyle

Increasing confidence and performance

Improving relationships

Improving symptoms of depression and anxiety

Removing Fears

Goal Setting

Improving outcomes for surgery/improve healing

Eliminating Bed Wetting

Improving Concentration

Improve Study Habits

Improve symptoms of Stress, Anxiety, Worry

Reduce or Eliminate Insomnia

Improve Motivation

Relaxation and Stress Reduction

Habit Removal

And Many More

What Happens During a Session

During a hypnosis session, the hypnotist and client first talk to determine the goal for the session.
The hypnotist will also talk to the client about what hypnosis is like, what it can do, and
what to expect, as well as answer any questions.

  After the goal of the session is determined, the hypnotist will discuss strategies for meeting the goal,
and they will work together to make a plan of action with the client.  The hypnotist will then assist the client
in entering a state of hypnosis, and once that is accomplished, the hypnotist will talk to the client about
the goals and changes determined during the session.

The client is always the one in control. The hypnotist is the back seat driver.
The client can control their level of hypnosis, which suggestions they accept, and even end the session.
The client can reject any suggestion.

8 Steps to Hypnosis
Preliminary: Client and Hypnotist determine goals and strategies.
Hypnotist answers questions and explains what will happen. The Goal of the Session is decided and
Suggestions agreed upon.
Progressive Relaxation: A state of relaxation is reached so that it becomes easier to enter a hypnotic state
Induction technique: a form of guided imagery and further relaxation. The state of hypnosis is induced.
Deepening Technique: creates a deeper state of hypnosis if necessary.
Depth testing: Hypnotist determines if client is sufficiently in hypnosis,
and will either do another induction or another deepening if necessary.
Hypnotic Script: using imagery, direct suggestion, and guided meditation,
the hypnotist will suggest the changes that were agreed upon during the preliminary discussion.
Post hypnotic suggestions: Hypnotist will offer suggestions that will support the changes after the
session is over.
Exiting: the hypnotist brings client out of hypnosis.

Important Hypnosis Facts:

Anyone can by hypnotized, with a few specific exceptions: very young children,
the severely cognitively impaired, and the severely mentally ill.

A client can reject any suggestion, and is always in full control. They can come out of hypnosis
whenever they want to.  No one can be hypnotized to do anything they don’t want to do.

The ability to be hypnotized is not a sign of a weak mind.  

A deep state of hypnosis is most often not necessary to meet most client’s goals.

It’s not a truth serum. Anyone can lie or refuse to answer a question under hypnosis.
In fact, it can be used to fool lie detectors.

Hypnosis does not replace medical or psychological care.
It can support clients in making changes and improving outcomes, but is never intended to
replace any kind of treatment that may also be necessary.

Sleep, Weight, Heart Disease, Diabetes

Sleep, Weight, Heart Disease, Diabetes

        

            Does a lack of sleep, or sleeping less than 7 or 8 hours a night, directly contribute to weight gain? Does it also directly contribute to other diseases that plague so many, such as heart disease and diabetes? The answer, according to recent research, seems to be yes.

             Sleep is more important, it has been recently found, that most of us have thought.  Sleep is important for healing, learning, mood, memory, motivation, managing appetite, and preventing obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and even Alzheimer's.  The repercussions of not getting enough good, high quality sleep on our physical and mental health are devastating.  Sleep and good sleep hygiene are both catastrophically neglected curative and preventative treatments for many of the chronic ailments that plague us all.
 
          Did you know that there is a direct relationship between poor sleep and obesity? Obesity problems and sleep problems go hand in hand.  When we don't get enough sleep, our appetite increases, our cells process blood sugar less effectively, and we have lower impulse control.  So, we are hungrier, less capable of processing what we eat, and less able to make good decisions about what it is that we are eating.
        In 2003, a group of researchers coordinating from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Health, and other organizations working on health research concluded a thirteen year long study about sleep. They found that in otherwise healthy young adults, a 95% correlation between short sleep (or not enough sleep) and obesity. They also found the reverse to be true, those subjects that slept an adequate number of hours were far less likely to be overweight, or to gain weight over the course of the study.

