It might surprise you that up to 45 per cent of the world’s population has some type of sleep problem such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome and sleep deprivation in general. That is quite a large statistic. Many included in this statistic tend to have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep or may often wake up too early in the morning. In Canada alone, we have a staggering statistic of at least 60% of adults getting only 6.9 hours of sleep per night rather than the recommended 8 hours per night and 30% are getting even less than those 6.9 hours!

Basically, there are three different types of insomnia: acute, chronic and onset. Acute insomnia is usually brief and often simply because of any sudden or stressful life circumstances like studying for an exam, death of a loved one, starting a new job, environmental factors like noise or light that disrupt your sleep, sleeping in unfamiliar bed or surroundings, having physical discomfort because of pain or being unable to assume a comfortable position, certain medications, sudden illness, and jet lag.

Chronic insomnia is disrupted sleep that occurs at least three nights per week and lasts at least three months. There are many causes for this lack of sleep or insomnia to happen. Things like changes in the environment, unhealthy sleep habits, shift work, other clinical disorders, and certain medications could lead to a long-term pattern of insufficient sleep. Onset insomnia is trouble initiating sleep and this can be either chronic or acute.

So, with so many of us not having a good sleep every night, have you ever wondered if there is a drug-free way that can help to change this statistic around?

People experience common symptoms associated with chronic insomnia. These include being tired during the day, frequent headaches, irritability, or lack of concentration, being tired and not refreshed upon waking, taking longer than 30-40 minutes to fall asleep, wake repeatedly, wake too early and are unable to get back to sleep, or only get to sleep with the aid of sleeping pills or alcohol.

Risks and side effects of insomnia include increased risk of accidents, increased risk of depression, and other mental health conditions, and an increased risk of chronic medical conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, and obesity. The amount of sleep and the quality of sleep have been shown to affect appetite, weight control and the effectiveness of diets for weight loss.

As the world’s population ages so does the rate of more people developing chronic insomnia and due to an increase of worldwide stressors that are now more frequent through global media causing a rise in fear about a volatile stock market, terrorism, mass shootings, health care, student debt, and climate disasters. All these added stress factors can also contribute towards the rise of insomnia and other sleep disorders like sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome.

What is the answer to getting a good night’s sleep? How does a person truly find a way to sleep that does not involve addictive drugs or other substances

Having a good night sleep really depends first on your creating an excellent sleep environment and secondly creating a healthy sleep routine repeatedly every night. Doing these two essential things encourages your subconscious mind to create within your circadian rhythm this automatic behavior of deep sleep because of the related association and repetition of these routines for sleeping.

So, for example if you are a person who always begins your bed routine at 10:30pm and awakens at 7:00am every single day then your night routine might be something like this. You start by having a bath/shower/wash, brushing your teeth, changing into comfy pajamas, enjoy a cup of herbal tea while watching an old comedy sitcom, and then climb into a bed that has pleasing sounds, smells, and comfort, then all that is needed is to fall fast asleep, right?

But what often happens to sufferers of chronic insomnia is that they get overly anxious about not falling asleep, that they will change their routine often in search for the ultimate go-to-sleep fast pill, product, or device and the subconscious mind never gets a chance to learn a healthy sleep routine because things are changing all the time. They become exhausted in their attempts at finding something, anything that will help them to fall asleep.

By using hypnosis for sleeping your hypnotherapist will often encourage a person to develop a type of physical and environmental sleep routine first along with creating a ‘good mental sleeping routine.’ By guiding a person through hypnosis your focus and concentration is on learning a nightly routine of mentally relaxing your body and your mind completely to let go of your anxieties, then providing positive suggestions to your subconscious mind while in a hypnotic state thus motivating a person automatically towards sleeping soundly, deeply, and naturally. It may take at least six sessions to help a person develop a good mental sleeping routine using hypnotic suggestions for deep sleep.

It goes without saying that the benefits of using hypnosis for sleeping are quite outstanding. Check this list of benefits:

1. Hypnosis for sleep is non-addictive and has no side effects
2. Hypnosis for sleep is natural as it uses your subconscious mind to create an automatic behavior
3. Hypnosis for sleep is economical as you don’t need to buy any drugs, alcohol, special oils, teas, or any other products
4. Hypnosis for sleep helps to promote good health and vitality
5. Hypnosis for sleep improves your concentration, motivation & zest for life

If you would like to talk to a hypnotherapist about getting better sleep, arrange for a free consultation with Advanced Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist Tracy Thompson today.