The pressures of modern living, say scientists, are affecting our sleep patterns and can lead to ‘serious health problems’.
As we ignore the importance of sleep, or have disrupted sleep caused by anxiety and other issues, scientists from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Manchester and Surrey universities warn that less sleep is leading to health problems and people and governments need to take the problem seriously.
Diseases like cancer, heart disease, type-2 diabetes, infections and obesity have all been linked to reduced sleep and scientists say the trend towards a 24-hour society mean many people are living against their body clocks with damaging consequences for health and wellbeing.
Disrupted sleep can lead to insomnia and Professor Russell Foster, at the University of Oxford, was reported by the BBC as saying people were getting between one and two hours less sleep a night than 60 years ago.
He said: “We are the supremely arrogant species; we feel we can abandon four billion years of evolution and ignore the fact that we have evolved under a light-dark cycle.
“What we do as a species, perhaps uniquely, is override the clock. And long-term acting against the clock can lead to serious health problems.”
He says this is an issue affecting the whole of society.
According to another BBC report, there are more than 80 recognised sleep problems, with insomnia – the inability to get to sleep or stay asleep once you’ve dropped off – being one of the most common. An estimated 10 million people in the UK are affected by it.
But hypnotherapy and hypnosis can help. Paul White, a member of the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) and the insomnia specialist at the Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy, says many patterns of sleep disturbance become embedded in our subconscious mind after long periods of unsatisfactory sleep. By using hypnotherapy, clients will experience fast and effective changes.
And the NCH states that insomniacs generally respond very well to hypnosis. A hypnotherapist will create a programme of personalised treatment that identifies your sleeping patterns and teaches you self-management techniques which make a big difference not just to how long you sleep but the quality of sleep you enjoy. Research shows that hypnosis combined with cognitive behavioural therapy is the most effective treatment for insomnia.
Professor David Oakley, a clinical psychologist and director of the hypnosis unit at University College London (UCL), told the BBC that the less you sleep, the more anxious you become.
“Not managing to sleep becomes something of a habit,” he says. “It raises your anxiety and evolves into a vicious circle.”
Paul White an insomnia specialist adds: “A hypnotherapist will help you return to a more normal pattern of sleep by using hypnotherapy to remove any underlying anxiety issues and helping you to get back to a normal sleep routine. Hypnotherapy is extremely effective at teaching you to relax at the appropriate times. So teaching you how to relax before sleep is a significant part of the therapy. Deep relaxation is a pre-cursor to sleep and without it sleep will elude you.
“Hypnotherapy really can help with insomnia. If used properly it is a very effective weapon against the lack of sleep that affects people’s lives significantly.”
Need help in sleeping? Find a hypnotherapist near you by using the NCH’s directory.