For many people, a fear of public speaking ranks as one of the most common dreaded fears. If you are an extrovert and love attention, then you are more likely to take these presenting matters into your stride. But for the shy introverted speaker, life can be very, very different. Hearing “don’t worry, it’ll be fine...” is meant with good intentions, but it can seem so patronizing.
Fear of public speaking can be traumatising
A fear of public speaking (glossophobia) is a form of social anxiety. You can have a fear of public speaking yet still be comfortable displaying physical skills in public or meeting new people. But if these situations also cause you to feel nervous, then your social anxiety is considered to be more acute. When you suffer severe social anxiety, public speaking can cause you to panic and can be the source of major distress. In work, during those meetings of great importance, it can cost you your job. More importantly, if you have social anxiety and general anxiety, it can be a source of depression.
Fear of public speaking: The socially anxious experience
Does this seem familiar to you?
The racing heart beat; the familiar “knot” in your stomach and the nausea are just the start of the affairs when you are told that you have to speak in public. It’s rarely something that you volunteer to do. Who wants to be publicly shamed and disgraced in front of your wider family, peer group or colleagues? The agony has started long before the presentation date, yet there is this impending doom that beats as each day draws closer. Your sleep is restless.
The socially anxious speaker hates being the focus of attention. If you could guarantee that your presentation will impress your audience then it might not seem so bad. But to be in the spotlight when you are struggling to be coherent is degrading. The harder you try to mask your symptoms the more “visible” you become! There is nowhere to hide from your fear of public speaking.
Can you avoid giving your presentation? When you look back on your life, I’m sure you would have done all you could to skive those early childhood school presentations. You tried to feign a tummy ache (which was probably anxiety) in the hope that it would convince your parents that you needed a day off school. But even moving through the educational system, a presentation would have been demanded as part of an assessment somewhere. And when they gave out the subject titles, you had to pick the “dull” subject that you knew nothing about and would send everyone to sleep. You did the best you could to make it interesting, but the “yawns” of boredom is what you learnt about the experience. The seeds of fear and humiliation have been sown!
So in work, you’ve disguised your fear. You’ve delegated the presentation to a subordinate member of staff because “it’s good for their development!” But those small business meetings demand that you to give a short introduction of yourself; you can’t pass the buck in this situation. This is enough to get you flustered and put your professional reputation on the line. And when you’re tenth around the business table, the time moves so slowly. You don’t even remember a word of what is being said by the other delegates. You are deafened by your own internal voice of worry.
Even socially, you cannot escape the personal request from a loving family member to “say a few words” during their moment of pride. At weddings or formal occasions, there’s nothing like being expected to say a few “stammered” mutterings to ruin your day for you and lose your social esteem.
Why is the fear of public speaking such a problem?
Unfortunately with performance anxiety, when you are stressed and place too much importance on using a certain part of you, it’s that part that can “lock” and become dysfunctional. So the tennis player’s shoulder tightens, the pianist’s fingers become stiff and the singer’s voice becomes strained. It’s as if that precious part of you is fired with excessive nerve impulses and is out of control at the worst possible moment.
For the socially anxious public speaker, anxiety “grips” the ability to speak. The diaphragm muscle tightens making it hard to breathe. This causes your words to become stammered, misplaced and forgotten. Your throat can become dry and constricted. Your voice can become overly quiet or sound choked. In short, it’s an effort to get your words out.
But it’s not just the voice that is overwhelmed. The mind can be affected too. It can distort your awareness of time. The things you want to end quickly, take forever. Waiting for everyone else to finish their presentation (so that you can start yours), can take an eternity. You then build up more anticipatory anxiety. But when you are giving your own presentation, your brakes have failed. It’s as if you are chasing a prize for the fastest presentation. In your confusion, you abandon your bullet points for a “speed-read” of your notes. Your eyes and head drop down into your script in desperate hope that if you can’t see them, they won’t be able to see you.
Stress can also affect memory and concentration to the level that you lose your purpose. You become forgetful, disorganised and distracted. Other phrases for the latter can include being “spaced out”, distant or self-absorbed. This can happen at any moment of the proceedings. Some get overwhelmed immediately before or during the presentation. But even after the presentation, the trauma keeps you in a daze for...days!
Another important issue for the socially anxious speaker is prejudging the audience as experts. You believe that they can see through your inferiority. You are convinced that they know more than you about your subject and you are about to be exposed as a fraud.
Fear of public speaking: you think your anxiety symptoms are visible
If the presentation involves questions and answers, this will be the key moment of public humiliation. You believe you will be asked intellectually challenging questions that you don’t even understand! Never mind being able to remember the answers, the question is so complicated, that you remain petrified as if they’ve sent you an electric shock. So you stall for a repeated question because you have developed temporary hearing loss!
Not only do you believe that the audience know more than you, but you imagine that they have X-ray vision. They can see every symptom of your anxiety: the blushing, the excessive perspiration and the hand tremors. These are somehow caught on camera with a powerful zoom lens and are being broadcasted on a screen behind you. Even the internal anxiety symptoms e.g. heart racing, nervous diarrhoea and “jelly like legs” can be seen and judged as out of control.
Your fear of public speaking is contained in a higher negative belief that anxiety is a sign of weakness. This only serves to make matters worse for you. It prevents you from gradually working through your fear because you (wrongly) equate anxiety with incompetence. It’s a non-starter and you don’t feel very well!
Compounding your fear of public speaking with anticipation
The anticipation of something can be more traumatic than the stress of the actual event. When the notice has been given of the presentation, anxiety can weigh you down, causing you to procrastinate, cling to unhelpful comforts (food, alcohol, cigarettes etc.), lose sleep and generally become forgetful and distracted. Your heightened state of anxiety draws you deeper into fearing the worst on presentation day. The stress symptoms can then peak immediately before the presentation.
Contingency plans to proactively deal with what might go wrong are left open-ended as a vulnerable fear, rather than something that you can act on and make the situation feel safe. Stress levels can be so high that the moments before and during the presentation can seem like going through the motions on auto-pilot. Unless your presentation is recorded, there is very little recall of your experience.
Even after the presentation, the distracted emotional state makes you immune to absorbing any positive feedback. Regardless of whether it has gone well, your self assessment is still biased since you based your measure of success on the feelings of anxiety. You were anxious, so you must have failed. The presentation has traumatised you yet again and is something you must avoid if given the opportunity.
You can overcome your fear of public speaking
Breaking the fear of public speaking
Does this seem like part of your routine? For the socially anxious person, this is probably déjà-vu. But it doesn’t have to remain that way. The best way to deal with your fear of public speaking is to confront it, armed with some helpful techniques. You can tackle your fear of public speaking in small progressive steps. This will help you to focus on it as a series of skills that can be learned, rather than seeing it as a cycle of events that submissively drags you through a bush full of thorns.
Hypnotherapy can be used to control your anxiety, re-frame past traumas and visualise your confidence. My expertise as a qualified teacher/trainer will also help to ensure that you are using effective techniques that get the best out of you in your preparation and on the day of your presentation.
Looking for some more self help tips? Overcome your fear of public speaking with a series of public speaking tips.
Cardiff Therapy:Useful advice when deciding on a suitable course of therapy.
Cardiff Therapy: Accepting help
Some anxiety and stress is only natural in modern day to day living. When these issues accumulate, it can begin to affect your personal health, relationships and work. There may come a point when you decide that enough is enough and want some external help to deal with your issues. You may have talked with your family and friends and discussed matters with your doctor.For many people, the first hurdle is overcoming personal feelings of failure before being ready to receive help. Naturally, you want to resolve these issues by yourself, but your own beliefs from traumatic life experiences can be self-limiting. You can hear what people are telling you but their help isn’t going deep enough to influence a change. By accepting help, you are taking the courageous step to open up to the possibilities of change. With the right help, it can release you from the chains of self-doubt, helplessness and rumination.
Cardiff Therapy: What conditions can be treated?
There are a wide range of conditions that can be treated with Cardiff therapy. You could be suffering with panic attacks or you are struggling to make a change in your life. Quite often there have been some traumatic experiences in your past and you are trying to understand yourself better. You may classify your issue as something specific and want that treated as your therapeutic goal.Medically these issues can be classified as stress, anxiety and depression and tend to fall into the following categories:
Negative thought patterns, such as “I can’t do anything”, “What’s the point?”, “nobody likes me” etc. These thought patterns limit your beliefs that you can change and block any attempt to resolve your situation.
Overwhelming emotions, such as anger, guilt, denial and blame. These emotions can trigger internal feeling of tension that include a racing heart beat and shortness of breath due to associated tension.
Dysfunctional behaviour patterns, such as insomnia, comfort eating, habits and addictions, like smoking and drinking alcohol above the recommended amount. These patterns can have further effects on your health, work and relationships when they become excessive.Cardiff Therapy: Therapy can be used to treat a number of conditions
Cardiff Therapy: Which Therapy?
Talking therapies rarely offer a quick fix to your problem, although some may focus on a short-termgoal that you wish to deal with. There are numerous therapies that can be used for a variety of conditions. Although they may have a slightly different theoretical background or approach, many styles will overlap.
Some approaches look back at your life as the origin of your problem like psychodynamic and psychoanalytical therapy.
Some therapies look at your life now with the self-limiting thoughts and feelings you are using to manage your issue. Mutually agreed goals are formed to work though the problem with your therapist. These include counselling and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT).
Some approaches focus on the present and future in view of the goal that you present. This can include solution-focused brief therapy.
Whereas some therapies have been researched to treat your condition, it doesn’t always mean that it will be successful with you and your condition. What you believe about the merits of an approach can be a good starting place for seeking a particular type of therapy.
Cardiff Therapy: Which Therapist?
Some therapists will stay within the boundaries of their treatment protocol and treat your condition according to a set programme (number of treatment sessions). However, some therapists have a very flexible approach to how they treat you and your condition. They will estimate the course of treatment but they will design the course of therapy according to the feedback you present. Using this approach, the therapy is paced to your individual needs and other commitments.
Cardiff Therapy: Ask questions about your therapy
There are some useful questions that you can ask a therapist prior to starting a course of therapy. This will help you find out if you can collaborate within a therapeutic relationship. It is advisable to find out as much as you can about your therapy before starting a course of treatment. Questions can cover the following issues:
How they will approach your issue.
Any previous experience of treating your condition.
When you are likely to benefit from the therapy.
The training and registered associations to which the therapist is a member.
The terms of confidentiality.
Cardiff Therapy: The cost of treatment and type of venue
Establish the cost of each treatment, the length of each consultation and expected length of the therapy course if it hasn’t been made clear in the advertising literature. You can then establish if the treatment is affordable. Asking a few therapists these questions can give you a guide to the local Cardiff therapy prices. Some Cardiff therapy practitioners may offer concessions and will adjust prices according to your ability to pay. Cardiff therapy can be made available through the NHS or registered charities.Cost per session is not always an indication of quality. Just because you are paying five times as much for a treatment, it doesn’t mean you are getting Cardiff therapy that is five times more effective. Admittedly, there is an unconscious expectation that something is better when you pay more for it. Being emotionally open to being helped is one of the biggest dynamics in the therapy process. The exchange between you and the therapist can facilitate this process, amongst many other issues.You may also want to ask questions about other terms and conditions in your Cardiff therapy. Some therapists will have a cancellation period which you can give notice to cancel without paying a cancellation fee. Some therapists have different payment methods.Cardiff therapy can be conducted at an established practice with a number of different healthcare professionals. It can also be conducted in the therapist’s private practice or even as a home visit. The quality of the Cardiff therapy treatment should normally be the same regardless of the venue. Your expectations however can be different depending on the venue type. For example being treated at a therapy practice can help you to think that you are benefiting from a more professional service. What is important is that you feel relaxed in the venue where your treatment takes place. The venue may affect the treatment fee because of overhead costs for the therapist.
Cardiff Therapy: Hypnotherapy Cardiff
Hypnotherapy still suffers from outdated images of swinging watches, stage shows and very high expectations from the public. Hypnotherapy is growing in its professionalism however with various hypnotherapists being registered with Hypnotherapy Associations that require a strict professional code of conduct and ethics e.g. The Hypnotherapy Association and General Hypnotherapy Register. Some conditions like IBS can now be treated through the NHS.Hypnotherapy Cardiff can offer a rapid solution to many conditions because the treatment aims to reduce your anxiety and stress levels as part of the hypnotic induction. Whilst in a relaxed state, your mind is more receptive to suggestions and visualisation techniques used by the hypnotherapist. Your therapeutic goals are discussed and the therapeutic suggestions are then incorporated into the hypnotherapy treatment. Hypnotherapy courses are usually shorter in duration than most of the other talking therapies but this can still vary from patient to patient.
For further information on treating your condition with hypnotherapy, contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
Anger is a basic and normal human emotion that you can feel on a daily basis. Anger is not problematic in its milder form of irritability; feeling angry is nature’s way of telling you that you have perceived a threat, a wrong-doing or an injustice. Uncontrolled and persistent anger however can be harmful. It can be detrimental to the individual’s health, and damage family, social and working relationships. When anger is unrestrained, it can show itself in situations where innocent people can be hurt or even killed. Examples can include road rage, domestic abuse, and individual and gang violence. With anger, property can be damaged with complete disregard.
What happens when you are angry?
