Sleep Deprivation

Monsters under the bed when you are little, become monsters in your head as an adult when you just can't sleep for yet another night.

Sleep is something that we all take for granted, that is, until we don't get enough of it. Then something that once seemed so natural and easy becomes a torment that can overshadow our day.

We all need different amounts of sleep, but the optimum sleep cycle needed to keep us healthy is apparently between six and eight hours.  The effects of too little sleep are wide ranging and, according to the NHS, include obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. 

According to research from Rand Europe, sleep deprivation also costs the UK economy £40bn a year as tired employees are less productive and sometimes absent from work altogether.

Weight - two hormones are involved in sleep and eating, ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin tells you when to eat and the less you sleep the more is produced, so you eat more.  Leptin tells you to stop eating and the less you sleep the less you produce, so you don't stop eating.  Also when you are tired your metabolism slows down, you are more likely to reach for a sugary snack to give you energy, you are less likely to exercise and often too tired to cook a healthy meal.

Heart Disease - sleep deprivation leads to increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and higher chemicals related to inflammation which can put extra strain on your heart.

Diabetes - people who sleep less than five hours a night have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes because of a change in the way the body processes glucose.

Mental Well-Being - sleep deprivation can make you grumpy and irritable but it can also contribute to anxiety and depression.

Fertility - regular sleep disruptions in both men and women can cause difficulty in conceiving by reducing the amount of reproductive hormones.

The only answer to a lack of sleep is to get more sleep.  Hypnotherapy works by gently changing the sleep cycle into one that allows you to get a regular, restful night's sleep so that you wake up feeling refreshed with plenty of energy to face your day, whatever it may bring.

Mind Over Matter

I recently had an operation and the first 24 hours were just a fog of anaesthetic and morphine, but once I got through that I started to assess myself and how I felt.  I began to concentrate on other parts of my body that felt more comfortable, I imagined a gentle heat on the discomfort and imagined the pain shrinking and getting smaller and smaller.  Then I began to imagine myself feeling well, moving around and laughing.  It was difficult to transport myself in my mind from my pain and my hospital bed to this much better self but it was certainly a nicer place to be!

Recovery has been an up and down process but I have continued to use hypnosis and I am recovering well, have a lot of energy and feel very positive.

Hypnosis and self-hypnosis are very useful for managing pain and have been used for this purpose for hundreds of years.

James Esdaile was a Scottish surgeon in the early 1800's who pioneered a hypnosis technique (then called mesmerism) to use on his patients before surgery. He performed over 300 operations using this technique when working in India. The hypnosis provided analgesia for his patients and greatly increased the success rate of the surgery and the patients' comfort.

In recognition of his skills a mesmeric hospital was opened to continue his work and he was appointed to the position of Presidency Surgeon.

Hypnotherapy continues to be used in a medical setting today for things such as dental work, pain, IBS, anxiety and the treatment of burns.

I see many people who want help - either to manage short term pain such as for a surgical procedure or to help them manage long term diagnosed pain.

There are many techniques in hypnotherapy that are used to help people reduce or eliminate their pain and regain control, making life much more comfortable again.  I will work with you, personalising the hypnotherapy to get the very best results that we can.

Help Your Brain Fight Back! - The war against dementia starts early

At the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Centre in Chicago there has been a study of dementia that has lasted 25 years and which has involved 3,200 older adults.  The results of these studies have shown that to some extent genetics play a part in dementia and some people have higher risk genes.  However, the study also identified many key lifestyle factors that shape our brain’s health into old age. The good news is that these are all things you can do now and it's just like using your brain as a bank - the more you put in now, the more protected you will be from dementia later in life.  

Diagnoses of Alzheimer's are set to triple by 2050 but simple things that are within your control can help to protect your brain and hold off the effects of any damage.  

Neurologists have found that people in the bottom 10% of physical activity and those who mostly stay at home are more than twice as likely to get diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  The good news is that physical activity includes things like cooking, shopping and playing cards and getting out of the house includes going to the other side of town!

The best things that you can do to help are:

1. Engage in regular cognitive and physical activity - learn a language or an instrument, join a book club, exercise - even if just a little

2. Strengthen and maintain social ties, not just on-line and on Facebook - get out and meet your friends and make new connections!

3.  Get out and explore new things - increase your life-space, leave your bedroom, your house, your town and expand your physical space

4. Chillax and be happy - don't worry about things you can't change and remember to notice the positives as well as negatives in life

5. Avoid people who are downers, especially close family members!

6. Be conscientious and diligent - this involves organisation, self-discipline, your drive to achieve goals

7. Spend time engaged in activities that are meaningful and goal-directed - have a purpose in life with clear intentions and goals

8. Eat a healthy brain diet, with fresh fruit, vegetables and fish. 

Hypnotherapy can't help improve your genes, but it is excellent at increasing motivation to:

• engage in physical activity

• eat healthily

• overcome social anxiety

• stretch yourself to reach new or existing goals.

Changing these things now encourages better physical and mental health and you are most likely reducing your risk of Alzheimer's disease in the future, too.