Sleep and Disrupted Sleep Patterns
The latest Neuroscientific research confirms the view that restful sleep is the most important pillar of our health. If we don’t have an adequate amount of restful sleep, we will almost certainly compromise our health regardless of good diet and nutrition.
Unfortunately, a disrupted sleep pattern is one of the first symptoms we experience when we are suffering from anxiety or stress. The resulting mental and physical fatigue further hinders our ability to cope with the stressful or challenging situations we are experiencing. Medication may help to induce sleep in the short term but does not allow for the natural healthy sleep process which is so vital for our overall mental and physical well-being.
“My eyelids are heavy, but my thoughts are heavier.”
- Anon.
We all have sleepless nights from time to time. When we have a sleepless night, we will usually feel tired and groggy the next day. Quite often this can be resolved in practical ways such as reducing caffeine later in the day and adopting a positive regular night-time routine. However, a continuous or prolonged inability to sleep or an interrupted sleep pattern can be a sign of Anxiety and Stress.
When we are asleep, during REM, our brain will usually process and deal with any stress or anxiety we have. However, this is process takes up a lot of energy and when this anxiety is prolonged or too great our brain will be unable to cope and will wake us up. We then find it difficult to get back to sleep and lie awake quite often feeling anxious and stressed.
Many people regularly sleep for less than the recommended seven hours per night, quite often people will sleep four or five hours per night.
This amount of sleep on a regular basis will leave them officially classed as sleep deprived. Research shows that in all areas such as driving, concentration, attention, dexterity and mobility, our ability and performance are affected badly. We simply cannot perform at our best when we are sleep deprived.
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy will help to reduce your levels of Anxiety, this will relax the area of your brain that is interrupting your sleep pattern. Your REM patterns will be regulated and return to normal, allowing you to experience restful, refreshing sleep once again.