May 15th, 2008 by Phil

Hypnotherapy has been used successfully to cure addictions, phobias, cravings and even mental disorders. Hypnotherapy has been used for thousands of years and has been scientifically proven as an effective therapeutic tool. Practitioners such as the world famous hypnotist and TV celebrity, Paul Mckenna have helped make hypnotherapy popular.

Hypnosis works by tapping into your subconscious and implementing gradual changes to thoughts and behaviors, through visualizations or affirmations. Hypnosis works because the mind cannot tell from reality and vivid imagination.

Positive changes can be made in a very short space of time. In fact, hypnotherapy has been used to treat insomnia with great success. Through relaxation and positive affirmations the subject can drift into sleep much more easily and experience deeper and restorative sleep.

Hypnotherapy believe it or not, can be performed without a hypnotherapist. In an ideal situation you would have a hypnotherapist by your bedside guiding you into sleep, however this would be rather impractical and expensive. Many people use hypnosis CDs to help them drift into sleep. Hypnosis CDs work very much in the same way as a hypnotherapist does.

There is another alternative however which may surprise you and that’s self-hypnosis. Just as the hypnotherapist works as the facilitator, you can become your own hypnotherapist. There is nothing complex about self-hypnotherapy, it only takes time and practice to slot into the practice.

Through regular practice you can guide your mind into deep and relaxed states, enabling you to drift off into sleep. Using positive affirmations and visualizations you can communicate with the subconscious mind and ingrain positive thoughts, behaviors and habits.

You can learn how to self-hypnotize and tackle more than just your sleep problems. For more information on how to self-hypnotize, visit How to Beat Insomnia.

March 20th, 2008 by Phil

They say laughter is the best medicine. I couldn’t agree more, which is why I wanted to share this video with you. The Japanese come up with the most original pranks!

February 27th, 2008 by Phil

Have you ever tried meditation, but gave up because you find it difficult to relax and empty your mind for even just 2 minutes?

You may have heard about the health benefits of meditation and how it can help with sleeplessness and insomnia. Some other health benefits include:

• Increase oxygen levels in your body.
• Increase in blood flow.
• Reduction in heart rate.
• Lowered blood pressure.
• Reduction in muscle tension.
• Increase in self-confidence.
• Increase in serotonin production.
• Improves mood and behavior.
• Reduces stress and tension.
• Strengthens the immune system.

Insomnia can often be caused by poor mood, stress, worry, anxiety, tension and low serotonin levels. What’s more a lack of deep sleep can reduce the body’s immune system leaving it prone to diseases and viruses.

Deep meditation can help relieve these underlying issues so that sleep comes easier. What’s more through practice of meditation your brainwaves will slow and may even produce waves in the Alpha and Theta range. Theta waves are associated with REM sleep. With practice you can learn to enter the Theta stages at will – your gateway to sleep.

Confused? Here’s a little More On Brainwaves…

The brain constantly produces waves that flow through its neural pathways which are called brainwaves. There are four brainwave patterns; Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta. Each one is defined by a different set of frequencies measured in Hz (Hertz).

The following is a basic look at the four common types of brainwave patterns, their frequencies and mental states each pattern is associated with:

Beta Waves (13 - 30 Hz)
Commonly found during an active or waking state. It is also associated with busy or anxious thinking, active concentration, arousal and other mental sates such as fear, anger and worry.

Alpha Waves (7 - 13 Hz)
If you’ve ever been relaxed and at peace, perhaps sitting in a park, soaking up the sun then your brain was probably producing alpha waves. Alpha waves are associated with a tranquil state of consciousness, on the edge of deep relaxation and meditation.

Theta Waves (3 – 7 Hz)
Associated with deep meditation, dreaming and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. During this state your mind wanders where it will and you are in the prime state of creativity, visualization and imagery.

Delta Waves (1 - 3 Hz)
When your brain is producing delta waves you are in deep dreamless sleep or a deep trance like state. This stage is essential for repair and rejuvenation of the mind and body.

So What Is Brainwave Entrainment And How Can It Help?

Brainwave Entrainment is the practice of synchronizing or tuning one’s brainwaves to a desired frequency.

How It Works:

If you play a tone of say 96 Hz in your left ear and 102 Hz in your right ear, your brainwaves will resonate at the differential frequency – 6 Hz. Playing this set of tones will produce a frequency in the range of Theta Waves.

Because of this naturally occurring phenomenon the brain has a tendency to change its dominant EEG (electroencephalograph) frequency towards the frequency of the dominant aural stimuli, in effect ‘synchronizing’ the two hemispheres of the brain.

