Neuroscientist Matthew Walker describes sleep as ‘overnight therapy’ with good reason!
Each phase of our sleep is important in helping us to re-charge physically and emotionally. The REM phase of sleep is important in regulating our mood, memory and learning efficiency. During the REM phase of sleep the activity of stress chemicals drops away. REM is limited to about 20% of our sleep each night and during stressful times this can limit our capacity to process and re-calibrate our emotions.
The relaxation technique we use in hypnotherapy (trance) replicates the REM phase of sleep, helping to ‘reduce the backlog’ and improve sleep patterns. It is estimated that one in three people suffer from poor sleep*. Many of the clients I see are experiencing sleep problems as the primary or secondary issue and a course of hypnotherapy can assist in getting sleep patterns back on track.
*Source: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sleep-and-tiredness/why-lack-of-sleep-is-bad-for-your-health/