Do you suffer from the most common phobia in Britain? Don't look down...

According to the results of a new YouGov survey, it is the fear of heights (also known as acrophobia) which unnerve Brits the most, thereby consigning snakes (ophidophobia) and public speaking (glossophobia) into second and third respectively.

 Often thought of as one of the most common, arachnophobia - or the fear of spiders - only came in fourth place, followed by fears of small spaces (claustrophobia), mice (musophobia), needles (trypanophobia) and flying (pteromerhanophobia). 
Perhaps unsurprisingly, YouGov sought to detail the 13 most common fears - although ironically, fear of that number (triskaidekaphobia) didn't feature. Instead, the remainder was made up of crowds (agoraphobia), clowns (coulrophobia), the dark (nyctophobia), blood (hemophobia) and finally, dogs (cynophobia).

So if you have one of these phobias and it is affecting your life significantly, what can you do about it? One way to deal with a phobia is to avoid the thing you are scared of. That might be relatively easy if it's snakes, however most people come across a situation where they are 'high up' frequently - even if it's driving across a bridge. So rather than run away, consider trying hypnotherapy to help beat that fear. 

Hypnotherapy uses a variety of natural techniques to help you use the power of your imagination to reduce the panic associated with phobias and to dissociate you from the immediate "flight" (or run away) response. Most people feel they have no control whatsoever when faced with their phobia - after all we often don't get any warning it will happen - so hypnotherapy can help give you back a sense of control so you can deal with the fear calmly and more rationally.

For more information, please visit my website: http://www.christyhypnotherapy.com/howcanihelpyou.aspx or give me a call for a free consultation: 07527 576245.

Try hypnosis for a good night's sleep

If you have trouble sleeping at night, is your first thought to reach for the bottle of sleeping pills? If so, STOP! Hypnotherapy might be able to help instead providing a far more natural and long-lasting positive result.

A recent article published in 'The New Age' online magazine talked about the results of a study conducted by researchers at the University of Zurich which concluded that hypnosis can increase the quality of sleep, eliminating the need for medications. The effects of hypnosis on sleep have long been questioned by the medical community so this study opens up promising opportunities for improving the quality of sleep without drugs.

The study involved 70 healthy young women who were invited to the sleep laboratory at the Universtiy for a 90-minute midday nap. Whist there a test group listened to 13 minutes of pre-recorded hypnosis before sleeping, and the control group listened to neutral dialogue over loudspeakers.

 

The results showed that  most hypnotizable participants experienced an 80 percent increase in slow wave sleep. This sudy did limit the participants to women, due to their increased responsiveness to hypnosis on average, so it would also be interesting to conduct this study with men to see if the results are similar of course.

 

Whislt this is only one study conducted with a limited audience, the results show that there IS another option rather than turning to the drugs to help improve quality of sleep. Hypnotherapists world over have been using hypnosis for years to help people sleep better so it is wonderful that it is now being recognised formally and education is being enhanced. "The results may be of major importance for patients with sleep problems and for older adults," says psychologist and study leader Maren Cordi. "In contrast to many sleep-inducing drugs, hypnosis has no adverse side effects."

 

If you experience problems with your sleep, please call Christy today on 07527 576245 or email: christy@christyhypnotherapy.com for more information and a no-obligation free telephone consultation.

Hypnotherapy - not just for phobias, smoking and weight loss!

I recently read an article in the Lancaster Guardian about how the power of Hypnosis helped a 30 year old girl recover from a devastating Cancer diagnosis. Fortunately for the girl (Suzanne), she was diagnosed early and managed to receive surgery to remove all traces of the cancer without the need for medication and further treatment. However it was only after her surgery however that Suzanne began to struggle emotionally as a result of the traumatic health scare. She lost all confidence in life which left her feeling depressed and finding it difficult to cope.

Fortunately she was referred to a local Cancer support group who offered her some hypnotherapy to help her cope better with what she'd been through. One of the best quotes from the article for me was Suzanne saying "Hypnotherapy is just like receiving an injection of positive thoughts". I love this as it shows how for her, the Hypnotherapy was obviously the positive injection she needed in her life which meant she was able to deal with everything that had happened to her.

This may be a little misleading for some people though as unfortunately Hypnotherapy is no injection or tablet you can take to make all your ailments or issues disappear! Many a time I've had clients contact me wanting a "quick fix" as medication has't worked or they've tried "everything else".

I wanted to quote this story as it shows how Hypnotherapy can have many other positive uses outside of the 'usual' issues people normally associate with having hypnosis, such as to stop smoking, lose weight or overcome a phobia. This is not about curing Cancer... unfortunately there is no 100% definitive cure as yet. However many people who are struggling with something in their life might not even consider having Hypnotherapy... either because they think they are not "bad enough" or that they "should be able to cope on their own".

I would like to reassure ANYONE who would like to change something in their life for the better to consider trying Hypnotherapy. You never know what it might be able to do for you! Why not call me today on 01252 334377 for a free 15 minute no-obligation consultation to see if Hypnotherapy could help you. Or email me at christy@christyhypnotherapy.com.

To read the full story about Suzanne and her experiences, click here: http://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/local/how-the-power-of-hypnosis-helped-local-girl-recover-from-a-devastating-cancer-diagnosis-1-6491490