Hypnosis was often portrayed in older Hollywood movies as having some kind of mind control power.

That’s total nonsense, of course, especially when you consider one of the evil protagonist’s most frequently used corny lines:

You’re getting sleepy…

Anyone who knows anything about hypnosis will tell you that it is a form of communication between the hypnotist and the subject.

But if the subject’s asleep, then the communication is over!

It’s somewhat ironic, therefore, that people are now actually relying on hypnosis for Sleep Apnea to help them take back control over their sleep patterns.

If you’ve undergone hypnosis you’ll realize that part of the induction involves getting as relaxed as you possibly can.

In that relaxed state it’s possible for the hypnotist to help you access your own internal resources so you can deal with issues at the time and even after the session is over.

The technique has been used for decades to help people cope with and manage various sleep disorders, particularly with reference to hypnotherapy for sleep.

So it’s no great surprise that hypnosis seems the obvious choice to allow those people suffering from sleep Apnea to regain more control over how they live their lives.

But what exactly is sleep apnea and what are some of its symptoms?

>> If you’re interested in hypnotherapy or want to improve your practice, check out our live and online hypnosis training events.

Want to know more about hypnotherapy, but not sure what certification program is the right choice for you? Book a DISCOVERY CALL today to learn more about Hypnosis Training Academy’s hypnotherapy programs.

What Is Sleep Apnea?

According to the Mayo clinic, sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which a person’s breathing repeatedly stops and starts again. The word “apnea” comes from the Greek word for “breathless”.

It’s possible to stop breathing for anything from just a few seconds to a couple of minutes, during which time your body and brain are not getting the oxygen they need. This lack of oxygen triggers a survival reflex that wakes you up so that you’re able to start breathing again.

And while that reflex helps to keep you alive, it also disturbs your sleep. If that goes on, night after night, it can play havoc with your general health, including putting extra stress on your heart.

Also, starving your mind and body of oxygen, even for short periods of time, can never be something that contributes positively to your overall health and well-being.

Sleep apnea generally falls into two main categories:

1. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) – this is the more common form of the condition that happens when your throat muscles are so relaxed that they block the flow of air into your lungs.

2. Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) – this form of the condition happens when your brain fails to send signals to the muscles that control your breathing.

In both cases the results are similar: interrupted sleep, anxiety and more stress. If you think you might be suffering from a form of sleep apnea, check out the list of possible symptoms below.

What Are The Symptoms Of Sleep Apnea?

It’s not uncommon for the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea to overlap. This can make an exact diagnosis tricky, but the general symptoms include:

• Snoring loudly
• Breathing stopping and starting again, usually reported by another person
• Feeling like you have to gasp for air while asleep
• Frequently waking up and difficulty staying asleep (insomnia)

Symptoms don’t only occur when you’re asleep, however. They can affect you throughout the day when you find yourself:

• Feeling overly tired
• Feeling unusually sleepy during the day (hypersomnia)
• Having trouble focusing and concentrating
• Aware of a headache when you wake up
• Subject to irregular mood swings
• Feeling uncharacteristically anxious and irritable

Sleep apnea can affect anyone, even children. Some of the risk factors you need to look out for include the following:

• Men are 2 to 3 times more likely to develop sleep apnea than women, unless those women are overweight or in otherwise poor health.
• Anyone carrying excess weight increases the risk of sleep apnea, as fat deposits can block airways and obstruct breathing.
• Older people are more susceptible as a rule.
• Anyone suffering from short- or long-term nasal congestion.
• A family history of sleep apnea can increase someone’s risk.
• Smokers are 66% more likely to suffer from sleep apnea as the smoke causes inflammation of the airways and makes breathing more difficult.
• Any form of substance abuse such as drugs or alcohol can relax the throat muscles and worsen the problem.
• Certain medical conditions such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, asthma and other chronic lung conditions can increase the risk of developing OSA.

At the same time, people who already suffer from sleep apnea may be subject to the following side effects:

• High blood pressure or hypertension
• Heart issues including potential heart attack
• Diabetes
• Stress and anxiety
• Depression

>> Related Article: [GUIDE] How To Manage Insomnia Naturally With Sleep Hypnosis

How Hypnotherapy Can Help Manage Sleep Apnea

Like many conditions, sleep apnea can be mild or severe. For milder cases, basic lifestyle changes can be enough to alleviate the symptoms and avoid the need for other forms of treatment.

These lifestyle changes will depend on the individual and their motivation to try things out. Some examples include:

• Quitting smoking or reducing the amount you smoke
• Consuming less alcohol
• Losing some weight

It’s also recommended that you don’t take sleeping pills. You might also want to avoid sleeping on your back which gives you the incentive to experiment with a few other more comfortable sleeping positions.

For more serious cases, the usual medical treatment is a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine. It includes a mask that fits over the nose and mouth to deliver a constant flow of air to keep the airways open.

Newer models are smaller and more comfortable to wear so it’s really just a question of finding one that suits your needs.