The use of Binaural Beats can achieve exactly this. When listening to binaural beats, each ear is sent pure sine waves of different frequencies. As I mentioned the brain will resonate at the differential frequency. We can create a range of desired frequencies using binaural beats.

How can this help? Well I guess it’s obvious now, but if we can create a set of tones which create a frequency of between 1 to 3 Hz, your brain can be entrained to resonate at the same frequency. If you look at the brainwave chart above, you’ll notice that Delta Waves are produced at that frequency. Brainwave entrainment can be very helpful in getting into deep meditative states.

Brainwave entrainment can be used for other purposes other than to aid and guide you through meditation. Using binaural beats can actually help with sleep and guide you into deep sleep states.

Many insomnia sufferers have experienced dramatic improvements in the ability to fall asleep through brainwave entrainment alone. It has even been used to effectively treat psychosomatic illnesses like depression. As well as improving mental and physical health it can also increase concentration, memory functioning and even creativity.

If you’re interested in giving brainwave entrainment a try, sign up for my Free Newsletter and you’ll get a free Brainwave Entrainment Audio worth $29 – Visit: How to beat insomnia

Alternatively enter your details in the Sign up box on this blog (top right). Don’t forget to confirm subscription to receive your Free Gift!

January 24th, 2008 by Phil

Insomnia is a tough cookie to crack. Sleep deprivation is a doubled edged sword which most of us fail to understand. There are two mechanisms that govern our sleep and daytime functionality

On one side you have the sleep mechanism and on the other you have the wakefulness mechanism. With a majority of insomniacs, the wakefulness mechanism often beats the sleep mechanism. This is usually due to a number of reasons. For one when our conscious mind is too awake at night, we find it nigh on impossible to sleep. Often this is due to excessive worry, stress or anxiety. Psychological disorders such as depression can also affect the ability to sleep.

It’s the subconscious that knows how to sleep, not the conscious mind. You may have tried, but it’s absolutely impossible to will yourself to sleep with the conscious mind. What’s more lack of sleep is habit forming. In time your body and mind get use to not sleeping, you get used to the spiralling thoughts that keep you awake and sleeplessness becomes a habit.

To top it all off, sleep deprivation reinforces the inability to sleep. When we are exhausted in the day, we can sometimes sense that our body and brain wants to shut off. The only thing we can do is to fight the tiredness. You drink caffeine to keep you awake, you go get some fresh air, you force concentration, you try and wake yourself up anyway you can.

By fighting off sleep, you’re weakening your sleep mechanism, it becomes a habit. Even when you’re completely exhausted and ready to sleep, your internal wakefulness mechanism keeps firing up from habit, breaking up sleep and keeping you awake. You’re natural ability to sleep is weakened and your sleep/wake cycle becomes imbalanced.

People wonder why sleep medication fail to work. Well for one, sleep medication cannot substitute natural sleep. In fact the chemicals in sleeping pills affect brainwaves and disturb deep sleep. Deep sleep is the most essential stage for energy and restoration, without it, you will most probably wake feeling groggy, tired, dazed and irritable. Headaches and muscle aches are common symptoms of sleep deprivation and light fragmented sleep.

It’s not surprising that in recent tests a placebo (sugar pill) had a far better impact on its test subjects than sleep medication. It’s a myth that sleep medication helps you sleep faster and it’s a myth that it can improve sleep and daytime performance. What’s more sleep medication is addictive and unhealthy for the body and mind (it is a drug after all).

You might be thinking right now, that there is no hope, that if sleep medication don’t work, what will? Insomnia is just as much a psychological disorder as it is a physical disorder. So it’s really essential for a sufferer to be treated on both the mind and body to successfully cure insomnia or at least improve sleep.

January 13th, 2008 by Phil

Do the big pharmaceutical corporations really have your health in mind or are they just after the billions of dollar’s they make each year. If you thought it was the first, then it’s time to wake and smell the coffee.

Grab a coffee and watch this now:

Quote from Dr Mercola: “For over 100 years conventional medicine has seized control of the US health care system and as a result we have over 800,000 people who are killed by interacting with this system. It is likely that over 50 million Americans have died prematurely from this abuse.”

Check out his site www.mercola.com A truly awesome guy who knows what he’s talking about. I love coffee, but I try and avoid it (caffeine is a stimulant that can disturb sleep), so go grab yourself another drink, a herbal drink or better still a glass of fresh water and check out this next highly acclaimed video at www.mercola.com/townofallopath/index.htm

December 24th, 2007 by Phil

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably going to be eating like a horse over Christmas, only to make your New Year’s resolution to lose weight!