Anger can show your animal instinctsAnger is a heightened state of arousal that prepares you to deal with perceived threats. When you are angry, stress hormones are released to alter the functioning of your mind. Your mind is alerted to the perceived threat in a distorted way. The rational intelligence normally used to handle situations is swallowed up by a primitive “caveman” logic to either attack or be defeated.Your body also responds to the stress hormones. Adrenaline and cortisol are released into the body, increasing your heart rate and causing your breathing to become more rapid and shallow. Non-essential functions like digestion are de-prioritised. Blood flow is diverted to voluntary muscles as if preparing you to go into battle and strike out. With higher levels of anger you are a machine poised to deal with the perceived threat with very basic “animal” instincts.Not all anger is primitive however. You can get angry and then rationally evaluate the most appropriate response. Even when anger is moderate or calculated, these same physical reactions can still take place. But there is more interpretation and analysis of how the situation is affecting you and how you externally want to deal with it.Cognitive processes help you to assess the injustice of the situation. Behavioural processes consider how you express the anger. It can include changes in your facial expressions and posture. Physical expressions involve acts of aggression towards people and property e.g. slamming doors. Your verbal expression of anger can include speaking more forcefully and quickly, with a raised tone.
Where does anger come from?
Anger is a basic human emotion. How angry you are, how you process your anger and how long anger persists after a experiencing a threat can vary between individuals. Your anger level is also influenced by a number of internal, social/cultural and situational variables.Internal factors: Most studies consider anger to be a secondary emotion and a response to pain and fear. Thus it is generally believed that anger is learned rather than something you are born with. However, there is some evidence that pregnant mothers exposed to stress can affect the developing foetus’ own stress response system and influence the child’s own temperament. This would support the view that you can be born predisposed to certain emotions like anger, as if setting up a template of emotion. What you learn after birth will then reinforce this template.Early developmental issues in the young child affect communication skills and can create a general disposition to be angry throughout your life. Being able to verbally express your anger in a calm way becomes a frustrating experience and is replaced by aggression.Social/Cultural factors: Your emotional template is mainly developed from your parents and family culture. How your family deal with anger can teach you what is an appropriate way to express your own anger. This continuous transfer of anger culture would suggest that it can remain in families through generations.Cultural factors can also affect gender differences with expressing anger within the family and in wider social groups. Stereotypically, men are encouraged to express their aggression to assert their masculinity particularly in youth culture, whereas women are discouraged from displaying their aggression to appear more feminine. Women tend to talk about their feeling of anger and stay angry for longer. Hormonal differences may explain some of these gender variations.Situational factors: The specific situation can trigger different levels of anger in different people. Take for example being stuck in a traffic jam. The level of anger you experience can depend on
The reason for the traffic jamAnger: Road rage during a traffic jam
The importance of the journey
Your relationship with the other people at your destination
Your ability to communicate to those people the reason for your delay
The disposition and needs of your passengers etc.
But there are also wider issues that affect your handling of the situation. Consider your general emotional history with anger and with previous traffic jams. Then take into account irritations that day and those bigger stressful events that are affecting you. You can appreciate the complexity of these variables that may be dealt with calmly or with rage.
What affects the intensity of your anger?
When classifying anger, a scale of 1 to 10 is commonly applied to rate the degree of anger felt or expressed. At the lower levels there is irritation and aggravation, at the upper levels hostility, aggression and rage. Revenge (as a form of anger) can be used at all levels.The intensity of your anger is dependent on the history, internal, external and situational factors:
Your history of anger and history of the event
Your general disposition and current stress levels
Background cultural factors
How much you rate the severity of the perceived threat
The relationship with the perpetrator and their apparent intentions
Your analysis of the circumstances surround the event
What can cause you to get angry?
Modern living rarely needs the primitive “fight or flight” anger response that our ancestors once used for survival. The threat of survival has evolved into the threat of losing one’s self-esteem.How you define your esteem can mean different things to different people. But modern anger is usually stimulated when there is a perceived threat to:
Your physical well-being - The aftermath of an attack can create a deep feeling of anger to get your revenge on your attacker and level the score.
Your self-image and social status - This can be defined as how you see yourself and how you believe others see you. A nasty comment that defames you can cause anger particularly when it is untrue. It can have an impact on your reputation.
Anger is also common when a threat affects your social position. A negative life change like a demotion or redundancy at work can create anger particularly when you believed that you were performing well in your job.
Your family - When your child is being bullied at school, anger can be a response to your own feeling of helplessness. Naturally, you would want to protect them from harm, but you are not able to be present in every situation.
Your social group - A criticism given to the football team you support or pop group that you like can spark a verbal or physical argument. Youth culture is known for having a strong social group identity that links with one’s self image.
Your property - Your possessions can act as extensions of your identity. The sentimental or monetary value of possessions often defines people. The modern car is an example of how some people like to present their image. Damage the car and you damage the owner’s ego.
Your boundaries - You like to know the rules that govern what you can and can’t do. When you know where you stand in life, you feel safe even if you don’t agree with the rule in principal. When a change takes place, you can feel angry. A teenager who has a curfew set by their parents can feel angry about the rule change if it does not equate with his/her offence. “It’s not fair” is a common angered response.
Your privileges - Losing something that helps you to feel special or that gives you some advantage can invoke an angered response. Cuts made in work organisations create “hot” air in the staffroom. The mistake that generates the anger may be caused by taking the privilege for granted in the first place.
The anger felt in the above situations can be stimulated prior to the event, during the event and for some time after the perceived threat has been dealt with. Some anger persists for years after an event. Long-term suppressed anger can act as a trigger for unexplained outbursts of emotion in the present. When you know that situations trigger your anger, you can avoid situations in the future as way of trying to cope.
Types of anger
Anger can take various forms. Some types are overt, but the more hidden forms of passive anger are not always recognised so easily.
Behavioural anger: This type of anger is used to describe someone who is physically expressive with their anger regardless of the trigger. It includes acts of physical violence and abuse.
Verbal anger: This type of anger is used to describe someone who is verbally expressivewith their anger regardless of the trigger. When this anger is used maliciously, this type of person can be insulting and critical of others, destroying their self esteem. Facial and postural gestures accompany verbal anger.There are different types of anger
Persistent anger: This describes people who tend to be angry with life in general. There is no apparent trigger, just a continuous exhibition of anger. The expression can be verbal or behavioural, intense or mild. You know where you stand with this person.
Explosive anger: This person would be defined as volatile. They can explode with rage for no apparent reason and then be calm. They are unpredictable and may choose innocent victims. Their anger can be verbal or behavioural.
Critical anger: This verbal anger aims to judge and others and point out their mistakes. The comments make others feel ashamed and embarrassed about themselves or their abilities. Other people’s self-esteems are destroyed in an attempt to repair their own scarred self-esteem.
Passive anger: This subversive form of anger uses sarcasm to hide suppressed anger e.g. saying “now what type of brain were you born with?” The angry person tries to disguise sarcasm by saying that the offended person is just being sensitive. Passive anger can also take the form of avoidance to get back at someone e.g. not attending an invitation to a party at the very last moment. Someone who favours passive anger likes to avoid confrontation. Or passive anger can be “expressed” by giving the silent treatment e.g. after a row with your partner. Saying nothing may be the better option than saying something that is offensive. But it is still an indication that you are angry.
Distressed anger: This anger is a reaction to overwhelming distress in this person’s life. They are not coping with some of the bigger life changes like a new job or a break up in a relationship. They are constantly tense and lash out at people when any extra demands are placed upon them. The anger is a general reflection of high stress levels.
Vindictive anger: This is probably the most common form of anger. The “injured” party seeks to get “even” after a perceived threat. It can take the form of direct “tit-for-tat” behaviour or by indirect forms of revenge where you withhold something that they may need.
Self-directed anger: This form of anger accompanies self-blame, self-harm and low self-esteem. A person who uses this anger struggles to be assertive and handle situations confidently. They see view most situations as major conflict. So the only way to turn is inwards directing the anger at oneself. Examples of punishment include eating disorders and cutting oneself.
Calculated Anger: When someone isn’t getting their way, they use anger as a way to over-power the other people in the situation. They may be defined as “control-freaks” who expect people to comply with their orders. When someone protests about their plans, it intensifies their anger.
Suspicious anger: This person feels angry because they are jealous of others and are paranoid that other people will take what “belongs” to them. This jealous anger typically surfaces in relationships. The angry person has trust issues and tries to possess their partner. When their partner is seen innocently talking to other people, they are accused of flirting and face accusations of infidelity.
Constructive anger: On a personal level, this type of anger is about being assertive. It considers the needs of all parties in the situation. Constructive anger emphasises communication and negotiation to resolve situations and reduce any future disharmony. On a group and organisational level, it aims to make positive change from situations, decisions or actions that have been mismanaged. Examples include the formation of movements, unions and associations.
Unresolved anger can create long-term health issues similar to high stress levels. It includes heart problems, hypertension, depression, anxiety, low immunity-related conditions like flu and IBS.
Treatment for anger using hypnotherapy
For many people, anger can seem like an internal eruption that is out of control. Any habitual response develops that way, particularly when you have been subjected to abusive anger as a child. Changing the way you express your anger can help protect your relationships, your career and your health. Hypnotherapy can help you deal with your anger at different levels. Hypnotherapy is more than just a way of relaxing.There are a number of steps that can help you to change your expression of anger:Understand the nature of your anger: There are very few situations where anger is just about anger. When it is related to the present situation, it is dealt with in a controlled manner. Most of the time, anger is a response to suppressed underlying issues that you are not ready to deal with or may not want to want to deal with. Your anger acts as a front to a deeper pain. Fear of rejection, worthlessness, embarrassment, shame, and jealousy are some of emotions that can fuel anger. These issues can relate back to childhood. Without understanding the background, your attempt to control it will seem as if you are swimming against the tide. When a small wave comes along, it’s enough to knock you back without the energy to control it.There are many situations that can signal that your anger is about something else. One situation is when you struggle to admit that you are wrong and will aggressively defend your viewpoint. You fail to compromise because you fear that you will be judged as inadequate. When anger is your way of life this can also indicate that there is something else that is sustaining your anger.Identify your anger warning signs and triggers: Deep-rooted negative beliefs and can act as catalysts to your anger. They can rapidly take you from being in control to out of control. When you over-generalise, you will consider one threatening situation to mean this happens to you all day, every day. The angry person exaggerates by saying “this always happens to me!”Narrowing your internal choices by using modal verbs (have to, should, must) can also cause anger. You can probably recall situations when you have said “I’ve got to complete this by today.” You have then built up anger when you haven’t met these demands.Anger can be triggered when you convince yourself about a negative event without getting all of the evidence. Typical situations include mis-reading an expression on somebody’s face and then thinking catastrophic consequences.Who is responsible of your emotions? You are responsible. And when you take ownership of your emotions, you are in a better position to control and change them. But a blame culture has mistakenly encouraged placing the responsibility for your feelings on someone else. This can easily trigger your anger when you share this view. It’s a common phrase when people say that “you made me angry, it’s your fault!” Only they can reset your emotions when you feel angry or anything else. It’s a disempowering outlook to have in life and is likely to short-fuse your anger when someone else makes a mistake.Some of these anger triggers can be physical stress responses that take you over your body. Feeling the tightness in your abdomen and chest, your heart racing and rapid breathing can transform a calm temperament into an angry one. By recognising some of these signs that your anger is building, you can take active steps to make changes before the anger escalates.You may already know certain people, places or situations that can trigger your anger. But rather than blaming them, identifying how they affect you can help you choose how you interact. You may avoid certain topics of conversation with aggressive people because it generates anger. Avoidance can be a useful short-term fix for many situations, but it can help you manage your emotions during times of general stress.Learn ways to keep calm: When you understand the nature of your anger and can identify the signs and triggers, you can then learn ways to deal with your anger before it hits the upper limits. There are certain methods that are helpful at in the heat of the moment. They include deep breathing exercises and developing the courage to walk away from the scene.Anger that persists after the event can benefit by evaluating the importance of the situation and the way it is impacting on your emotions. What else can I do about the situation? Can I communicate my anger in a more constructive way? What outcome do I really want? These questions can help you divert your mind away from unnecessary aggression.An ongoing situation that angers you requires constant anger and stress management. Breathing techniques and progressive relaxation can help reduce physical tension. Frequent exercise is another way of venting these symptoms.Develop constructive ways to express your anger: When you recognise that your anger is worthy of the situation and that there is a way to resolve it, you can then direct your anger in a more constructive and assertive way. Focusing on the immediate situation prevents you from bringing up past irrelevant issues. It also minimises blame.If the situation allows for you to reflect on it, walk away and explore all of the possibilities. Consider if there are any ways to create a win-win situation. This will help to preserve long-term relationships. The other person will be grateful that you are valuing their needs.If you are particularly angry and intend to confront this situation head on, evaluate whether it is worth the emotional intensity. Being selective with your conflicts will help others note your seriousness rather than it being “yet another tantrum!”By being selective, it can also help you to appreciate when it’s better to let something go. Courageously walking away from anger can be considered as a “win”, particularly when you have evaluated how much a situation can draw on your long-term resources.When you have walked away from the situation, it can give you (and the other party) an opportunity to assess the value of the relationship. An apology can restore broken relationships when it is genuine. Forgiveness can then be considered where an on-going workable partnership is in both the party’s interests.
Hypnotherapy: When is professional help needed to treat your anger?
Anger can affect relationshipsHypnotherapy can be an effective way to treat your anger, although it is unlikely that you willseek hypnotherapy for occasional irritability. Some of the warning signs that your anger is out of control include:· Anger is affecting your relationships. Aggressive (verbal and physical) behaviour canbe detrimental to close family relationships and friendships. Self esteems can be destroyed when you are taking out your frustration on people close to you. It can shatter the confidence and feeling of security of those who witness your anger.
· Anger is affecting your job
Competitive work situations and unnecessary change can create anger in your workplace. When you are an angry boss, it may scare your staff into completing their tasks, but it can harm relationships, affect job satisfaction cause unnecessary health issues.
· Your anger is creating constant physical tension
Suppressed anger or unresolved anger from long-term issues can cause insomnia, high blood pressure and depression. There are numerous other health issues that can develop when it left unchecked.
· Your anger is causing you to physically strike out at people.
