Can Hypnotherapy Help With Sleep Problems?

It can help many people, especially when the problem is a mind that will not switch off at night. Hypnotherapy works with the worry, tension and habits that keep you awake, and many of my patients notice a change after the first session. If a medical problem is disturbing your sleep, that needs a doctor first.

Which sleep problems can hypnotherapy help with?

1. Lying awake while your thoughts replay the day or plan tomorrow.
2. Waking in the small hours and being unable to drift off again.
3. Waking far too early with a head full of worries.
4. Dreading bedtime after a run of bad nights.
5. Sleep that never settled again after a stressful period, a loss or a big change.

Why trying harder to sleep makes it worse

Sleep is one of the few things that effort cannot produce. The more you try, the more alert your mind becomes, and you start checking the clock and counting the hours left. After a while your bed itself becomes linked with frustration, so you feel wide awake the moment you lie down. Hypnosis works in the opposite direction: it teaches your body and mind to let go.

How hypnotherapy works with sleep

The free consultation is where we find out what keeps you awake. For some people it is stress at work, for others an old worry, a habit that formed during a difficult time or a fear of not sleeping at all. During the session you rest in a deeply relaxed state while I work on that trigger, using suggestions that help your mind link bedtime with calm instead of struggle. Every session is shaped around the person and lasts between one and two hours.

Will I fall asleep during the session?

Some people drift close to sleep, and that is fine. Hypnosis is not sleep, though. You stay aware, you hear my voice and you can open your eyes whenever you like. If we work by video, you can sit or lie somewhere comfortable at home.

Small habits that support better sleep

1. Get up at the same time every day, including weekends.
2. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening.
3. Give yourself a quiet wind-down before bed, away from screens and work messages.
4. Keep your bedroom dark, quiet and slightly cool.
5. If you have been lying awake for a long time, get up and do something calm in dim light, then go back to bed when you feel sleepy.

These habits help on their own, and they also support the work we do in hypnosis.

When to see your GP first

1. You snore loudly, or someone has noticed that you gasp or stop breathing in your sleep.
2. Your legs feel restless or uncomfortable when you lie down.
3. Pain wakes you at night.
4. Your sleep changed after you started a new medicine.
5. You have felt down or flat on most days for several weeks.

One more point from my own practice: I do not offer hypnotherapy to people with epilepsy or to anyone who has hallucinations of any kind.

What it costs

For sleep problems, the first session currently costs £249 and later sessions cost £100 each. We start with a free video consultation, and then you can choose to meet by video or at my practice at 165 Borough High Street, London.

If bad nights are wearing you down, you can arrange a free consultation from the home page and tell me what keeps you awake.

I am Shahin Gurbanov, and I would like you to look forward to bedtime again.