And that leaves you with hypnotherapy for sleep. This is sort of a multifunctional tool because it can treat anything from mild insomnia to full-blown apnea.

Not only that, but you can make use of hypnotherapy so that wearing a CPAP mask is more bearable and comfortable. Of course, it can also help eliminate the need for a CPAP mask altogether if the conditions are favorable.

So how is it that hypnotherapy has such limitless potential in the fight against sleep disorders?

How Hypnotherapy Can Help Manage Sleep Disorders

The first thing to remember is that hypnotherapy is simply hypnosis used in a therapeutic context. Whatever you can use hypnosis for, you can achieve the same things with hypnotherapy.

So whether you’re talking about hypnotherapy for sleep apnea, for insomnia or for some other sleep related issue, it’s possible to employ all of the more general hypnosis techniques to get the outcome you want.

Here are four such techniques that will do the trick.

Revivification – this involves reliving a very intense memory so the subject is lost in the memory and in the feeling of the memory. So the memory of falling into a deep and comfortable sleep would be a wonderful example.

Post-hypnotic suggestion – this creates a future memory of falling asleep. You need a trigger and a result to pull it off.

The trigger might be the bed, while the result will be falling to sleep. So you might say:

When you slip into those sheets at night, you will fall asleep just like in other situations.

You can work through a blitz to help them mentally rehearse falling asleep in lots of different contexts.

Hypnotic Stories – this is the “my friend John/Jane” technique, telling a story seen through another person’s eyes. For example:

My friend John (or Jane) went to bed and at first his feet felt tired and his hands felt tired and his breathing got tired and his eyes got tired and before he knew it, he was asleep.

Repeating the story sets a pattern for them to follow. It can also be used to deal with other issues affecting their sleep, such as stress or anxiety.

The Non-Awareness Set – this involves drawing your attention to something happening outside your awareness. When you’re trying to fall asleep, for example, it helps if you focus on your breathing.

Another way to achieve it is through a simple arm levitation linked to whichever hypnotic outcome you desire, such as:

Do your 4-7-8 breathing, get into bed and as soon as you feel yourself in bed and you feel the temperature of your right hand then the unconscious can take over and the next thing you know it’s morning, you’ve slept all night and you’re feeling refreshed and alert.

(The 4-7-8 breathing technique – count 4 as you inhale, hold your breath for 7 counts, and then count 8 as you exhale. Helps you relax, unwind and eventually drift off to sleep.)

Who Benefits From Hypnotherapy For Sleep

Anyone who has difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep can benefit from hypnotherapy. Why?

Because hypnotherapy helps you communicate with your unconscious mind and tap into resources that can make enormous differences. For instance, your unconscious mind remembers everything you’ve ever felt or experienced.

There must have been a time when you had quality, undisturbed sleep, when you woke up feeling refreshed and raring to go. Using hypnotherapy you can recall that feeling and experience (revivification) and use it as a sort of template for what you want to achieve now and in the future.

Where sleep apnea in particular is concerned, this article highlights many of the benefits you might expect to enjoy from hypnotherapy, which are summarized below:

• It helps you learn a variety of breathing techniques to keep your airways clear
• It helps you discover various sleeping positions to make you feel more comfortable
• It makes it possible to improve the signals going from your brain to the muscles that help you breathe
• It helps you get rid of old bad habits and replace them with new healthier ones

Thanks to its ability to promote deep relaxation and also to access internal resources, hypnotherapy can be a powerful treatment against sleep disorders in general, either on its own or when used in combination with other effective techniques.

Main Takeaways

Hypnotherapy is a powerful technique to help people cope with and manage various sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a condition in which a person’s breathing stops and starts during sleep. It can last for a few seconds or a few minutes.

The longer someone’s breathing stops, the more likely it is that their body and mind will be deprived of oxygen, which could lead to further serious issues.

Sleep apnea is normally one of two types: obstructive sleep apnea (with breathing stopping and starting) or central sleep apnea (where there’s a problem with signals from the brain that control breathing).

Symptoms include loud snoring, gasping for air while asleep, frequent waking and difficulty sleeping.

During the daytime symptoms can include feeling overtired and unusually sleepy, being irritable, headaches, inability to focus and irregular mood swings.

Hypnotherapy can help you deal with the symptoms of sleep apnea and also help you eliminate some of the underlying causes. Using standard hypnosis techniques, it’s possible to access your own internal resources and use them to improve your sleep quality in general.

From simple breathing techniques to revivification and post-hypnotic suggestion, hypnotherapy offers a wide range of options that can work on their own or in combination with other forms of treatment.

As well as improving the signals sent from your brain to your muscles, hypnotherapy can also help you replace older bad habits with newer and more efficient ones, making your sleep experience as enjoyable and fulfilling as possible.

>> If you’re interested in hypnotherapy or want to improve your practice, check out our live and online hypnosis training events.

Want to know more about hypnotherapy, but not sure what certification program is the right choice for you? Book a DISCOVERY CALL today to learn more about Hypnosis Training Academy’s hypnotherapy programs.

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