Physical violence that stems from rage is a clear indicator that some professional help is required. It may help you from being arrested.
· You avoid too many situations because of your anger
Some tactical avoidance may help you to manage your anger in situations where there is a strong trigger. Avoiding too many situations in fear of an outburst however means that anger is still dominating your life.
How can Hypnotherapy help your anger?
Much of the anger that is expressed at a particular moment has an unconscious association. If it was conscious, you would control easily by yourself. Hypnotherapy can treat your anger in the following ways:
· Hypnotherapy can help you understand the nature of your anger
Hypnotherapy can be used to identify relevant past traumas that are surfacing when you are angry. By re-framing the emotion behind your past traumas, hypnotherapy allows you to be more focused on and in control of the current situation. You can then feel released to deal with the situation constructively and express your anger calmly. Suppressed criticism and feelings of worthlessness can be an example of a typical past trauma treated with hypnotherapy. With hypnotherapy, your mind can make the important link to what generates your anger.
· Hypnotherapy can help you identify your anger warning signs and triggers
Hypnotherapy can help you to identify your internal and external signs and triggers. Anger can seem like an “either or reaction”. One moment you are dealing with the situation and then the next moment you are boiling over with rage. When it happens unconsciously, trying to analyse it afterwards can seem a little too late. With hypnotherapy, the intense visualisation allows your mind to revisit the situations as if being there in slow motion. Depending on the hypnotherapy techniques used, the hypnotherapy consultation can ensure that you are detached enough to learn from the experience without feeling re-traumatised. Hypnotherapy can also employ symptom reversal techniques to alter the physical reactions that can generate your anger.
· Hypnotherapy can help you to stay calm
Hypnotherapy has the advantage over other therapies because the relaxation techniques are part of the hypnotherapy induction. When stress levels are high, you are generally more irritable and your potential to learn is inhibited. But more importantly, hypnotherapy can plant effective calming techniques into your anger ritual, positively disrupting the negative chain-reaction. Hypnotherapy also incorporates breathing techniques into the anger programme which is suggested by most anger management therapists.
· Hypnotherapy can help you develop constructive ways to express your anger
Hypnotherapy can help you to react more calmly and bring your anger under control. You can then learn to appreciate the demands of the situation and the people involved. Hypnotherapy can help you to walk away from the situation or help you to focus intensely on solutions for both parties. Being assertive ensures that the needs of each person are taken into account.Use hypnotherapy as your preferred choice of treatment for your anger issues. Each hypnotherapy programme is individualised for your emotional and behavioural transformation. Benefit from hypnotherapy to treat your anger.
For further information on treating anger in Cardiff using hypnotherapy, contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
These practical ‘coping with anxiety tips’ are a starting point to lift you out of your ceaseless cycle of worry and place you into somewhere brighter, ready to embrace life. They have been written using experience from my hypnotherapy practice in Cardiff. The majority of my hypnotherapy patients have anxiety-related issues. Quite often it is the main focus of their therapeutic goal.Anxiety is the apprehension about something that is you think is going to happen. It is usually based on something that has gone wrong before. That past situation is now buried in the depths of your mind, yet it feeds into your irrational prediction that the outcome is going to all go wrong again. Let’s face it; in reality, it hardly ever happens that way. But the past event lies there to protect you from danger (fight or flight response) with such force, that it disables you with inaction. Your mind is stuck in worry mode and it needs help coping with anxiety. So, what can you do? Here are my practical ‘coping with anxiety tips.’
Coping with anxiety tip #1: Learn to breathe
This is a fundamental ‘coping with anxiety tip’. It’s something that you just “do” and you have heard people say it in passing, “take a deep breath.” But breathing properly to reduce anxiety is something that few can master with effect. When someone around you is anxious, pay attention to where they are breathing from. It’s likely to be high in the chest. Then consider how quickly they are breathing. They will be ventilating with short, rapid breaths. This can prolong the feelings of anxiety and make your symptoms worse. Learning to breathe for relaxation has the effect of calming the nervous system and lowering the stress responses. Read this article on breathing techniques to reduce anxiety for more details.Once you have begun to use breathing techniques, you can learn to centre your mind. In a more relaxed state, it’s easier to access other resourceful ‘mind’ techniques that can help you when coping with anxiety. In a hypnotherapy course, this is a core technique that is incorporated into the early part of the hypnotherapy treatment. View it as life-skill beyond hypnotherapy. It is useful for coping with anxiety and many more emotional states.
Coping with anxiety tip #2: Do some physical activity
Coping with anxiety: Going for a walk is a great way to release tension
Did I say the ‘E’ word? No, that’s because exercise (oops, I said it!) doesn’t have to be a regimented activity in the gym. If it is and you enjoy it, then go ahead and do some. You may be someone who likes your exercise to be self-directed. So you go on each exercise station problem solving or exorcising (pun intended!) your worries whilst doing something repetitive. Have you noticed how some people sit at an exercise station, daydreaming until someone walks past and “wakes” them into their next set of repetitions? This happens with any activity that has a repeated movement like running or swimming. For those with muscular tension, any activity that has an increased level of effort involved like using weights or circuit training can release physical tension associated with anxiety. Combining these elements with something competitive can help your mind to be absorbed in something else. This can be by playing a racquet sport with a friend. You may even employ a personal trainer who helps to personalise the “no pain, no gain” process.If “exercise for exercise sake” just seems pointless, then physical activity can be disguised as something more sociable and fun. Try dancing, swimming, brisk walking and chatting with a friend, or try something as part of a hobby like light gardening. What is important with the physical activity is that you place extra physical demand on your cardiovascular system. This in turn will trigger more forceful breathing so that the diaphragm muscle is brought into play. This breathing response links with ‘coping with anxiety tip #1’. You are again breathing abdominally, but the exercise is initiating the relaxation response rather than it being a conscious process.In my hypnotherapy consultations, my hypnotherapy patients who exercise say that it helps them when coping with anxiety and releasing physical tension. They feel much better after having done some physical activity. Coming from a health, fitness and coaching background, I would recommend exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. It’s more than just a ‘coping with anxiety tip’.
Coping with anxiety tip #3: Have some useful distractions
This ‘coping with anxiety tip’ is useful when you are worrying about a problem that can’t be resolved right away and you can get stuck in worry ‘mode’. This situation can be made worse when there is nothing else to focus on. The aim is to centre your attention on something that can absorb your mind just enough to leave anxiety where it is. This does not mean fill every moment with activity however. Coping with anxiety directly is something quite different. This is just another way to temporarily manage your anxiety by ‘stepping out’ of it, aware that it will be dealt with at a different time. Call it strategic avoidance. It’s useful when you a dreading making a phone call to someone who is absent. You have planned the conversation but you don’t know how they will respond. So you keep worrying about this, filling every quiet moment with ‘what if’s’. The call just needs to be made, but unfortunately they are not available.When using a valid distraction, it’s crucial to consider:
The level of concentration required in an activity and
The level of importance of the activity.
Both of these issues can overlap. Consider when you come home from work and have finished with the evening’s essentials. Anxiety could easily take over the remaining evening, so how will you fill that time? Having a number of projects can offer you options. It’s for you to decide if the crossword puzzle, night class, DVD, reading book, DIY or any other pastime/hobby fills the criteria. If the activity is routine and trivial, like watching (but not really watching) television, your mind will switch out rather than switch in to the television programme. (This is not always a bad thing, but it is a different process to strategic avoidance). So anxiety and boredom can run alongside each other well. Counter boredom and it will help you when coping with anxiety.
Coping with anxiety Tips #4: Get talking
Is there any substance in the saying “a problem shared is a problem halved”? If you have a good social circle, it can be a very natural ‘coping with anxiety tip’. Talking to people can help to lift your mood and release your anxiety. You don’t have to be given an action plan of solutions that you take with you and tick off as you deal with each one. It can just be about being placed in a situation where you are talking to someone and they are there listening to you. It can be (ideally) in person, on Skype or even on the telephone, as long as you are connecting in some way with the listener.When you can have a good “natter”, you can offload and unburden your worries and then feel free of them. It’s the emotional attachment to your worries that make them more of an issue than the issues per se. Remember that worries are perceived and only exist in your mind. When the emotion has changed, the problem can be repositioned in your mind. Talking is like unloading your heavy burdens onto someone else who has space in their worry trailer.The listener doesn’t have to be a professional therapist. As long as they are patient with you and seek to understand the nature of your issue, you can benefit from the interaction. And if you feel guilty about taking up their valuable time or “borrowing” from them, you can always return the favour on another occasion. Coping with anxiety can be a two-way exchange.Hypnotherapy consultations involve a hypnotic induction. When exploring the patient’s issues, the early part of the session is a useful opportunity for you to offload and discuss the problems related to your goal. When the situation demands it, I let this cathartic function continue, being aware that it is therapeutic in your overall treatment. It helps to build report and this helps you to be more receptive to my hypnotic suggestions.
Coping with anxiety Tips #5: Get writing
Coping with anxiety: Write a letter to your own mind
Writing a letter, but not sending it, is a particularly useful way of coping with your anxiety if you have a more reserved personality. There is evidence to suggest that it is a good platform to actively process and express your feelings but in a passive way. In certain situations, processing them is all that is needed to feel better about them. Writing a (disposable) letter is typically useful for emotions likesuppressed anger, when venting it directly at the person would not be wholly appropriate. When writing a letter, no one needs to be involved in the process unless you choose them to be. So the disposable letter acts as the cathartic release of your raw emotion. You can “get it off your chest” without needing to rant at the other person and then regret it afterwards.With the emotion of anxiety however, the letter does not have to be aimed at anyone in particular. You can address it to your own mind! You recognise that your mind is generating these worries and it is getting you nowhere. So rather than being possessed by it, the letter gives you the opportunity to step outside of the worry and communicate with the anxiety. Consider that in your mind, you can go through internal discussions several times a day. Call it the process of deliberating. When there is a dominant part of you, it is that “voice” that will make the loudest noise. When you are struggling coping with anxiety, anxiety is the most dominant part of your mind. And when you can’t bargain with it, the act of writing the letter strengthens other parts of your mind, giving the writing process more power to discharge your anxiety.There’s a huge difference between dealing with something and suppressing it. By writing a letter in this style, you are acknowledging that your mind’s anxiety is doing the job that it is designed to do (if only a little too well). You are opening the lid on the anxiety box and releasing it, rather than shutting the lid on it where it usually builds up and returns with a vengeance. When suppressed, the anxiety comes to the surface when you try to relax or it plays through your dreams creating restless sleep.The way you structure the letter further facilitates the cathartic process. Avoid a letter in which you are just expanding your worries. It can drown you in anxiety and be counter-productive. Write the letter in two stages.
Acknowledge the negative state. In this case it is anxiety. State the worries and fears you have. Detail them just enough to be able to vent them. State what they are doing to you and how you are reacting to them. Detail some of the symptoms.
Reject the negative state and embrace its positive-opposite (antonym). State how you are taking a huge step over to the positive side and succeeding in a more favourable place. With anxiety the opposite could be relaxation, calmness, peacefulness, confidence, contentment or assurance. State what the positive side is doing for you, how it is empowering you to act and how you are making significant changes to your life.
What you write is down to your own imagination. Before starting, just give your mind a few moments to meditate, letting the negative energy of the emotion surface before you spill the beans and then modify the emotion.Here’s an example:“Dear Anxiety, (Stage 1) thank you for informing me about (the worry) in this very fictitious way. I am aware of your role in my mind and of the importance of this (worry). I appreciate how I have previously suffered with (the worry) and how it is feeding your presence. But waiting until I am desperate is a low tactic. (Stage 2) You see, I have had enough of (the symptoms) and being deceived by your ‘what-ifs’. They don’t materialise anyway. It’s time to let you go. I’m moving in with (confidence) and it is inspiring me to take action. I am already feeling calmer. My breathing has slowed and today I am going to (intentions). I am in control and have realised that my choices are now running the show.”This is just a short example of the letter format. Be as open and expressive as you want. Remember that it is not being sent to anyone unless you choose it to be. I suggest that the next day, shred it as a final virtuous act.I would consider the process of letter writing as a good precursor to a hypnotherapy consultation. In many ways it is a visualised rehearsal for something that you would like to take place, but it may not be appropriate at that particular time. I would value it as a practical self-hypnosis activity. In my hypnotherapy consultations, I have used this letter writing activity as a visualised therapeutic exercise when my patient struggling when coping with anxiety.
Coping with anxiety tips: Hypnotherapy summary
These practical ‘coping with anxiety tips’ are active ways in which you can release your mind from anxiety and the associated physical tension that is generated from it. When you can incorporate these activities into your lifestyle, they will reduce your awareness of anxiety. You can feel more relaxed and feel fitter. Coping with anxiety is an on-going process.As you would expect, a hypnotherapy course would have a much deeper impact on certain types of anxiety. A hypnotherapy course can help you to relax whilst being in a highly suggestible state. It can help plant techniques that have a lasting impression on your thinking. Hypnotherapy can also help you to reframe sensitising events that are influencing your anxiety.
For further information on coping with anxiety in Cardiff using hypnotherapy, contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
Overeating: Do you ever wonder why you find it had to stick to a diet? When overeating causes you to stray from your diet, then weight gain is unlikely to be just about the food types. Do you find yourself raiding the fridge or the snack cupboard after a bad day at work? If you do, then it can mean that something in your mind is much bigger than the motive you had when you first started your diet. Ignore this ‘something in your mind’ and it will gradually erode the best dietary intentions and cause you to put on weight.
This article focuses on overeating and considers how hypnotherapy can be used as an effective method to treat it.
What is overeating?
