When life is stressful, the body and mind need to recover through sleep.

When humans experience pain, the body uses sleep states to heal.

When under pressure, the brain needs sleep to learn and to make good decisions.

Physically and emotionally, there is not much worse in life than not being able to sleep. When things are not going well, a lack of sleep generally makes things feel much worse.

There are many reasons why people can’t sleep. Electronics, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and napping are all things that could be limiting your ability to get some rest. More often though, it is the racing thoughts that keep people up at night. Anyone who lays in bed - wide awake - is often replaying the day’s events or worrying about tomorrow’s events.

Sleep isn’t like a light switch. Sleep isn’t “off” or “on,” rather sleep is like a dimmer switch that you have to slowly adjust down.

People don’t go from being wide awake to being asleep. There are several brainwave states that humans pass through on the way to deep sleep. 

Brainwaves range from high and quick gamma waves, experienced during stress, to deep, wide, and slow delta waves that are seen in deep sleep. In between are beta waves, which are the common awake-state brain waves. Below beta are alpha and theta waves, which are resting, focused, hypnotic brainwaves. Because hypnotists frequently take clients into the restful states of alpha and theta, they are guiding the brain into those states. The brain can re-learn the steps to restful sleep. 

​

Sometimes a lack of sleep can be as simple as learning techniques for relaxing the body and the turning off the mind. People in the midst of a stressful season of life or facing a short-term stress can benefit from mental calming techniques. If sleep challenges are long-term or deeply rooted, it can be necessary to use more advanced techniques to address the underlying reason for sleep disturbance.

If the mind is racing when a person is trying to sleep or wakes up in the night, it is best to address the thoughts or feelings that are keeping the client awake. Taking pills, getting a better mattress, or listening to relaxing music won’t permanently silence the subconscious mind. When the mind is trying to get its owner’s attention, it is often due to feelings of not good enough, risk, failure, or lack of preparation. Discovering the underlying issue is imperative.

Resolve mental conflicts, relax the body, and get the mind into the drifting mental state that builds into sleep.