What is Sleep Hypnosis and how to do it?

Being able to sleep peacefully is one of the greatest joys that any person can have. And, it’s not wrong to say that with today’s hectic lifestyle, getting a good quality sleep is becoming more and more difficult as stress and anxiety are overrunning over the mind. As such, it becomes quite great to have an effective risk free sleep help that can be used everyday. One of such helpful methods for getting better sleep is using sleep hypnosis.

Despite the fact that hypnosis is abundantly misunderstood by people in normal routine, a sleep hypnosis is a super effective method for relaxing our subconscious mind. This scientifically proven easing technique in which a person or a recording acts as a hypnotherapist and helps one person through verbal cues in getting tranquil. This mystic technique is used for helping clients in quitting smoking, overcoming anxiety and insomnia and managing chronic pain. Before knowing how to do it, you should know a little about hypnosis.

Hypnosis – a quick introduction

Hypnosis is the process of making a person focus intensely on a particular image or thought. Hypnosis has the power to positivity impact a person’s thoughts and actions as the peripheral awareness is reduced and brain goes through changes during it. Popularised by James Braid, a 19th century surgeon who used hypnosis in surgeries to aid patients in pain relief and slowing bleeding. Hypnotherapy is still widely used to treat sleep related problems, anxiety, depression and other mental conditions. A recent study of 2014 has even proven that in most sleepers sleep hypnosis has improved slow wave sleep by as much as 80 percent. And, if you think that hypnosis is mid control based on what you have seen in TV shows, then it’s not the truth. A client is slightly under the influence of hypnotist, but it’s not mind control and is just for medicinal purposes. A person does not fall asleep during hypnosis, however, the person is focused intensively on an idea such that he loses his sense of awareness. With almost no side effects, sleep hypnosis can easily cure many sleep related problems.

Good sleep – a major demand

The effect of today’s busy lifestyle is clearly seen in our sleep schedule. The bad effect of insomnia is highly seen in working adults and high school students. Researches have shown that about 40% adults suffer from sleep disturbances and about 70% high school students do not get enough sleep. There are people who :

• Cannot sleep
• Have difficulty falling asleep
• Have nightmares regularly
• Have a daylong tiredness
• Have increased movements during sleep

All these are symptoms of sleep disorder. The reason for it being stress, bad work life balance, shift work along with physical and mental health problems. Normally, sleep disturbances can be cured easily with simple medication and natural supplements, but they can have a bad long term effect on the health. Therefore, sleep hypnosis is used for helping a person relax mentally and improve attention.

How to do Sleep Hypnosis

Sleep hypnosis is a great method for treating any kind of insomnia or other sleep related issues. The hypnosis can be done with the help of a professional or you can do this yourself at your home. The following steps can be very helpful in avoiding any distraction and helping your mind getting into a relaxing stage.

1. Get fully comfortable and relax

Find a cool place where you are comfortable and get yourself relaxed. Go to bed and lay in that position in which you are most comfortable and if you are not being comfortable while laying in bed, you can sit in your favorite position on a couch or any place where you can soothe your mind. This is important as you want to avoid any possible distracting element. As you are going to sleep, wear loose fitting clothes that won’t restrict any moment and distract you. As sleeping is easy in dark environment where your eyes and mind can relax fully, switch off any bright lights. Turn off all the TVs, computer screens and other handheld devices.

2. Do some soothing activities

For making your body more ready for hypnosis session, try to calm it down. Do relaxing activities such as reading a book, meditation, concentrated breathing and solving word puzzles. Avoid watching any screen before going to bed.

3. Relax your mind with sleep hypnosis

Start relaxing by body by letting go of all the thoughts. This is the time to release tension out of your mind and body. When we go to sleep, thinking about the day, the activities that we did throughout the day right before sleeping is actually an important factor impacting our sleep. At this very stage, you are trying to turning off your mind. After putting off thoughts, start releasing tension in your body from toe to the head. Move your toes and feel them being active, relax and release the stress. Continue this progressive relaxation process for the rest of your body parts until you get into a whole soothing state of body.

4. Concentrate on your breathing

After that you have relaxed your mind and body, delve deeper into your breathing. The effect of sleep hypnosis is somewhat similar to meditation as you close your eyes and focus on how you breathe. Inhale long and then slowly breath out the air. As you are lying on the bed, feel how the air feels when it gets in and out from your nose. Let your breathing flow smoothly and not forcefully. Focus on the activity in your nose and chest as you inhale and exhale. Let your body connect with the comfort of the mattress that you are laying on.

5. Visualize and say mantra

After you have brought breathing to a control, try to visualize the most soothing image you can think of. This relaxing scene can of a green meadow on a clear sunny day, a patio with the most amazing view of the sea, a starry night in the middle of the desert or a beach in summer. Elaborate this scenario as much as possible and give your full attention to it for maximum peace. Think of the sound, the feel of that particular image. Think of what you are doing at that place and let your brain increase alpha and theta waves that helps in relaxation. Alternatively, you can choose to say am affirmative mantra or statement during sleep hypnosis that cools you down. A positive phrase has a long lasting effect on your subconscious. Saying the peaceful phrase every time you exhale makes your brain decrease stressful thoughts.

6. Listen a sleep hypnosis recording

If you are being comfortable visualizing a peaceful scene or making relaxing affirmations, then you can also choose to listen to pre recorded voices made for sleep hypnosis. There are many online resources and digital applications where you can find a great collection of such calmful voices that are made for this specific purpose of soothing your mind. Such recordings are helpful in improving restfulness and deep sleep, as witnessed by researches. You can even use your own recordings for different scenes and statements. You can record yourself saying your positive thoughts and phrases.

Best applications for sleep hypnosis

Digital mental health applications can be a great tool when using the sleep hypnosis method for treating insomnia. These applications have a great collection of resources for helping you achieve a deep state of relaxation. All you need is just put on your high quality headphones and listen the hypnosis session of your choice.

Hypnobox – an app offering suggestions with a variety of customization including more than 500 audio suggestions with male or female voice and using the app offline.

Relax And Sleep Well Hypnosis – offering four free hypnotherapy sessions and over 120 paid additional features.

Lose Weight Hypnosis – If you want to use sleep hypnosis for weight loss, this app can aid you in learning how to enjoy healthy food and exercise and also improving relaxation.

Digipill – A popular fitness application having a hypnosis feature called neurolinguistic programming. There are hypnosis sessions for wide sessions like stress relief, weight loss, motivation and smoking.

According to researches, a self sleep hypnosis is very helpful in relieving stress. However, if you are facing such sleep related problems for a longer time, it is advisable that you consult your doctor. Insomnia can be due to any health concern and can be a signal to any serious issue. The hypnosis is very helpful in getting a sense of peacefulness and is easy to do at home alone with the simple steps stated above. You should however note that this relaxation method may not work overnight. It’s okay to take time and eventually your body will get used to this technique and get good sleep every night.