Overeating and comfort eating are terms used to describe an increase in your consumption of food. This increase is usually (but, not always) motivated by negative changes in your emotions and feelings. Emotional eating describes either an increase or a decrease in the consumption of food, affected by a change in emotion or feeling. In many ways, these terms overlap but in essence, they describe how a normal eating routine can be altered by a change in emotion or situation. It’s as if the person is temporarily possessed by a mind-state that replaces the original eating intention. After the excessive snack or meal, the person is left questioning “why did I do that?”
Why do you start overeating?
Overeating can be emotionally-linkedThe reason can be a simple one: you are eating too quickly and so you are not able to recognise afeeling of fullness. Slowing down your pace, chewing your food more and drinking water with your meal can help. When you are made aware of this issue during a hypnotherapy consultation, you are likely to make a change to your eating style.Emotional changes can be more difficult to change. Emotions and feelings are the driving force in so many of your actions or behaviour. When faced with a decision to solve a problem, you will have a surge of emotion that could direct you to act in one way or the other. You are heavily oriented to pursue what is beneficial and keep away from what is harmful.But these choices are complicated by who will benefit and when will I (or they) benefit. There could be a number of other conflicting questions (or beliefs and values) that intrude on a feeling of choice. Sometimes in despair, you seek an immediate fix or way out from that problem just to feel better.Food is something within easy reach and has a history of gratification pinned to your memories throughout childhood. You have learned that food can momentarily distance you from the problems in your world and replace it with a sweet sugariness (or a creamy chocolaty treat). It’s no wonder that overeating is so common.
Why does overeating continue?
A surge of emotion can create tension, disguising the usual internal awareness of fullness. You have already learned that food gives you momentary escape and thus a habit has been formed. So you keep overeating with the hope that it will ease the feeling of tension when a new problem surfaces. But some situations appear to have no way out. The overeating is ineffective at shifting the abdominal tension but you repeat the habit nevertheless, believing that it will still help you. You have become locked into a cycle of food being used to solve emotional problems by association. Now, your overeating is causing you to put on weight.
Who does overeating affect?
Eating excessively can affect anyone; there is an element of over-indulgence in all of us. It can be something that starts unnoticed until you jump on the scales, change a clothing size or hear a polite mention from someone you know (and then despise!) This triggers an awareness of the issue and you will attempt to be more careful. If it’s controlled then it usually fades into the background. When these situations accumulate and the attempts to change it fail, then it is classified as a problem. Hypnotherapy can be a useful solution at this stage.
Would a diet help you to deal with overeating?
Diets are less effective with emotional overeatingDiets work best when someone is motivated to eatdifferent foods within a new routine. They also work best when there is a strong desire to integrate theroutine into your lifestyle. All emotions are pointing in the direction of the new diet. With overeating in the background however, the diet will start and then will soon buckle under emotional strain. One or more emotions will expose your weaknesses until the diet collapses. Unless these emotional issues are dealt with, you will find that diets only work for a short period.Use hypnotherapy to change the emotional associations you have with food and any lifestyle eating habits. A diet will then seem like a more natural change.
Can overeating be the same as binge eating?
Overeating involves eating in excess, but doesn’t fall into the same severity as binge eating. Binge eating can be classified as an eating disorder. It involves frequent episodes of prolonged uncontrollable eating patterns that go way beyond any feelings of fullness. As a disorder, binge eating can be placed in the same category as anorexia and bulimia; there are a number of complex issues affecting these conditions. Even with hypnotherapy, binge eating is rarely dealt with in a short period of time.
What situations and emotions cause overeating?
Any negative (and some positive) emotions can cause overeating. Generally, overeating can be used to comfort an emotion or divert the arrival of a worse emotion or situation.Positive emotions can include social situations or where food is used as a reward.Here are some examples of emotional situations where overeating is common:Anger: A row with your partner about something you both strongly disagree about can trigger a pattern of overeating.Anxiety: Worrying about and preparing for an exam can be a situation where overeating is used to divert your anxiety.Apathy: A persistent situation like a court battle can leave you feeling numb. Food might be used to lift the spirits during spells of frustration.Boredom: Overeating is a common response to a life of routine and drudgery. Even when work has become this way, the emotion carries through into your social life where overeating has become the activity of interest.Blame: A culture where the outcome of a situation must have a cause can be turned inwardly when you can only point the finger of fault at yourself. A mistake that has caused a row in a relationship may influence overeating to comfort this blame.Denial: Ironically, overeating can be a behavioural response when someone is putting on weight, but they’re not quite ready to admit that there is a weight problem.Depression: A change in your job description that now has pointless objectives can create a state of meaninglessness where overeating is a temporary escape.Despair: Overeating can comfort a situation that appears to have no way out. The arrival of a long-term medical condition is an example.Disappointment: Food can be used to comfort you when something you expect to happen just didn’t go your way e.g. not getting the grade you wanted in an exam.Guilt: Overeating can be used to block feelings of guilt in a relationship after you have done something wrong and have been denied the opportunity to apologise or put the situation right.Hopelessness: An accumulation of stressful events may provoke an overeating response as way of coping with the feelings of resignation.Loneliness: Feeling isolated because your peer group have not invited you to a social arrangement can trigger an overeating reaction.Loss of self-confidence: Doubting your abilities may be reinforced when a project at work has not achieved the objective. Overeating is used to negatively reinforce this self-doubt dialogue saying “I can’t do this!”Procrastination: Food can be a tactical way of delaying dealing with stressful issues.Resentment: Being constantly excluded from your work colleagues for no apparent reason could provoke an overeating response to counter feelings of loneliness.Responsibility: A recent job promotion and taking care of a large family can leave you feeling overburdened with responsibility. Overeating can become a ritual that “gives you some space” when things are going wrong and you making risky decisions that are affecting people’s lives.Sadness: When a relationship has suddenly ended, the emptiness in your life can spark a desire to fill that space with food. Overeating can be something that is used to fill the emotional gap.Self-hatred: Maliciously lashing out at a loved one to get their attention, but finding that they suffer fatal consequences as a result can cause you to hate yourself. Overeating can be used to conceal your powerlessness to remedy the situation.Self-pity: When something has gone wrong, overeating can be a way of medicating yourself when others have seen through your attempts to seek attention.Shame: When a sensitive subject-matter has been exposed and ridiculed by your peer group, overeating can seem like an escape from your feelings of shame.Shock: The news of an unexpected bereavement can trigger overeating patterns to hide your feelings of grief.Stress: Overeating can be used as a way of coping with the pressure of having intense work deadlines.Tension: Physical tension can be generated from any negative emotion or situation. Parts of your body feel tight and you can feel generally irritable. You may not be able to identify the situation but overeating can somehow shift the uneasiness in your abdomen.Worthlessness: Overeating can be a reaction to numerous criticisms that cause you to question your own abilities. So when you do something wrong again, you reach for food to divert your feelings.
How can hypnotherapy help with overeating?
Each hypnotherapy treatment is individualised to your issues. Hypnotherapy is used to treat overeating in the following ways:
Hypnotherapy can help identify the emotions or situations that are causing the overeating.
Hypnotherapy can be used to access unconscious experiences that are provoking your overeating responses.
Hypnotherapy can help dissociate the overeating behaviour from the emotion or situation.
Hypnotherapy can help create new beliefs and attitudes towards your eating habits.
Hypnotherapy can help you to recognise your internal feelings of fullness.
Hypnotherapy can teach youbreathing techniquesthat reduce your stress levels and so be less dependent on food as your comfort.
For further information on how to control overeating, comfort eating and emotional eating in Cardiff contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
There are many articles offering ‘how to stop smoking tips’. In this article, these ‘how to stop smoking tips’ are based on my experiences using hypnotherapy as a successful smoking cessation method. Hypnotherapy uses techniques that help the patient’s mind to be more receptive to positive suggestions and visualisation. When this is combined with an awareness of central issues that drive the smoking habit, the hypnotherapy patient is ready to stop smoking. They can then go through a re-learning process of how to stay “stopped”.
These three ‘how to stop smoking tips’ are part of that early journey. Your mind and body moves from being a “smoker” to “ex-smoker”. Once you have stopped smoking, you can then ultimately embrace the belief system and lifestyle of the “non-smoker”. In this lifestyle change, you lead your life naturally without the want or need for a cigarette. This is how to stop smoking.
Recognise that the nicotine cycle is just cravings fooling your mind
In my view, the first of the ‘how to stop smoking tips’ is the most fundamental tip of them all. If you smoke on a regular basis, then you are likely to be addicted to nicotine. Being a very addictive drug, it serves a simple purpose – once addicted, it wants to keep you addicted.How to stop smoking tips: recognise how cravings are part of the nicotine cycle (click to enlarge)
When your blood-nicotine level falls, your brain registers this depletion. You begin to feel “incomplete”. Symptoms include irritability, edginess, poor concentration and physical tension. In many ways it is similar to mild anxiety. These feelings sweep through you in waves until you are able to smoke a cigarette. When you smoke your next cigarette, you are increasing your blood-nicotine levels. Your brain registers this increase and the irritability symptoms begin to subside as you feel “complete” or “relaxed” again. The blood-nicotine levels are normalised and for how long this equilibrium lasts depends on the severity of your addiction. It can be a few minutes to a few hours.
Consider the nicotine cycle as purely an addictive drug cycle that wants to keep you on the inside. All other reasons for justifying smoking are superfluous to that cycle. If you are using those excuses of “but I like it” or “it helps me to feel better...” recognise that it is just the nicotine cravings that are deceiving you. Those who say that they “like” smoking have gone way past the initial nausea stage. You have dragged yourself through this stage, using another ‘value’ to keep you firmly on the smoking path e.g. “I want to look grown up”. As the nicotine cravings and smoking habits changed you, you will have suddenly realised that you are struggling without them.In my stop smoking hypnotherapy consultations, when my patient can recognise that they are stuck in the nicotine trap, they can then throw out all of the other excuses that justify the need to keep smoking. Hypnotherapy is a useful way of communicating this to the patient’s unconscious mind. It facilitates an important dissociation stage.
How to Stop Smoking Tips #2:
Appreciate how anxiety and stress are connected with smoking
How to stop smoking tips: Anxiety is part of the smoking habitIn my stop smoking hypnotherapy consultations, the majority of my patients tell me that they smokemore cigarettes when they are anxious or stressed. Does this mean that smoking a cigarette reduces anxiety or stress? Does it relax you? Since stress and anxiety is individual, what you say is helpful, will be helpful (up to a point – and we’ll come back to this in how to stop smoking tips #3). If smoking cigarettes actually did this, I would have thought the cigarette manufacturers would have jumped onto the bandwagon by now and would have marketed this selling point. They simply don’t promote cigarettes as an anxiety or stress reliever. They don’t promote it as a relaxant.Which brings us back to ‘how to stop smoking tips #1’; it’s all about the nicotine. When blood-nicotine levels drop, the craving symptoms create irritability, loss of concentration and physical tension (amongst other personal symptoms) that are very similar to symptoms of anxiety and stress. But over the years of smoking, you will have forgotten the difference. So when you are genuinely tense about something, your brain associates the anxious feelings with depleted blood-nicotine levels. You need to smoke a cigarette to release the anxious feeling (this point relates to ‘how to stop smoking tips #3). You are in pursuit of a relaxation response and the cigarette is “artificially” giving you this to you.Over the years, the smoking habit confuses your handling of stress and the recognition of low blood-nicotine levels. Which issue it relates to no longer matters because you’ll smoke anyway. This point leaves a very strong imprint on your brain. The ex-smoker, who tells you years later that the cravings don’t go away, is still fooled by this issue. Physical dependency subsides after one week. Psychological dependency will persist and keep you in the mindset of an ex-smoker if you haven’t embraced this difference. Smoking cigarettes does not help to reduce anxiety and stress. They don’t relax you, they just keep you dependant on the nicotine drug.In my hypnotherapy consultation, dealing with the nature of your stress and creating new solutions increases your confidence to let go of your smoking habit. Many hypnotherapy patients underestimate the impact that stress can have on their smoking cessation goal.
How to Stop Smoking Tips #3:
Identify how relaxed breathing is part of your smoking habit
In my view, the reason that cigarette manufacturers have kept trapping people for so long is because smoking involves the process of deep breathing. Any habit or ritual that incorporates deep breathing techniques will succeed because it involves the very natural relaxation mechanism that you all have. It is a technique that is so under-used. You will probably have heard the advice to “take a deep breath” to release stress. Non-smokers who cope with their stress effectively will use this breathing technique. It is used in yoga, meditation and hypnotherapy.Most smokers take up their habit as a teenager. Teenage life has many anxiety issues and finding a reliable way to cope independently with this period of life is very important; you are effectively setting up a template of coping for your adulthood. The best time to learn relaxation skills would be around (or just before) teenage hood. If cigarettes are introduced during this period and before any independent skills have been learned, the smoking-breathing habit becomes the crutch. So if these skills are learned too late, you may already have become hooked on cigarettes and believe that they help you to “relax” when tense.Over the years as a smoker, you forget about this natural ability. When stressed, and in a place where you can’t smoke, you are left gasping for air. It’s as if only smoking the cigarette gives you the permission to breathe deeply and relax. It has become your stress management prop. Nicotine and smoking has deceived you over the years.So when ‘stressed’ and you smoke more cigarettes, it’s your ‘breathing’ technique that is relaxing you, helping you to feel better. It is the breathing that is reducing your anxiety and stress, not the cigarette (point made in ‘how to stop smoking tips’ #2). For the ‘ex-smoker’ to convert to the belief system of the ‘non-smoker’, these relaxation skills must be embraced. Without these relaxation skills, the ex-smoker goes through life as if something is missing. They fear a stressful event and their ability to cope independently. It’s more than just will-power that makes this conversion; the smoker must be aware of how your habit has changed your life.In my hypnotherapy consultations, learning breathing and relaxation techniques are part of the hypnotherapy treatment. They help you with the immediate cravings and cope with stress and anxiety once you have stopped smoking.
