Are you aware of the benefits of a good night’s sleep, and the massive effect it has on your performance?

During the day we are very busy little human beings, rushing around, raising our anxiety levels and pumping adrenaline through our bodies. Some of us even go to the gym or eat a large meal before we go to sleep. No wonder 25% of the UK population suffer from some sort of sleep disorder, and in turn, their performance at work, and in their social life is affected.

In prehistoric times when we mainly operated from the ‘primitive’ part of our mind,  our body used a fight or flight response to help keep us safe. If we ran into a wolf, or saw a bear tracks in the snow, the fight or flight response would be activated – we would either stay and fight, or run away.  You can imagine the enormous amount of adrenalin pumping around the body at this point, with the brain diverting or shutting down unused systems to enable us to deal with the issue. Once we dealt with it, our body returned to its normal state of being.

We still have this primitive mind, and we still have this fight or flight response, and it is still activated.  Although we no longer have wild animals to contend with, our modern day threats come from places such as the workplace, colleagues, or even a looming presentation, a casting, or a recital, and often we go to bed pumped up with adrenalin and running on anxiety.

There are two kinds of sleep: REM (rapid eye movement) and SWS (slow wave sleep). Healthy sleep includes both REM and SWS, and many studies demonstrate that a healthy sleep produces a significant boost to performance, in fact sleep loss can have as great an effect on performance as drinking alcohol.
(Brainfacts.org).

Every negative thought and experience that we have during the day is accumulated and stored. I like to say it is stored in a stress bucket. Thankfully we have a method for emptying our stress buckets and this is called REM sleep. We can pile too much into our bucket and it will overflow! The more you have in your bucket, the more time you will spend in the primitive part of your brain, and the more you will be encouraged to be negative. Hypnotherapy works to reduce your anxiety, and get you sleeping better.

During REM sleep we re-run events of the day and change them from being an emotional memory to a narrative memory, a memory we have control over. We replay the event metaphorically, so through dreaming, and move it from the ‘primitive’ brain to the intellectual part of the brain where you have control over it.  You will wake up in the morning having completely forgotten about the event – you may not but at least the memory and the feelings associated with it hold little
significance after your sleep.

According to John Cline, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist and clinical professor at Yale University, ‘Dreaming in this state is the deepest trance state known. In the neonate and the foetus REM sleep is the dominant form of sleep and is in some way connected to the programming of instincts into us.’ Hypnosis is the artificial activation of the REM state.

Hypnotherapy works by lowering anxiety and accessing the subconscious part of the mind, re-programming and replacing negative thought patterns with powerful,
positive ones.

In Slow wave sleep, the immune system is boosted and physical healing and growth take part in the body. Some recent neural network research also indicates that deep sleep may be important in helping clear the brain for new learning the next day.

According to the Human Givens Institute, ‘for millions more people the body’s need to have an appropriate amount of quality sleep is frequently compromised to meet their perceived need to have more ‘awake’ time. If they knew the likely price, they would give an adequate night’s sleep a much higher priority.’

If we take steps to create regular, positive sleep patterns by going to bed before midnight, using a guided relaxation to help us sleep, and working to lower our anxiety through the use of hypnotherapy, we will begin to see a difference. Sleep is essential to the maintenance of physical and psychological health. A healthy mind delivers a great performance starts with a good night’s sleep.