      This study was published in SLEEP in 2004, and concluded that improving sleep was an important tool for preventing and reversing obesity and the health problems that can go along with it.  This study took a look at people over the course of thirteen years, checking in on them at different ages.  Those with the shortest average sleep times had the highest body mass index by the end of the study, those that had the longest sleep times had the lowest BMI by the end of the study. They also found a correlation between short sleep and diabetes, with those sleeping fewer hours more likely to go on to develop diabetes later in life.  Why?

        When we are short on sleep, the cells of our body become more insulin resistant.  Insulin is released when glucose, or blood sugar, is present in our blood streams.  It is released by the pancreas to tell our cells to absorb the glucose out of our blood.  This is because, while cells can use glucose for energy, it is highly inflammatory to to the body, it is damaging to our circulatory system and the body needs to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

     When we are short on sleep, our cells can't absorb glucose as well.  They resist the call of insulin to absorb glucose.  The last cells to become resistant to insulin are fat cells, so our fat cells can absorb the sugar, turning it into more fat, but the rest of our body doesn't.  We end up staying hungry, and also increasing our fat cells.

    Inadequate sleep decreases the levels of the hormone leptin, which allows to feel full and burn fat.  Inadequate sleep also  increases the levels of ghrelin, the hormone that makes us feel hungry.  Inadequate sleep makes us, therefore, ravenous and not good at burning extra calories or fat reserves.
       Research shows that people who are short on sleep ate, on average, more than 300 more calories a day than they did when they had had a full night's sleep.   Trying to get by on 6 hours sleep is enough to cause this uptake in eating.  Based on evidence gathered through sleep studies over the past few years, not sleeping enough is very likely to be a key contributor to the obesity epidemic.

    Short sleep has also been shown to be hard on our hearts.  24% more heart attacks occur right after Daylight Savings Time ends, when we lose an hour.  The days after Daylight Savings Time begins, when we add an hour, see fewer heart attacks and strokes than any other time.

    Sleep is imperative for learning.  During sleep, our brains "empty out" our hippocampus, which stores short term memories, and decides what is important to remember, and important to process, and then stores what we need in long term memory.  Sleep helps us to put new information into context with things we already know, link memories, and solve problems.  Good sleep is crucial to learning.
  Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist who has been studying sleep, says, after years of intense research, "Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our lives, wellness, and longevity."

Sleep fights infection and illness by ramping up your immune system, which is why your body demands more rest when you are ill or recovering from something.  A few nights of not sleeping enough, less than 7 to 8 hours, renders the body more vulnerable to viruses, infections, even cancer.  Even a few nights of being short on sleep can reduce cancer fighting immune cells.  One study showed that in healthy young men, one night of sleeping only from 3am to 7am reduced the natural killer cells circulating in their immune systems by 70%.

Simply put, in order to feel well and to be well, we simply must sleep well.  The trouble is, how?

1.  The first step is to practice good sleep hygiene: Get up in the morning, stay up during the day time and go to sleep at a decent hour: 8 hours before your wake up time.  This is an important first step because you can only sleep when you are tired.

   2. The second step is to make sure you see natural light and get outside during the day to help signal to your brain when wake up time and sleep time are: your brain uses light to keep track of what time it is, and to keep track of when it's time to start to feel sleepy.
 
3. It's also important to sleep in the dark, for similar reasons, your brain only knows it's nighttime when it sees darkness. Exposure to bright light, especially overhead light in the evening throws off our body's signals that it is time to sleep, and delays the onset of sleep.  Think low light in the evening, and complete darkness at bedtime.

4. Sleep in a cool room.  Sleeping in a room that is too warm reduces sleep quality, as well. Our bodies are designed to lower their temperature while sleeping. Turn the heat down at night and sleep in a cool, dark room.

5. Reduce Alcohol.  While alcohol may make you feel drowsy, it actually impairs sleep.  Alcohol literally interferes with our ability to dream, so drinking before bed impacts learning and memory. It also interferes with our sleep cycles, so we end up waking up frequently during the night.  This disrupts how deeply we are able to sleep, so we do not get the full benefits of sleep when we have alcohol in our systems.

6. Eliminate Caffeine later in the day: Caffeine allows us to ignore signals that we are tired. It keeps the receptors in our brains for the chemical that builds up during the day, making us sleepier and sleepier the longer we are awake, busy. So we don't know how tired we are.  It takes at least 6 hours for caffeine to be cleared from the body, so eliminate caffeine after lunch time to improve sleep onset.
 
