Glasgow Anxiety Therapy

_A poor night`s sleep makes us miserable. And a refreshing sleep is a delight. If our sleep patterns get disordered it is easy to see how it can affect our general wellbeing, our relationships and our work.

Cognitive behavioural therapy, supported by hypnosis, works well for getting sleep patterns back to normal. There is lots of research evidence to support this. The most common problems are failure to drop off to sleep or waking early and failing to get back to sleep. This can be caused by worrying, so cognitive approaches are very effective. It can be caused by coffee or other stimulants, so a behavioural approach is useful.

Sometimes big changes in our lives can get us into new patterns which spoil our sleeping patterns. For example, you might have a lovely new husband, but he might snore, so that you can`t sleep. You might help him by some of the new equipment available, and you can help yourself by changing the way you think about the snoring. (Rather than What a dreadful noise, you can be reassured that he is still alive!)

And of course it can be all of these things, so getting a clear idea of the cause of a change in sleep pattern is essential.

For some people the boundaries between rapid eye movement sleep and non-rapid eye movement sleep get confused. This confused boundary can cause sleepwalking and sleeptalking. Late evening coffee or alcohol can cause this, but some people are predisposed to it. Hypnosis is very helpful for this.

There are a number of rare sleep problems. Most of us experience a sort of paralysis when asleep, so that our bodies feel heavy and it can take a while after we have woken up for our bodies to wake. Where this paralysis does not occur, acting out dreams can sometimes happen. This is a medical condition and doctor`s advice should be sought.

Hamlet got it right. Research from the University of California shows how dreaming and sleep help us solve our problems.

Matthew Walker works at the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory at Berkeley. A whole centre dedicated to discovering more about sleep. A wonderful night`s sleep is not only delicious, but is now shown dreaming soothes our anxiety, by reducing the stress hormones in our blood.

Matthew reports that in the  REM phase of sleep there is a sharp decrease in levels of norepinephrine, a brain chemical associated with stress.This allows us to  reprocess our emotional experiences in an environment where stress hormones are low. So we wake up the next day and those experiences have been softened. We feel better about them, we feel we can cope. The dream phase of sleep provides us with a form of overnight therapy, a soothing balm that removes the sharp edges from the prior day’s emotional experiences. So if you have ever wondered about the meaning of dreams, it seems that they allow us to consider the things that happen during the day and take some of the sting out.

So getting a good night`s sleep is vital for our emotional as well as our physical wellbeing. If you are having trouble sleeping, then come and see me. In just a few sessions, you will be enjoying delicious dreamy sleep again.

Worry can cause poor sleep and poor sleep can lead to worry. If you find yourself lying awake at night going over the same worries again and again, then get help with worry management. Read some of my tips in this blog. Contact me or another specialist in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). It works fast.

But sometimes the worry is caused by inadequate sleep. The more you worry about not getting to sleep, the more you lie awake.

So how can you get better sleep? In part, it is recognising that we are not machines which can be driven hard all day. Our bodies are complex organisms. Hormones have a great part to play in sleep. Understanding this can help us work with our bodies, rather than against them. Sleep is a dynamic process, involving specific cues for its regulation.

The key hormone for sleep onset is melatonin. You need it in your blood stream in order to be able to sleep. So what triggers its release? We have an extensive body clock controlled by an area of the hypolthalamus region of the brain. This controls the release of melatonin, which has been called the hormone of darkness, because its levels rise during the night and decline at dawn. Its release is triggered by the reducing light levels of the evening.

It is hindered by the use of bright lights in the evening. As well as the main house lights, bright lights includes the telly and other electronic screens.

So if you have a fragile sleep pattern, try these tips to stimulate your melatonin release. Keep the lights low in the evening, don't watch telly in bed at night, and stop working on the computer about two hours before bedtime.