An Approach to Improving Sleep

Without realising it the methods make you think about sleeping all the time. You think about whether you will sleep well or not when you drink your last cup of coffee in the afternoon. You are thinking about not sleeping well as you choose to not have that glass of wine with dinner.

You inadvertently think about not sleeping well when you look at the clock to make sure you don’t eat too late. The same occurs as you put your phone down and switch off the tablet computer to avoid the ‘blue light’.

The Law of Reversed Effort suggests that when the imagination and the conscious will conflict, the imagination always wins. In terms of sleep the person expects (imagines) they will not sleep well, even though they want to (conscious will), the imagination wins and they sleep badly.

For the next 7 days emulate the person who does not have a problem sleeping. The quality of your sleep and the number of hours you slept is going to be of little consequence to you. You will drink caffeine when you like, and enjoy your evening meal when it is convenient, without any consideration that it is linked to your sleep.

Sleep journals, electronic sleep trackers will be confined to the drawer for the next 7 days. You will be behaving like the person who sleeps well.

They expect to sleep well and so you will expect to sleep well too. The thought of not sleeping well doesn’t even enter their mind. 
It may sound like a challenge, but all I’m suggesting is to take a break from trying to sleep well for the next 7 days. 

Suggestion therapy usually requires

1 or 2 sessions. 

• Relaxation

• Public speaking  nerves

• Stress management

• Nail biting

• Confidence problems

• Unwanted behaviours

A person has been struggling to sleep, finding that they can get to sleep only to wake up in the early hours of the morning... each night the wake a 2am. As they go to bed they think to themselves: "I hope I don't wake up a 2am again!"

Can you see how the person is suggesting to themselves the exact time to wake up and sure enough their mind follows the instruction!

Explaining sleeping problems

Suggesting to ourselves...

We are surrounded by suggestions, with the most common way being through advertising. We are encouraged to buy a product by being shown how our lives will improve once we have the item. The catchy jingle and the tagline all help to imprint the product and the feel-good images in our mind. These are triggered when we are in the shop, and we feel a sense of familiarity with the product, which increases the likelihood we will make a purchase.

​Unwanted Habits    Nail biting     Test Nerves

This type of therapy uses hypnosis so that we can re-programme your mind in such a way as to change a person's unwanted behaviour. Most people could name a few behaviours they would rather be without or just tone down a bit.

​Suggestion Therapy

Are you having problems sleeping? Struggling to fall asleep or keep waking up?

Inadvertently the methods most commonly used to help improve sleep make you think about not sleeping well. I know they seem positive, but you wouldn’t be using those methods if you didn’t have a problem sleeping.

The fact that you are using those methods at all, is a powerful suggestion that you won’t sleep well.

You may have tried some of the common suggestions to help you drop off such as cutting out caffeine from mid-afternoon, avoiding alcohol in the evening and not eating too late.  Some will limit the time they use their phones or laptops before bed in case the ‘blue light’ affects their sleep.

Stop doing all of the above for the next 7 days. What have you got to lose? Your sleep is already poor, so stop all attempts to sleep better and (for the next 7 days) just accept that your sleep will be what it will be. Accept that you will sleep and this can happen whether you track it or not.

Each well-intentioned action can make a sleep problem worse!

Can I offer an alternative suggestion?

Fee:

£60.00 per session (1 Hour) 

Which symptoms?

• Exam Nerves

• Problematic Habits

• Slimming

We even suggest to ourselves, called auto-suggestion.  How many times have you felt the felt anxious about something happening, or expected to feel ill at ease in a certain situation, only to find that it came true?

Without realising we have suggested to ourselves. The instruction has taken root in your mind and sure enough, it was followed faithfully.

Suggestion all around us...

​Suggestion Therapy can help you kick habits for good or control the symptoms

Suggestion therapy is the type of therapy that most people associate with Hypnotherapy. Most assume they will be hypnotised and various suggestions will be given to them aimed at relieving their symptoms. I use suggestion therapy to help combat habit-based problems.

Sleep improvement techniques can make a person imagine not sleeping well; otherwise, why would they be using them? The conflict between their conscious will to sleep well and their imagination/expectation they won’t mean they still struggle to sleep. 

Break the cycle. Expect that your sleep will be one and it will match your conscious will; chances are your sleep will improve. 

Extra help needed? Suggestion Hypnotherapy can help break the negative cycle quicker, but why not start with taking a break from sleep improvement techniques for the next 7 days and see what happens.

Those who have had problems for longer may have been advised to keep a sleep journal so they can identify the triggers that lead to poor sleep.  Perhaps you may have used a sleep app or tracked the hours and quality of your sleep, comparing one night with another, in the hope of finding a pattern.

I explain the full programme of adjusting your sleep free of change in my blog post: "Getting a Better Nights Sleep - A Three-week Challenge" 

Why would I suggest this approach?