       Getting up early in the morning, getting outside in natural light, getting plenty of exercise during the day, avoiding napping,  reducing alcohol and caffeine, and getting to bed in a cool, quiet, dark room 8 hours before we have to get up can go a long way to positively impacting our mental and physical health.  If this does not improve your sleep, it might be time to see a doctor and have a sleep study done.  Ailments such as sleep apnea or other problems disrupt sleep and are also linked with obesity, diabetes, heart failure and stroke, as well as cognitive and memory problems.

    Improving sleep and protecting your sleep hygiene are major cornerstones of a lifestyle that allows you to be in your best shape mentally, physically, and emotionally.  If you have trouble sleeping, see if you can put any of these suggestions into practice.  Also, hypnotherapy can have a powerful impact on sleep. An experienced hypnotist can help not only uncover what might be impacting your ability to sleep, but will also be able to reduce physical and emotional symptoms that prevent falling asleep easily.  A good hypnotist will also be able to teach you how to use self-hypnosis at night in order to allow yourself to fall into a deep, restful, restorative sleep.

  If you are interested learning more about how hypnosis or hypnotherapy can help you improve your sleep, contact me!  Send me an email, comment on this post, or find me on facebook: @Tina M Grasso!

 

Hypnotherapy Helps!

How Can It Help You?  Hypnotherapy helps anyone who wants to

make a change or solve a problem, as long as they are ready to achieve their goals!  

It's one of the most effective solutions to many common concerns, such as smoking cessation, weight loss, chronic pain management, and the relief of symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety.

How Does it Help?  Through a collaboration between the client and

practitioner, hypnosis is used to clear obstacles

preventing the achievement of goals, reduce symptoms, allow for creative problem solving,
and bring about changes to behavior, habits, and beliefs.  

Why it works:

   1. Through hypnosis, a client can change underlying

subconscious beliefs that are blocking the ability to alter habits,

reach goals, and access solutions. Hypnosis helps a client commit to new habits,

lifestyle improvements, and new ways of thinking.

    2. Hypnosis quiets the activity of the amygdala in the brain, the part that reacts to fear, stress, and anxiety.  Activation of the amygdala clouds the ability to see situations clearly. Our ability to understand and create possible solutions becomes shut down. Through hypnosis, we are able to quiet the amygdala and activate the parts of the brain that allow us to interpret our situation more effectively, generate solutions, and adjust our behavior. 

   3. By quieting the amygdala, and allowing the parts of the brain

that can think critically and creatively to function better,

the body and mind benefit from improvements to blood pressure, cortisol levels, and immune system function, and also from reduced stress, increased creativity, and improved problem solving. All of these factors improve how we feel, how we think, how we function, and how we heal.

   4. Hypnosis can change our perceptions.  All of what we perceive through our senses:

hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting, smelling, is processed through our brains,

especially our limbic region, or emotional processing center.  

The brain takes the signals from our senses and combines

them with our thoughts about those signals to create our experience.

By changing either of those factors: the signals from the senses coming in from the brain,

or how we think about those signals, we change our experience

and our feelings about our experience.   

5. Hypnosis can change our habits.  Often, our habits are behaviors that worked at one

point in time, for whatever reason, but no longer serve us in the present. The problem is that

during times of stress, fatigue, anger, or just when we get distracted or off schedule,

we often fall back on old behaviors because those have become our default setting.
Hypnosis brings out these old, outworn habits and allows our brains to reassess what we are
doing, and then process a new behavior.
Hypnosis can change our default setting, making it much more likely
that we will stick to the new behavior.

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Hypnotherapy!   

Make an Appointment Today!

Individualized Weight Loss Programs (HAES focus optional)

Smoking Cessation

Chronic Pain Management

Stress Reduction

Lifestyle Improvement

Age Regression

Freedom from Fears

Reduce Symptoms of Stress, Anxiety, Depression

Improve Performance, Improve Relationships, Improve Quality of Life!

Call, Text, or Email today to find out more or to make an appointment!  

978-257-3670, tinamgrasso@gmail.com, Facebook: @Tina M Grasso!