Hypnosis for sleep: the effectiveness of hypnotherapy, who is suitable for such treatment

Peo­ple with sleep dis­or­ders can­not con­trol the process of falling asleep on their own. There­fore, often in order not to suf­fer from insom­nia, they resort to var­i­ous med­ica­tions. How­ev­er, doc­tors note that this is not the only way to estab­lish a reg­i­men. Sleep hyp­no­sis may well help such patients. In what cas­es such ther­a­py is indi­cat­ed and how effec­tive it is, Med­AboutMe under­stood.

The effectiveness of hypnosis for sleep

Hyp­nother­a­py has been suc­cess­ful­ly used for var­i­ous sleep dis­or­ders. More­over, for some patients it is con­sid­ered as an alter­na­tive to sleep­ing pills. Thus, a review of 24 stud­ies was pub­lished in the Jour­nal of Clin­i­cal Sleep Med­i­cine, which showed that the use of this method is effec­tive for 58.3% of patients. At the same time, unlike drug treat­ment, hyp­no­sis has no side effects, and even those patients who report­ed no ben­e­fit did not notice a dete­ri­o­ra­tion in the con­di­tion after the ses­sions.

A study by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Zurich notes anoth­er impor­tant detail — hyp­nother­a­py can not only affect the dura­tion of sleep and facil­i­tate the process of falling asleep, but also improve sleep qual­i­ty. This was revealed by mea­sur­ing the elec­tri­cal activ­i­ty of the brain: 70 women lis­tened to a 13-minute hyp­nother­a­py tape before falling asleep, and then fell asleep for 90 min­utes. In sub­jects with high sug­gestibil­i­ty, the non-REM sleep phase increased by 81%. This phase is impor­tant for restor­ing ener­gy costs, which means it helps to feel alert after wak­ing up.

Who is sleep hypnosis for?

Hyp­no­sis is used in the fol­low­ing cas­es:

• Insom­nia due to anx­i­ety, stress.
• Short sleep, fre­quent awak­en­ings at night.
• Sleep prob­lems.
• Fatigue after sleep, drowsi­ness dur­ing the day (no deep sleep).
• Vio­la­tions of the regime caused by fre­quent changes in time zones (for exam­ple, dur­ing flights).

In a Nation­al Cen­ter for Com­ple­men­tary and Inte­gra­tive Health (NCCIH) study, hyp­nother­a­py, includ­ing self-hyp­no­sis, is also rec­om­mend­ed for menopausal women. It is known that hot flash­es can lead to insom­nia, and this in turn great­ly impairs the qual­i­ty of life. The study involved 90 women, after ses­sions of self-hyp­no­sis, an improve­ment in sleep and an increase in its dura­tion were not­ed by 50–77% of the par­tic­i­pants.

Contraindications for hypnotherapy

Despite the effec­tive­ness of hyp­nother­a­py, it is not for every­one. If sleep prob­lems are caused by neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­or­ders or oth­er dis­eases and are only a symp­tom, hyp­no­sis treat­ment will not help.

In addi­tion, in order for the ses­sions to give results, the per­son must be sug­gestible. This qual­i­ty can­not be revealed sim­ply by the char­ac­ter or behav­ior of a per­son. Doc­tors con­duct spe­cial tests that show how a patient can be hyp­no­tized.

Ther­a­py may also be inef­fec­tive due to the sub­jec­tive atti­tude of a per­son to hyp­no­sis. Fear of a ses­sion or an inter­nal protest can become an insur­mount­able bar­ri­er.

There are also med­ical con­traindi­ca­tions, includ­ing:

• Men­tal ill­ness (hyp­no­sis for sleep is only accept­able after con­sult­ing a psy­chi­a­trist).
• Dis­eases of the car­dio­vas­cu­lar sys­tem and oth­er dis­eases accom­pa­nied by res­pi­ra­to­ry dis­or­ders.
• Epilep­sy.