How to stop smoking tips: summary
How to stop smoking tips that will help you to kick buttThese are my three fundamental ‘how to stop smoking tips’. They connect the important issues of nicotine, stress and breathing. Understanding these connections and learning how to breathe for relaxation will help you to cope with the cravings and cope with stress. This will help you to recognise the cravings for what they are – a physical withdrawal from nicotine. Other ‘how to stop smoking tips’ will need to be considered to complete your transformation.Hypnotherapy ensures that the deep learning of these issues and the ability to replace them with coping techniques can be done whilst your mind is receptive to change. Each smoker’s psychology and behaviour is personalised. My stop smoking hypnotherapy course deals with your personal issues that can help convert you from a smoker to an ex-smoker and then into a non-smoker once again.(Stop smoking tips 2.)Professional help to stop smoking: Stop Smoking Cardiff
For further information on how to stop smoking tips in Cardiff, and stop smoking Cardiff hypnotherapy courses contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
When the pace of life is taking over, there is a helpful solution: you can use breathing techniques to relieve stress and anxiety. Once learned, they can be used in a variety of situations e.g. before an exam or interview or prior to a performance to reduce anticipatory anxiety or panic attacks. Breathing techniques can control anxiety “during” an event or can be used naturally throughout the day. Breathing techniques can also help with insomnia when the mind is racing and needs to slow down before the sleep response can take over.Hypnotherapists commonly teach breathing techniques to relieve stress and anxiety in the early stages of a hypnotherapy treatment. It often forms the first stage of the hypnotherapy induction. Progressive relaxation and visualisation are also used to create a deep state of “inner focused awareness”. This helps the client to become more receptive to hypnotic suggestions given by the hypnotherapist.During the early part of the first hypnotherapy consultation, I like to ask my patient about any prior learning of breathing techniques to help them relieve stress. By ensuring that you are using the full potential of each breath, it can facilitate a more rapid hypnotic induction. The benefits of learning breathing techniques can also help you relieve stress outside of the hypnotherapy consultation. You can then practise these breathing techniques independently or use them with the assistance of a hypnotherapy relaxation CD.
How to use breathing techniques to relieve stress
Even for those who have had some previous relaxation training outside of hypnotherapy, I am often surprised at how much emphasis is given to counting as the most important feature of breathing techniques to relieve stress. Leave out the numbers; each person’s breathing rate is different.When working with my private patients to relieve stress and during stress management workshops, I teach breathing techniques using the following stages:1. Breathe in through the nose:With the aim being to slow down breathing patterns, I prefer the inspiration of air to be drawn in through the nose. The nostrils have a smaller surface area compared to the opened mouth and so help to ensure that the duration of inspiration phase is lengthened.Breathing techniques: Hand placement to feel the abdomen move.2. Breathe out though the nose:Whilst there is some flexibility with where you breathe out, my preference is still through the nose rather than the mouth. Unless a client has some prior learning and is proficient with several of these stages, I won’t make too many changes for them. Again, the smaller surface area is the advantage and keeping the focus in one place is just easier to remember for the novice student.3. Hand placement:I demonstrate and instruct the client to place one hand on their abdomen and the other hand on their chest. I ask them to look down at their hands to provide visual and kinaesthetic (feeling) feedback at this stage.4. Abdomen before the chest:In relaxed breathing, the abdomen (lower hand) moves before the chest (upper hand). This ensures that the important diaphragm muscle (the sheet of muscle that lies horizontally between the thoracic cavity and the abdominal cavity) is active in the breathing process.5. Let the inspired breath expand the abdomen:This stage usually causes the novice (anxious breather) to push their abdomen out forcefully because it can feel unnatural to the untrained. What is paramount at this stage is that the air being inspired (by the movement of the diaphragm) is creating the abdominal inflation. A picture of the diaphragm and ribs moving during breathing can help visualise this process. I also ask my student to imagine feeling that the inspired air is expanding the abdomen. This image usually creates the desired effect.6. The chest inflates after the abdomen:With the abdomen (diaphragm) now responsive, the second stage of the inflation involves a fuller breath by expanding the ribcage (chest). The untrained anxious breather instinctively finds this easier, hence the inclusion of stage 5 which is aiming to change a bad habit.I identify any unnecessary mechanisms at this stage now, like lifting the shoulders which play no valid part in breathing. With these mechanisms in place, I then progress onto the speed of your respiration.7. Slow-motion breathing particularly with expiration:Since each person’s vital capacity (the maximum amount of air that can be inhaled or exhaled from the lungs) differs, emphasising a “one-fits-all” number system would create an unnatural count for those on the upper and lower limits. My approach is to individualise this stage by just prolonging each inspiration and expiration. This is a form of “hypoventilation” that makes each breath more efficient for relaxation. It may take a few breaths to settle this pattern but that is completely acceptable. Particularly with the inspiration of breath, the odd forced inhalation can seem like an “awakening” for some of the new muscles being used in this way.For the expiration however, I liken this stage to gently squeezing a balloon with the tiniest air-opening that lightly resists the pressure just enough to keep the air being constantly expelled. Extend the exhale for as long as possible, ensuring that the slow pace is maintained from the very start of your breath. Trust that your body has enough oxygen in each breath. With the diaphragm actively involved, the body can cope sufficiently by simply slowing these processes down.Exhaling with a slow, deep audible “sigh” is important because it enhances the release of tension and relaxes the respiratory system. Only a few, slow deep sighs are necessary and the breathing mechanisms naturally adjusts. The awareness of breathing can go into the background and become more unconscious.8. Pause rather than hold:With the breathing now in constant flow, I emphasise a pause rather than a breath-hold. Create this pause at the end of each inspiration to stretch the diaphragm. Pause after expiration to ensure that the oxygen/carbon dioxide levels are rebalanced following hyperventilation often caused by high anxiety or panic attacks.Anxiety can cause breathing muscles to tighten, so a natural pause encourages continuity between each stage rather than a segmented “stop”. Imagine these stages akin to a large, slow-moving swing that has a huge momentum as it swings effortlessly in and out, almost delaying at the end of its swing, yet it is gathering momentum ready for the next slow swing return.Eye closure helps you to focus on your breathing techniques9. Eye closure:If it hasn’t happened naturally by now, many clients are innocently entering lighter stages of hypnosis and closing their eyes by themselves. As the client or student begins to access these breathing dynamics, mentioning eye closure helps to bring in more of their imagination and the internal awareness of their relaxation responses. A suggestion to remove the hands from the abdomen and chest and lay the hands comfortably on their lap can be a suitable progression for the progressing learner because you can now feel the internal movement of the breathing organs.
Breathing techniques: continuation exercises to help relieve stress
10. Posture and general tension: A general observation of the client’s posture is natural for the hypnotherapist. For the novice who is learning to relax, freeing areas of tension can be facilitated when the mind is engaged into your internal state. Gradually work through the body from top to toe (or from toe upwards), releasing of any tense areas. Visualise each body part feeling helplessly heavy. Choose a place to practise at home where the head and body can be supported e.g. a high-backed chair, recliner or lying on the bed.11. Visualising a calm place: These are the latter stages of relaxation training in which the topic can be an article in itself! In my hypnotherapy consultation, I discuss how my patient likes to relax. I then integrate this imagery into the hypnotic induction.12. Using hypnotic suggestionsYou can use hypnotic suggestions to help you achieve your relaxation goal or any other goal that you may have. There is more information in this practise self hypnosis article.Click the following link if you want to know more about the differences between self hypnosis, meditation and mindfulness.
Practise your breathing techniques to relieve stress
Being mindful of your breathing techniques is an important part of relieving stress and anxiety. Your autonomic nervous system controls all of the unconscious bodily functions like gut functioning, heart rate, breathing and the release of hormones like adrenaline. By controlling your breathing, it gives you an opportunity to take back some conscious control over what your unconscious mind and body is doing. In effect, your breathing can be your “doorway” into slowing down some of the “fight or flight” responses that are triggered by modern living stress.
Evidence of the benefit of relaxed breathing techniques
Is there any evidence that if you practise breathing techniques to relieve stress that it actually has a physiological benefit? Yes, there is a strong connection between breathing and brain control. Evidence linked to this article suggests that the brain’s “pacemaker” can be altered by changing your breathing rhythm. Rapid breathing (common in highly anxious states) increases the activity in the brain’s circuit, whilst slow deep breathing reduces the brain’s circuit activity. Relaxed breathing can benefit some of the unconscious physiological functions controlled by the brain’s parasympathetic “calming” nervous system. These include better regulation of your blood pressure, improved emotional control, increased memory capability, immune system resiliency and energy metabolism efficiency.So perhaps there is much more behind the cliché “take a deep breath” than previously thought!
Breathing techniques to relieve stress: conclusion
This article has outlined how to use breathing techniques to relieve stress. As a practising hypnotherapist, my teaching points are built on a collection of numerous consultations with past hypnotherapy clients. I do not advocate that this is the only way to teach breathing techniques to relieve stress. Being responsive to your hypnotherapy client and observing where to focus help is part of being a successful hypnotherapist and creating therapeutic change.
For more information on practising breathing techniques to relieve stress contact Richard J D'Souza Hypnotherapy Cardiff
Over the years in practice as a registered hypnotherapist, I have witnessed a number of “new” treatments that have come and gone. Gastric Band Hypnotherapy is the latest catch phrase when you want to lose weight. “New” hypnotherapy treatments can be created as a response to a new development or invention. In this case, the medical development is Gastric band surgery, an operation that limits the amount of food you can consume by reducing the capacity of your stomach. Rather than having this intrusive (and costly) medical procedure, you can have your “mind” taken through the process, in a course of gastric band hypnotherapy and live your life as if your stomach has been reduced in size...well, in theory anyway!Does gastric band hypnotherapy offer anything more credible for weight loss than other personalised courses of hypnotherapy administered by an experienced practitioner? In my view, it does not. When you delve a little deeper into what is being offered in a gastric band hypnotherapy course, it is little more than a re-hash of common methods, disguised to look new and more effective under a catchy phrase.What are the shortcomings?
Gastric Band hypnotherapy: Where’s the evidence?
Gastric Band Hypnotherapy: Where's the evidence?Until Gastric Band hypnotherapy research is published in reputable journals e.g. European Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, its claims to be any “more effective and long lasting” than weight loss hypnotherapy is nothing more than marketing tricks. Where is the evidence? What sample was used in the research? How was the trial controlled? These are some of the questions that when posed to a hypnotherapist offering Gastric Band hypnotherapy courses, they will be honest enough to admit that it has no evidence to be any more successful than traditional hypnotherapy. So, unless something has been published since writing this article, I would view the claims with scepticism.
Gastric Band hypnotherapy: If the Gastric Band hypnotherapy treatment is that successful, there wouldn’t be a need for the surgery.
When a treatment is consistently effective, the NHS is quick to establish where money can be saved. Gastric band surgery can cost about £5000 and if there was a more efficient method that can save the NHS funds, they would promote that treatment which is cost-effective and reliable. At the time of writing, patients who are eligible for gastric band surgery must have (amongst several criteria) tried and failed with other weight loss treatments. I’m not aware that the gastric band surgery is in decline because of the success of Gastric Band hypnotherapy courses.
Gastric Band hypnotherapy: Does one story of success mean it’s good for everyone?
When you desperately want something, you are vulnerable to believe anything that might confirm your ambitions. You can over-generalise one incident and take it as a fact that it will apply to everybody, in every situation. So when you see an article with a celebrity who has lost weight with Gastric Band hypnotherapy, it’s easy to believe that “if it worked for them...it’ll work for me”. Unfortunately, one incident of success can disguise some major issues that either wasn’t reported or just didn’t come to light in that treatment. So you go into it with an inflated expectation only to be disappointed when the hidden issue blocks the success of your treatment.In my hypnotherapy practice, you would think that when a patient makes a rapid change, the “word-of-mouth” success story referrals would be great for business. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. It can be quite harmful to business. Those referred patients arrive with that same inflated expectation and want to benefit in exactly the same way that the original patient did. Every patient is different. When those patients haven’t had their miracle cure, they leave with a feeling of disappointment. Expectation is important in therapeutic change, but inflated expectation can create unrealistic demands and disappointment.
Gastric Band hypnotherapy: Regardless of what you visualise, are you just having fewer calories?
When a newspaper article headlines that hypnosis was the cause of an 8 stone weight loss, you are likely to believe that it was the Gastric Band hypnotherapy suggestions that caused the change. It’s as if a magic wand was waved and from that point forward, the patient lives the life of a gastric band surgery patient. In a Daily Mail article published on 30th August 2011, the patient followed the same extreme diet as that given to a gastric band surgery patient. They started on an all-liquid diet and then proceeded through to pureed foods and then on to solids. The article failed to mention the number of calories being consumed during this period of the programme. What is common understanding with weight loss is that if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight.
Gastric Band hypnotherapy: It’s more than just visualising that you have had the surgery in hypnosis.
Gastric Band hypnotherapy: it's more than visualising surgeryIn the same newspaper article, the Gastric Band hypnotherapy patient had ten sessions of hypnotherapy altogether. The programme was aimed at three consultations. She had seven continuation consultations that supported or motivated her to keep on the programme. There must have been a number of other issues surrounding the patient’s weight loss that aren’t mentioned in the article. So you can assess that it was not all down to gastric band suggestions alone.It’s likely that she will have paid between £700 and £900 for the total cost of her treatment. Losing eight stone over this period is certainly an achievement and the therapist in question deserves credit for having treated those other issues. Those other issues aren’t emphasised in the article.With weight loss programmes, if independent lifestyle changes haven’t been internalised over this period, a patient can easily slip back into old habits.
Gastric Band hypnotherapy: Is it necessary to visualise anything different from a traditional weight loss hypnotherapy course.
When you read weight loss hypnotherapy scripts, they commonly use suggestions that help you visualise that “your stomach feels smaller and tighter and you feel fuller and satisfied on less food”. This is a common direct suggestion building block that focuses the patient towards their goal. Helping to alter what they are eating and how they are eating it is also part of the treatment. Imagining that your stomach has shrunk in size can be a beneficial visualisation that creates the same effect – thereby feeling fuller and satisfied on less food. If the patient can imagine this, it will have the same effect as a Gastric Band hypnotherapy treatment. Going through the process of imagining gastric surgery is just not needed.
Gastric Band hypnotherapy: A good reason to be cynical about its effectiveness.
When you keep hearing that “in order to lose weight, eat fewer calories than you burn”, there must be something authoritative in that information. There are many ways that you can achieve that goal. Gastric Band hypnotherapy attempts to treat weight loss in a specified number of sessions. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it can treat your weight loss successfully in that number of sessions. The psychology and behaviour of weight loss has a number of issues that can affect whether you ultimately eat or drink fewer calories. A personalised approach (rather than an unconfirmed “one treatment fits all”) takes into account your personal weight loss issues. It has the best opportunity to guide you further into achieving your goal.
For further information on choosing personalised weight loss programmes instead of Gastric Band Hypnotherapy in Cardiff, contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
When you are thinking about how to diet and lose weight fast, many people try crash/starvation dieting or over-exercising as a way of shedding those pounds quickly. Most attempts to diet and lose weight attempts last very long however. Typically, those on diets crash within about three weeks of starting their regime. They will have started with all the best intentions.How to diet and lose weight: Make small changesAs an experienced hypnotherapist, my 'diet and lose weight' hypnotherapy courses have helped many patients turn their failed plans into successful and long-term changes. Consult your GP when setting any goals to diet and lose weight to ensure that you are in good health to cope with these changes. This is a synopsis of where those hypnotherapy patients go wrong.
How to diet and lose weight problem: changes are too drastic
When inflated plans to diet and lose weight collapse before they have really taken off, consider that severe changes can be too stressful for the mind and body to accommodate. A sudden, rapid drop in calories can leave you feeling lethargic, disrupting your day to day functioning.You can get away with infrequent snacking particularly if you want to squeeze into a dress for a special occasion for a short period. But once the occasion is over, if you haven’t planned this drastic drop in calories in advance, you are unlikely to keep this routine going for long enough without being malnourished and feeling lifeless.Planning what you will eat for that month before the special occasion could be enough to ensure that you diet and lose weight, and remain healthy during that period of routine change. Calorie count what you are eating. Aim for 500 calories less than your daily average per day to lose 1 pound per week. This is considered a healthy weight loss plan. Keep food varied in type and colour (fruit, vegetables, pulses etc) to ensure optimum health. Keep a watchful eye on those portion sizes – you’ll be surprised how quickly the calories add up.For my hypnotherapy patients who want to diet and lose weight and are seeking help late in the day, I help them to visualise a shrinking stomach combined with a feeling a fullness. I also use suggestions for a healthy diet and calorie count to maintain optimum health. I then use a follow-up hypnotherapy consultation after the “big day” to return any changes back to a sustainable level.How to diet and lose weight solution: Make small changes
How to diet and lose weight problem: Expectations are unrealistic
Goals to diet and lose weight are doomed when the expectations are set too high. Typically, when I see my hypnotherapy patient in this “mode”, they want to imitate a celebrity who has boasted some weight loss figures, but ignores (or the report has not included) other essential issues. “They lost that weight, so can I...right NOW” is their desperate model of approach. Their urgency is so great that they will jump on the weighing scales after every meal and remove an extra item of clothing if there hasn’t been a positive change since the last weigh-in. Does this sound familiar?How to diet and lose weight: Make realistic goalsIn many ways, being unrealistic accompanies the earlier point: the changes are too drastic. When your goals to diet and lose weight are this reckless, you will fail because the numbers on the scales direct your mood – weight has gone down and you feel on top of the world; weight has gone up and it’s time to throw the towel in. Unfortunately, no framework or method is considered in this model because the goal is the “method”. The scheme is too ambitious from the outset.
In my 'diet and lose weight' hypnotherapy courses, patience and long-term lifestyle changes are built into the programme so that realistic changes can feel lived (habituated). Your mind is taken through the process repeatedly in the hypnotherapy consultation so that it feels as if your goals to diet and lose weight have already been achieved, rather than something you are trying to set up from scratch. Using this approach, realistic eating plans feel natural and achievable.
How to diet and lose weight solution: Make realistic goals
How to diet and lose weight problem: Goals are too strict
A regime to diet and lose weight that is too strict, is likely to fail because the individual can feel deprived. Deprivation is a strong emotion that causes the patient to lose control of their eating patterns. When you ignore the importance of this issue, it can re-surface as bingeing.How to diet and lose weight: Make your goals flexibleIf this issue is at the centre of your over-eating and weight gain, hypnotherapy can help you in many ways. When I identify that there is a background of “control issues”, I use suggestions that reset the 'diet and lose weight' belief system. This helps you to be “easier on yourself”, allowing for the odd treat as part of the plan. Hypnotherapy will then be used to break this association that food is your reward or your escape. This helps release you from the deprivation and binge cycle. Where you are vulnerable to a particular negative emotion e.g. worthlessness, the treatment plan is focused on building your self esteem, confronting and treating the “cause” and “effects” of your negative rituals from many different levels.How to diet and lose weight solution: Make your goals flexible
How to diet and lose weight problem: Goals involve skipping meals
It can be tempting to skip meals as a conscious plan to diet and lose weight. When you have a hectic life, you may even justify it by saying that that there wasn’t time to eat. But the effect of skipping meals puts the body into “starvation” mode. In this state, the body slows down the key metabolic and digestive processes to conserve energy. The next time you eat, the starvation mode causes you to burn fewer calories and thus hinders weight loss.Skipping meals can cause immediate health risks because there is a lack of available carbohydrates. Symptoms of dizziness can occur because the body is trying to maintain blood-glucose levels. You may even feel faint if you participate in any intensive physical activity. When you do eat, there is a surge of insulin to cope with meal that is usually calorie-laden. With pro-longed meal skipping, these persistent patterns could develop into diabetes.Another key feature of skipping meals is that intense feelings of hunger can take over at a later stage in the day, resulting in a food binge that still doesn’t give any feeling of satisfaction. When you have eaten, you still crave more food. Potentially, you are condensing the calories from two or more meals into one and still feel like you could eat some more food. So your total intake of calories may be the same, but just eaten later in the day and in one sitting.Keep eating regularly to maintain your metabolic rate and optimum health via nutrition from your food. When your eating patterns are rehearsed in this way, you will find that the meals are effortlessly eaten on a regular basis.When making a change in your life, your priorities also need to be re-evaluated. In my 'diet and lose weight' hypnotherapy consultation, suggestions are used for optimum health to ensure that you make time to eat and eat regularly.How to diet and lose weight solution: Eat regularly
How to diet and lose weight problem: Goals ignore wider issues
Other wider issues can be called lifestyle issues. One lifestyle issue is the subject of exercise. Before participating in any form of physical activity or exercise, check with your GP that you have no medical conditions that could contra-indicate the exercise. Most people can participate in some form of moderate, low impact activity e.g. brisk walking.How to diet and lose weight: Eat fewer calories than you burnWhen considering the equation: eating fewer calories + burning more calories = weight loss, what calories you put into your body is certainly the bigger part of the equation and for many, the easiest part to control. The 500 fewer calories from your diet is roughly equivalent to 90 minutes of walking throughout your day. This may seem like a mountain, but is easily achieved with short walks, domestic work, gardening etc. So keep moving as a way of helping the second part of the equation, but be realistic about the part exercise plays in weight loss alone. There is only so much exercise you can do before other parts of your life become neglected.There are so many other health benefits from exercising e.g. reduction in affects of stress, boosting levels of serotonin to lift depression and lowering the potential for developing Type 2 diabetes etc. When you are exercising, you can find that you deal with life in a more positive way. Exercise can have indirect emotional benefits to your diet and lose weight strategies such as helping you to feel more determined. It can help to build mental stamina.Sleep is another lifestyle issue important for total health and well-being. When you are suffering with insomnia and regularly have less than six hours sleep, the production of certain hormones can be disrupted, changing your appetite awareness. When you lack sleep, leptin levels are suppressed which means you don’t feel as satisfied after you eat a meal. Ghrelin levels are also increased which means your appetite is stimulated, increasing your drive to eat more food.In my 'diet and lose weight' hypnotherapy consultations, wider lifestyle issues are discussed to ensure that you are aware of what “unknowns” could be affecting your ability to diet and lose weight. Any additional issues are treated so that you remain focused on the most essential features to diet and lose weight.How to diet and lose weight solution: Make healthy lifetyle changes
How to diet and lose weight with hypnotherapy
“Knowing” what is required to diet and lose weight is very different from being “emotionally focused” on achieving those goals. Stress and emotional issues connected with food and eating patterns can lead someone down a very different path from their intentions. If these issues aren’t dealt with in a way that helps you to release these emotional connections, they will cause you to give in early.In my 'diet and lose weight' hypnotherapy courses, your treatment is personalised so that your motivation and emotional obstacles are taken into account. When it feels like eating food is a reaction to some underlying issue, a more thorough treatment plan like hypnotherapy is needed to help you diet and lose weight. There are so many benefits from hypnotherapy, it can be used to initiate your diet and lose weight plans and support you through a special occasion such as a wedding. More information on weight loss tips 1 and weight loss tips 2.
For further information on how to diet and lose weight in Cardiff, contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
Insomnia: Using Hypnotherapy to treat insomnia & sleep problems
How important is a good night's sleep? Sleep is crucial for your health, your vitality and the maintenance of essential physiological and psychological processes. Various studies have demonstrated the part sleep plays in affecting cardio-vascular functioning, immunity, concentration and retention etc. Modern day living tends to run at a hectic pace and the quality of sleep is suffering.Contact Clinical Hypnotherapy Cardiff to treat insomnia & sleep problemsIf you suffer with insomnia, you have lost your natural sleeping routine. You enter a negative cycle of anxiety just thinking about going to sleep. You generate physical tension in bed, tossing and turning, stressing about how you will manage the next day. Your approach to sleeping has become a desperate situation. And when expectation is taking you to your insomnia, hypnotherapy can be an efficient way of teaching you how to transform your sleeping patterns. Hypnotherapy can introduce helpful relaxation techniques to stop your negative sleep ritual.
Relaxation has important links with good sleep patterns. It is the "pathway" into deeper sleep. Relaxation is also an essential time for when your mind resolves problems. When life is tempered with relaxation, it can release your mind from dealing with problems at night, allowing you to focus on sleep. It can ease your insomnia.
Relaxation can take many forms. Have you ever observed that when you are doing "simplistic" tasks, some of your worries "surge up" into your awareness as if wanting to be processed? Driving on a frequent journey is a good example. Your mind can slip into day-dreaming mode, problem-solving your working day ahead whilst driving. When you arrive you have almost forgotten the journey that you have just made. Because you are familiar with the journey, your mind doesn't have to give it your full concentration.
This process can also occur when you are sat "watching" television (but not really bothering to take in any information). You are aware that you have switched-off, dealing with a more important issue. Your "problem-solving" mind is letting you know that something essential needs to be dealt with. Without having the time to resolve these issues earlier in the day, these worries and anxieties will accumulate, waiting to be resolved the next time you begin to relax. Without relaxation earlier in your day, that next situation will be at an inconvenient moment - when you are trying to get to sleep! So rather than ignoring this "problem-solving" request and causing it to build-up, use opportunities earlier in the day to manage your issues and then off-load them. Avoid "saving" it for bedtime to treat your insomnia!
Sometimes when you are extremely tired, you can override the effort of "getting" to sleep. Your exhaustion helps you drift off the moment your head hits the pillow. But the worries that are still lingering in your mind, worm their way into your dreams and develop a restless sleep pattern. Your unconscious mind is attempting to resolve these issues through your dreams but with the "dream director" completely limitless.
These intense dreams can be specifically related to your anxiety, as if regenerating the whole situation. The dream can also be 'indirectly' related to the issue, but has the common association of tension (heart racing, breathlessness, feeling of edginess etc.) Classic dreams of this type are the ones where you are being hunted. Unfortunately, the consequence of building up tension is that it wakes you up. Sometimes you can wake feeling panicky!
Having woken up, you are now lying there in the early hours with the after-effects of the dreamed problem. The remaining physical tension is lingering in your body. The stress you have generated means that you don't have the natural tiredness responses as you did when you first went to sleep. The issues are tossed around until the alarm goes off. It is hardly surprising that you feel shattered by the morning and for the remains of the day. So it's vital to use fatigue as a useful signal and cancel its effect with relaxation. This will prevent the negative sleep pattern from taking over you. Try soaking in a bath before bedtime as a gentle wind-down. Use self-hypnosis breathing techniques to calm your mind and treat your insomnia.
Some adverse sleep patterns can be quite ingrained. If you have a long history of insomnia, you would benefit from a course of regression hypnotherapy to help change the significance of your past traumas. This would benefit you because so much of your current behaviour is based on past association. Traumas that you experienced in your childhood can have a lasting impression on your present life. It can be transferred into your adult life and still affect your adult sleeping rituals. Past traumas such as hearing your parents arguing at night, can become integrated into night time feelings of anxiety.
These contravening (unconscious) emotions can resurface when (as the adult) you have a row with your partner and have an over-powering feeling of tension. Your sleep is disturbed and you feel agitated. You are more likely to retaliate at your partner and once again, you have (indirectly) entered your cycle of insomnia. In this deep-rooted situation, the negative reactions have re-emerged even though the argument is insignificant. Regardless of knowing your history, much of the emotion is still repressed. Hypnotherapy can help dispense with the emotion held in these past traumas. Hypnotherapy can also impart new relaxation breathing techniques so that you can renew your positive sleeping pattern.
Hypnotherapy can be a very beneficial treatment for your insomnia. It can refresh your sleep ritual and alter the conflicting negative cycle that your mind has now adopted. Hypnotherapy can teach you how to relax and change your belief system associated with recurrent insomnia. In a course a treatment, hypnotherapy will also help you to revise the meaning of your anxieties, both distant past and present. As a benefit, it changes your beliefs and what you expect from your sleep ritual. From the hypnotherapy perspective, it is so essential to believe that you can access a good night's sleep! Use hypnotherapy as a dependable solution for your insomnia.
Insomnia: Relax in your day to help treat your insomnia
Clinical Hypnotherapy Cardiff can help you use relaxation to treat your insomniaAs a practising hypnotherapist, I find that insomnia has a common link with anxiety. Hypnotherapy patients who pursue help for other conditions are usually troubled by some minor sleep-related issue. It's fair to assert that when you are sleeping well, you are also managing your anxiety.
Hypnotherapy offers several suggestions to cope with your insomnia. If your current sleeping habit is disrupted, it's worth putting some of those changes into practise. When I am treating my insomnia patient with hypnotherapy, here is one significant change that I like to discuss with them. It also accompanies many other anxiety-related issues treated with hypnotherapy. It focuses on a holistic part of lifestyle management and ill-health prevention: the need to have relaxation in your day.
When life is comfortable, it's easy to take it for granted. Feeling irritated when modern-day technological gadgets go wrong are examples of how you can mistakenly expect things to be there for you just when you want it. A worthy night's sleep is another one of those taken-for-granted expectations. When you were a young child, "just shutting your eyes" would have been the method to get to sleep. If it just happened that way, you can praise your parents for having established a good sleeping habit that benefitted both you and them. Consider that parents are teachers of subtle hypnotherapy. Now as adults, when insomnia is disrupting your night routine, it is essential to actively make some changes. Use some new strategies that can change your insomnia into an effortless sleeping routine once again.
When I consult with my new hypnotherapy patient, I ask a few questions about their relaxation patterns. Relaxation is the platform into your comfortable night's sleep. Your sleep needs relaxation to ease into unconsciousness. Relaxation is also an important time for your mind to solve problems. By giving your mind the opportunity to process these worries earlier in the day, it allows your mind to be free to drift into sleep at night without distraction. An action-packed day filled with unfinished issues accumulates this build-up of anxiety in your mind. These worries rise up into your awareness the next time you "have" to relax. Without earlier relaxation, that moment will be when you are trying to sleep.
You've probably observed this phenomenon when you have day-dreamed whilst doing something menial or something that doesn't require too much concentration (a subtle form of self-hypnosis). An example is when you do some routine administration like photocopying. Your mind detaches from the process because once it is up and running, the photocopying takes care of itself. Your mind then reviews its own priorities. There is a moment of internal focus to establish the most significant issue. This is prioritised according to your personal value system; what you want or what has the biggest (emotional) consequence if left undone.
If you have restful sleep, then you have probably developed a (now unconscious) process to release your anxieties through your dreams. It's as if your "dream director" is activated to resolve these issues for you. You make "therapeutic dream movies" that ease your negative emotions. You wake up feeling refreshed and your problems have been dealt with (in your mind at least). This is something that can also be achieved using hypnotherapy.
When your lifestyle is hectic, you are dependent on the "exhaustion response" to trip your "sleep switch" the moment your head hits the pillow. In the short-term, this is unavoidable. In the long-term, unresolved stress can create your nights of restlessness that cause you to keep waking up. Or you "jump up" in the early hours following an intense dream, unable to fall back to sleep. This is a regular occurrence for insomniacs. But either way, you are not in control of your night's sleep. Stress and anxiety is ruling your sleep and waking responses. When morning arrives, the outcome is still the same; you feel shattered.
Use relaxation in your day as a way of releasing that accumulation of anxiety and physical tension. Relaxation can ease the burden off your sleep ritual, helping you to focus on your "getting" to sleep. Relaxation can be an effective way of preventing insomnia. Sleep will feel more refreshing, helping you to cope with your day's agenda. Get involved in some new hobbies or easy-going activities as part of a new routine. Relax in the bath before bedtime or listen to some calming music. Chat to a few friends who are good listeners earlier in the day, to help process some of your anxiety. You can return the good deed at a later point. Any daytime physical activity e.g. brisk walking is a fantastic way of easing your build of physical tension. Using self-hypnosis breathing techniques would be an even more efficient method of helping your anxiety. This is something that would be integrated into a course of hypnotherapy for insomnia.
Insomnia: Resolve your anxieties with visualisation
In my hypnotherapy practice, I meet many patients suffering with insomnia or some mild sleep-related issue. When they enter a course of hypnotherapy, an insomnia patient will have attempted a number different sleep tips. Some of those sleep methods have a scientific basis; others are desperate attempts to alter the feeling of hopelessness. Insomnia has a solid association with anxiety and depression. The relationship is often two-way; those who suffer with anxiety and depression also suffer with insomnia or some sleep-related problem.
Hypnotherapy offers a number of techniques to treat insomnia. Hypnotherapy does more than just introduce a form of relaxation. If you suffer with insomnia and you want a better night's sleep, then your mind can benefit by using visualisation to release those anxieties earlier in the day. This is one part of treating insomnia with hypnotherapy.Visualisation with Clinical Hypnotherapy Cardiff can release your anxieties and treat insomniaRelaxation is like clearing an opening for you mind; it is now free to create a schedule of activity. But worries can act as an obstacle to that process, burdening you when you want to focus on something specific. Anxieties immediately fill that void in your mind, unless you have something intense enough to think about. You are probably aware of this mind phenomenon. Consider when you are doing something routine like travelling on public transport. Important issues float up into your mind wanting to be dealt with. Even when you keep active to avoid dealing with those worries, they can worm their way in to your awareness somehow. Instead of busying yourself as a way of managing this natural process, it is far more effective to deal with your worries and then put them on your mind's "shelf". It doesn't mean that these issues are complete; your mind can just feel more comfortable about them.
Resolving your anxieties is about approaching the worries from another angle e.g. try imagining yourself stepping out of your stressful situation and viewing it at a cinema screen. With this detachment (or dissociation, a common technique used in hypnotherapy), visualise yourself handling it in a more relaxed and confident way. Or if your want to be in charge of the scene, imagine you are the director changing the scene to your advantage.
"Role-modelling" can be another way of dealing with the situation from a different perspective. Do you know somebody who acts as a good example for their effective approach to problem-solving? Consider how they would react to your situation if they were placed in that same scene. After they have dealt with it, rewind the scene. Then imagine "teleporting" into their body, behaving as they would and copying their approach. Whilst "inside" them, transfer these positive resources back into you, so that you now own the resources. Replay your situation in your mind, "being" the confident person.Visualise a time-travelling line with Clinical Hypnotherapy Cardiff to treat your insomniaIf some worries have been lying dormant in your mind for what seems like an eternity, then maybe the answer is to internalise emotional change. Some events can't be 'physically' resolved, so amending your response to them can be your mind's release. A long-term medical condition for example requires an emotional adjustment to the physical effect it will have on your life. In this situation, easing the problem is about embracing the desired emotion e.g. being more at peace with it. Practise visualising what this positive change would alter in your life. It can be useful hearing other (courageous) stories from those who are also in a similar situation.
Another hypnotherapy visualisation technique is to place an image of yourself on a historical "time-travelling line". You are standing here in the "present". To your right is your future existence and to your left is your past existence. Imagine that future situation when you have achieved this change (or when the problem has been solved). Consider the experiential world all around you: what you would see, hear, and feel etc. Contemplate what you would now believe and what you would talk about in this future situation. Aim to be realistic with this new change! An on-going medical condition won't disappear by the morning! Your solution might be that you're coping with your "new" situation more confidently. In other instances the chosen state could be calmness, worthiness or forgiveness. Now visualise taking a gigantic leap into that wanted state and embrace this change. Role-play some situations (in your mind) to establish how you are managing in this new existence. Then look back on your time-travelling line and evaluate the steps you took that encouraged your progress. Keep imagining it and "hold" the experience in your mind. Now slide the "future reality" into the present and embrace it as if it is yours!
Aim to practise these "day-dreams" in your daytime; so that if the anxiety presents itself when you want to go to sleep, you can discharge it with your new "solution". These visualisations can reduce the build-up of your anxieties even if your predicament still exists in reality. How you manage a situation affects how you cope with it.
Resolving your anxieties in your daytime is an important part of treating your sleep-related issue. Sometimes the problem is ingrained and a course of hypnotherapy is required to help you deal it. With stress and anxiety, the problem and the solution both exist in your mind. When you anxieties can be dealt with in this way, your mind can be distanced from the heart of the problem. You can then focus your efforts on your developing an effective sleep ritual.
Insomnia: Treat your Insomnia by taking "sleep" to bed with you
In my hypnotherapy practice, I treat many patients who suffer with insomnia. By the time the insomnia sufferer enters their course of hypnotherapy, they have cornered themselves into a cycle of anxiety and hopelessness. The insomnia patient is desperate to break their deficient night ritual, but what really needs to be broken is their "desperation".Insomnia: Clinical Hypnotherapy Cardiff can help you take "sleep" to bedA hypnotherapy treatment can be an effective way of investigating deeper aspects of dysfunctional behaviour. Hidden below the surface of your behaviour is your belief system. If you suffer with insomnia, your sleep patterns can be improved by exploring what antagonistic beliefs are keeping you awake. In my hypnotherapy consultation, I like to enquire about this issue by asking: "In your mind, what are you taking to bed with you?" The reply is usually absent. But for that brief moment, when you are considering your answer, you are scratching below the surface of your own psychological barrier to insomnia. Before you begin a course of hypnotherapy, you can help yourself by asking that same question. Give your mind some time to respond.
Your worries and physical tension need to be discharged before you can be ready to drift off to sleep. What you "think" about will generate a physical effect in your body. For each negative emotion, you set up a physical template of tension. "Think" anxiety and you'll "create" anxiety that will keep you awake. Think relaxed thoughts and you'll create a calm physical state that makes it easier to sleep.
If there is no medical condition that is setting up your insomnia, then using hypnotherapy to analyse your strategy for sleep would be a beneficial step. This article focuses on one important stage of treating insomnia with hypnotherapy; take your "relaxed mind" to bed with you rather than your "anxious-mind" and you will sleep more comfortably.
When you're working extended hours with close deadlines, you can get into a ritual of taking the laptop into bed and switching it off just before you go to sleep. You can probably manage to get away with this as a temporary measure. But over a pro-longed period, you will teach your mind that exhaustion is the only "response" to get to sleep. You will then find that unfinished anxieties will cause you to wake through the night and you won't have those tiredness responses there to guide you back to sleep.
So the objective here is to organise and preserve competent routines. But routines can be learned and "un-learned" with your changing values or changing situations. Moreover, routines don't always change straight away. Sometimes it's like turning the steering wheel on a huge vehicle. You want to make a quarter turn (i.e. sleep) right now, but there's a pause before you can be naturally aligned in your new direction. It takes time to change old habits. Hypnotherapy can help you change your habit that releases your insomnia. Hypnotherapy can also accelerate the learning of your new habit to get to sleep.
Another issue with working late is that anything requiring a lot of concentration is usually stimulating for the mind. As the mind is aroused, it will release chemicals into the body, placing you on alert. So working late on a project will damage your sleep ritual. At least half an hour is required for your body to process those chemicals and calm down from that intense concentration. This means being industrious with your time so that you can arrange the next day's work schedule much earlier, the evening before. Establish that you are not going to bed to solve problems – you are going to bed to sleep!
One (debatable) ineffective insomnia strategy is keeping essentials next to your bed. In my opinion, they merely encourage your mind to be placed on standby. Essentials can include your mobile phone and a notepad to capture those bright ideas. If you want to break your insomnia cycle, move them away from your bed! It's not too difficult to consider how the notepad will have found its way there. In the absence of earlier relaxation, your mind will have unexpectedly found the answer to an important question during the middle of the night. You turned over and thought "I really mustn't forget that!" In the morning you were left pondering "what was that solution?" Your frustration would have then motivated you to put the notepad next to your bed, just in case you have another "light bulb" moment. However, believe that when you have enough relaxation in your day, those "light bulb" moments will pop into your awareness several times during the day too. You are more likely to act on them, so they don't stand out in your mind as much. Follow this and you won't need the bedside essentials, or the reaction to be on the alert at night.
In you effort to diminish your insomnia, recognise that it takes a huge step to make your sleep and your well-being a priority. In the long-term, keeping healthy will mean fewer days absence from work anyway. Your overall insomnia strategy can involve use calming activities like reading to wind down. Relaxing in the bath is a good opportunity to practise self-hypnosis breathing techniques. Hypnotherapy suggestions from this article would be created to help your pathway into deep, more comfortable sleep. By recognising your psychological approach, you can learn how to take "sleep" to bed with you.
Insomnia: Learn self-hypnosis to help you sleep
In my hypnotherapy practice, I regularly meet patients suffering with sleep-related problems. It's reasonable to consider that their insomnia is linked to their anxiety and physical tension. At the beginning of the hypnotherapy course, their sleep ritual is drowned by frustration. The insomnia patient is being dictated by a night of misery that obstructs their mind. As a result, they create even more tension that further submerges any efforts to get to sleep. There are numerous ways to treat this insomnia. During my hypnotherapy consultation, I teach my insomnia sufferer self-hypnosis and breathing techniques to take them out of their negative cycle and focus them in the direction of a new sleep ritual.
When a goal is constructed in a positive way, your mind is efficient at directing you towards the achievement of that goal e.g. "I want to create a deep state of calmness that will help me to sleep peacefully tonight". However, the mind fails miserably to focus away from negatively constructed goals. Try "not" to imagine a blue sheep and your mind struggles with this concept. You think of the blue sheep and then your mind focuses on something else. As the insomnia patient who is stuck in your negative cycle, you are driving yourself to your unconscious negative goal. Your typical approach will be "I am cringing just thinking about going to bed for yet another night of restlessness!" So your mind creates an image of you lying in bed, wide awake and is very likely to achieve that negative unwanted state.
How a goal is phrased also plays a part in its outcome. For the insomnia patient (and most general anxiety patients), you are making matters worse by using "anxious" language patterns e.g. must, should, have to, got to etc. Telling yourself that you've just "got to get to sleep tonight" is another way of taking tension to bed with you. Understandably, when a goal is phrased using this pattern of language, it reflects the desperation of the sufferer. Despair (and any negative emotion) however, generates the common stress responses and physical tension that harms your attempts to sleep. Your mind is very sensitive to what you are instructing it to do. So the insomnia patient is setting up another frustrating night of sleeplessness without realising they are "fuelling the fire". Want, can, will, going to etc. are confident ways of structuring your language. This will help align your mind towards your desired state.
Having recognised these adverse internal language patterns, you can then consider what methods will have the positive effect of helping you with your sleep ritual. Simply lying in your bed, waiting for your luck to turn, won't help you control your sleep. Self-hypnosis is a technique that is comparable to other disciplines that use focused thinking e.g. meditation, yoga etc. Essentially, self-hypnosis or self-guided hypnotherapy uses three stages:
During a hypnotherapy induction, the patient's mind is guided through a variety of visualisations that focus the patient towards their therapeutic goal. For the insomnia patient, your goal is to achieve restful sleep. The suggestions used in your consultation can be used outside the consultation to reinforce the learning process. When learning self-hypnosis, it is valuable to begin practising it in the daytime, away from the situation that draws you into your negative state. Rehearse your chosen state frequently in your mind e.g. "I want achieve a comfortable night of deep sleep". Find a supported sitting position using a high backed chair to support the head. As you advance with each practise, begin using your self-hypnosis in your night routine to help focus you into sleep.
Firstly, when establishing your breathing techniques, focus on breathing in and out through your nose. Then focus on the expansion of the abdomen with each inhalation. By engaging the abdomen, it encourages the movement of the diaphragm muscle. This horizontal muscle that lies between your chest and abdomen connects your mind with relaxation. When you feel anxious, the diaphragm is tense. You have probably experienced the feeling of "butterflies".
Let the abdomen inflate as if the air is filling it, rather than forcing it to expand. Then continue inhaling to inflate the chest. The whole thoracic area will feel full. Pause at the end of your inhalation and then gently exhale, allowing the stomach and chest to deflate. When exhaling, draw out each breath as if the air is being "held back". Release the air from your nose in slow motion giving off a deep sigh. Then pause again (rather than breath hold) before the next deep breath in. Maintain this pattern as you feel calmer. Your breathing rate will gradually balance out in depth as you progress. Every now and then, take another slow deep breath.
Secondly, synchronise the relaxation of your muscles with each exhalation. Create a feeling of "heaviness" in each body part. Start with principal tension areas like the neck and shoulders, and then continue with other tension areas like the back. Imagine your body feels like concrete. Then methodically work though the rest of the body from head to toe.Use Self-hypnosis with Clinical Hypnotherapy Cardiff to treat your insomnia and sleep problemsThese important stages can help you formulate your self-hypnosis or self-guided hypnotherapy, where you are in control of your relaxed state of mind. Relaxation is the bridge into deeper sleep and self hypnosis widens your access. In a hypnotherapy course, these stages would be discussed in detail. These stages would also be reinforced during the hypnotherapy treatment, so your mind is more receptive to the visualisation and suggestions used. As you self-hypnotise, your sleep routine will become a more natural and effective way to sleep.
Insomnia: Getting to sleep
Insomnia: Use Clinical Hypnotherapy Cardiff when you have problems "getting" to sleepWhen a medical condition is affecting your life, some of the symptoms can creep up on you. You are innocently dragged along by your predicament. Before starting a course of hypnotherapy, it is important to identify whether your insomnia has a medical cause:
Medical conditions – Cardiovascular conditions can make it challenging to get comfortable and control your breathing when in a lying position. Similarly, joint (arthritic) conditions can be painful when lying down.
Medication – Some prescribed drugs can have a stimulating effect on the mind.
Eating or drinking late – Problems with heartburn and reflux can be a symptom of eating late meals within an hour of going to bed. Drinking caffeine e.g. coffee or certain fizzy drinks at night can keep you awake.
Late and extended napping – Dozing in the evening can upset your internal body clock. It can alter your natural tiredness responses that your mind would use to help you to go to sleep.
Exercising late at night – When you exercise late in the evening, you produce Cortisol. This also has a stimulating effect on the mind and body.
Working/studying late or doing shift work – Anything that requires intense concentration just before going to bed can put the mind on the alert. Working shift patterns e.g. days and nights can upset your body's natural internal clock.
Anxiety and stress – Stress also produces the chemical Cortisol. Taking your anxieties to bed generates physical tension for your body. This makes it more difficult for your mind to use natural relaxation responses when you go to sleep.
Frequent changes to your bedroom – Retaining an amount of familiarity helps your mind to feel secure. Repeated changes to your bedroom can agitate your mind at night. Noise from neighbours or a partner that snores in bed can distract your own sleeping habits.
When you can establish what's creating your insomnia, you can then evaluate your motive to change it. It can seem self-explanatory that if you are working just before going to bed, then by closing the work schedule earlier, it will help your sleep. But you would deal with this straight away if that was the case. If you battle to change this, then you are being ruled by another intrinsic belief.
A cause and effect situation has become apparent. In your effort to deal with one part of your life (work for example), you have to submit to another part (sleep). You don't want to ruin your opportunity for promotion, so you want a short-term solution that can buffer the anxiety from one part of your life to another. Hypnotherapy can provide you with an efficient technique that helps you release your work issues and get to sleep more easily.
Before having your hypnotherapy consultation, your late working schedule will have created your anxiety and physical tension. This will have explained your problem getting to sleep. Without creating some relaxation responses at bedtime, this will have exaggerated your insomnia.
These adverse routines can become deep-rooted. Your mind then dismisses why your natural sleep pattern has gone astray. Hypnotherapy can help you to associate with those original strategies and re-establish them. That way, you can still keep focused on promotion and find a way to dispense with those connected worries. Hypnotherapy creates a heightened state of awareness that makes you more open to suggestions and imagery. It can be used to assist these beneficial changes.
In your hypnotherapy induction, you are directed through the enhancement of your new sleep ritual. It is parallel to having a "sleep DVD" archived into your mind and as you play it, you relax into sleep. By having a new "inner sleep script" to guide you, your mind can release the anxiety in these work (or other issues) so that you can focus on your sleep ritual.
"Going to sleep" can be a one aspect of your insomnia. A course of hypnotherapy can help you deal with some of the more ingrained issues that can upset your sleep habits.
Insomnia: Waking up in the night
A positive sleeping habit is important for your health and general wellness. When you're deprived of your sleep, you can experience tiredness, irritability and poor alertness. As an experienced registered hypnotherapist, I see several patients with some degree of insomnia. This can be the case even when it isn't their main therapeutic purpose. At the beginning of a hypnotherapy course, some questions into my patient's general lifestyle usually show that they are also having disrupted sleep patterns. Insomnia can be a symptom of anxiety and when your life is distressing; your sleep routine can be unbalanced.
There are several kinds of insomnia. Some insomnia sufferers have problems going to sleep and others have intense dreams. Nocturnal awakening is the term used to describe irregular waking through the night. It is also used to characterise early waking with the inability to return back to sleep. This article deals with nocturnal awakening and how hypnotherapy can be used to treat it.
Nocturnal awakening can be caused by a variety of ways:
Anxiety about being awake – Having woken from your sleep, worrying about this only makes it more difficult to go back to sleep again. 'Sleep anxiety' can then further disrupt your insomnia.
Anxiety and depression – Any anxieties that you battle with in bed can leak into your dreams. Anxiety produces cortisol, a chemical that places your mind and body on the high alert.
Medical conditions – Certain medical states can interfere with your sleep at night including heart, lung and arthritic conditions. Pain awareness can make it more of an effort to go back to sleep.
Medication – Some medication can have a stimulating affect on your mind. If you have made the recent choice to withdraw from your sleeping tablets, your body needs time to adjust to the chemical changes.
Alcohol - Drinking alcohol at night can alter the natural cycle of your REM sleep causing you to wake up early. Once you have woken up, you don't have the sedating influence of the alcohol to get you back to sleep (unless you drink more!)
Insomnia: Hypnotherapy Cardiff can treat your nocturnal awakeningSome degree of nocturnal awakening would be considered as reasonable. If your medical condition is behind it, then how you manage your insomnia can improve your overall lifestyle. Just recognising that your insomnia is related to the medical condition can make it easier to accept. Even if you have a long term condition, your mind can be more relaxed with it when you can establish what is causing your insomnia. Hypnotherapy can help you accomplish acceptance of your condition, even if there is still some on-going problems. Hypnotherapy can also help you create a new sleep habit so that you can focus your mind in a more positive way.
Long-term worries can accumulate and hinder your sleep patterns. When unresolved issues collect in your mind, they find their way into your sleep and generate intense dreams. In your attempts to create closure, the best that you can do is to change your emotional perspective. If you're unable to manage those changes, hypnotherapy can help steer you towards acceptance, so that you can reduce the accumulation of physical tension. Hypnotherapy can also teach you relaxation techniques that include breathing, physical relaxation and visualisation.
When your insomnia has no identifiable cause, then how you cope with your waking is crucial to your ability to return to sleep. Frustration creates physical tension and this cycle of events will not help your return to sleep. Hypnotherapy can be used to create your internal sleep "script" so that you are channelling your mind towards a confident sleep habit. Applying practical techniques to your insomnia is far more effective than just lying there hoping for the best!
Hypnotherapy is a beneficial treatment for your insomnia. It can help you to identify and release concealed issues that your unconscious mind has connected with your insomnia. Hypnotherapy can also help you deal the way that on-going medical conditions can disrupt with your sleep. It can teach you important relaxation breathing techniques to use in your sleep ritual; a vital part of diminishing your nocturnal awakening.
Insomnia: Restless sleep
The amount of sleep you are having is often judged to be the benchmark of a good night's sleep. During a hypnotherapy consultation, insomnia patients will mention their frustration at the time they have waste trying to get to sleep. Insomnia sufferers can have issues getting to sleep (delayed onset insomnia) and problems with nocturnal awakening (repetitive waking or waking in the early hours and then staying awake). Sleeping through until it's time to get up, but feeling worn out, is a more obscure form of insomnia since you can easily attribute your tiredness to other problems. With restless sleep, you are vulnerable to the same symptoms; exhaustion, irritability and loss of concentration. This article focuses on restless sleep and how hypnotherapy can treat this sleep problem.
As well as feeling extremely tired by the morning, restless sleep can also involve overactive sleep patterns. You can be fidgety and talkative through your night's sleep. You can also have vivid dreams that you "act out" in bed (which may disrupt your partner's sleep!) These excessive states can cause you to jump up in bed feeling startled, with your heart rate pounding, your body in a sweat and you feel tense. Sometimes you sleep through the whole "anxiety show", only to wake up feeling as if you have been running a marathon.
These nocturnal episodes can indicate that your anxiety isn't being dealt with properly in the daytime. When you have days that are stressful, unresolved problems and ongoing issues can get suppressed in your mind's "temporary storage folder". If these events build up without being dispensed, the storage folder can become strained. Then the next moment your conscious mind isn't there to contain these events, the folder ruptures spilling the contents into your awareness. So if you haven't had some relaxation time where those issues can be released, that next time will be when you go to sleep.
Fortunately, your mind can process some of these events when you are daydreaming e.g. watching, but not really concentrating on the television. The mood of "night-dreaming" is more anarchic however. Your imagination is in charge and it likes to let off some steam!Insomnia: Contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff to change your late night working routineTo assist your sleeping patterns, sleep can't just be something that you impulsively do the moment you get into bed. A good night's sleep needs to be built into your day time. Some of the preparation includes having an amount of relaxation time where the mind can wander around, dealing with and releasing your problems. This useful process is typically achieved during routine activities like housework or recreational pursuits.
A wind-down schedule before bedtime gives you some room between your worries and the likelihood that it will drown your sleep. Give yourself some relaxing activities like lying in the bath or reading something easy-going for at least half an hour before going to bed.
When a patient begins a course of hypnotherapy, I like to ask questions about their sleeping rituals. Restless sleep can be a useful indication of your general stress levels. When the purpose of your hypnotherapy consultation is to boost the quality of your sleep, then a "restless sleep" script can be designed to alter some of your defective sleeping rituals. Suggestions can be formed to amalgamate your relaxed breathing patterns into your unconscious sleeping habit.
Hypnotherapy can also teach you relaxation breathing techniques. You can use these to enhance your strategy to sleep and release the negative reaction from your last activity before going to bed. Consider hypnotherapy as the pathway through to your unconscious or "sleep" knowledge. These hypnotherapy techniques can also be reinforced right through the day so that you are releasing your build up of anxiety. This frees your mind from having to battle with it in the night.
Hypnotherapy is an effective strategy to alter the stress and anxiety issues that create your restlessness. New techniques can help you to manage your insomnia and release the frustration from having woken up. With hypnotherapy offering so many choices for treatment, it is the most beneficial therapy to transform your restless insomnia into restful, restorative sleep once again.
Contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff to treat your insomnia, sleep problems and sleeplessness
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