Burning fat can seem tedious and boring, not to mention hard work. People, who want to lose belly fat quickly, believe that if they could only be bothered to go to the gym or the pool just for a few hours a week, they could be sporting washboard abs even Arnold Schwarzenegger would be proud of.

Going to the gym is going to help, of course it is, however it is not the only important factor in how to get rid of belly fat. Reducing that waste line with a well balanced diet as well as a good exercise regime will ensure that you get rid of that belly fat with far more efficiency and speed!

Who on earth wants to spend hours a week in the gym, doing endless crunches, reps and sit-ups without seeing any results? The sweating, the aches and pains for absolutely nothing? Oddly this is far more common than it may seem. Many people will try to lose weight over years and still not see results. Worse still, they gain weight!

Why is this? Calories play an important factor in your success in losing belly fat. Most people assume that if they just eat less, they will lose weight. But if they do not burn more calories than they consume, they will inevitably gain weight.

Eating foods like junk food that contain high calories need more than just a few hours at the gym to burn off. What’s worse is that some people even believe that an hour at the gym deserves a cream donut or a slice of cheesecake just as a small reward –how wrong they are. They’ve just spent an hour at the gym only to pile it on again in a fraction of the time.

Eat less calories + burn more calories than consumed = lose belly fat quick; simple right? However where people often go wrong is by exercising when crash dieting or eating foods that lack the right nutrients, carbohydrates, proteins, fiber and fats. This can be damaging for the body’s health.

The food you eat is your body’s fuel, so it’s important to pay attention to what you eat and not just the quantity. Junk foods contain high fats and little nutrients to cater the basic needs of the body.

Going at it in the gym or pool on a poor diet will only make you burn out in the end. You’re body and mind will start to suffer, you’ll be prone to illnesses and fatigue. You’re body will dig into its reserves and you will weaken as a result. What’s worse is that your belly fat will remain. Of course you’ll have the six-pack underneath the fat, but it won’t be visible.

Knowing how to get rid of belly fat begins with knowing how to eat well, especially if you want to lose belly fat quickly. By eating the right foods in conjunction with your healthy exercise regime you will no doubt see better results.

To get a head start for the New Year, go to How to get rid of belly fat. Merry Christmas and Have a Great New Year!

December 13th, 2007 by Phil

Insomnia medication falls into three categories- there are the over-the-counter products which can be easily bought. These often contain antihistamines. Then there are the prescription medications- benzodiazepines and antidepressants.

Using prescription or over-the-counter sleep aids to catch up on your sleep should be avoided. You should consult your doctor before taking sleep medication. You should also avoid taking them for more than 2 or 3 nights in a row, as prolonged use can cause ‘rebound’ insomnia.

Sleeping pills are generally bad news as they will break down your body’s natural sleep cycle and make sleep very difficult in the long term. It may also affect the amount of deep sleep you attain during the night as most major sleeping pills interfere with normal brain wave patterns. Without deep quality sleep the body skips the vital stages of sleep that are required for restoration.

You may find that you wake up feeling groggy, drowsy or tired this is because most sleeping pills take time for the body to break down. In fact sleeping pills do not improve daytime performance whatsoever; they only help tackle the symptoms. Even so, in studies it has been shown that insomniacs that rely on sleeping pills took on average 45 minutes to sleep. This destroys the belief that sleeping pills help you sleep faster.

Sleeping pills may help you get to sleep but with continual use your body will build tolerance, and you may find that you need to ‘up’ your dose to attain the same affect. Since they do not tackle the root cause of insomnia, many users become dependant and even worse ‘chronic users’. Taking sleeping pills is definitely not a long term solution to insomnia.

So if they don’t improve daytime functioning and they do more damage than good including; reducing brain activity in the day, affecting memory and judgment as well as being highly addictive, then why are they being relied upon by millions of adults?

Many sufferers feel powerless and simply do not know how to tackle insomnia effectively. An insomnia patient who seeks advice from their doctor week after week can leave the doctor feeling desperate to help and more likely to resort in prescribing sleep medication.

With only 10% of doctors rating their sleep knowledge as good in a recent survey, we can assume that the general public knows significantly less in terms of sleep education. Sleep medication can seem the only way to get a night sleep.

However insomnia medication is not a long term solution. They will only worsen the condition. With this in mind it’s best to seek alternative therapies and medicines.

December 2nd, 2007 by Phil

Daily life can be tough, with so much going on sometimes, some days can get pretty darn stressful. It’s good to take a breather sometimes and just relax -take some time out to compose yourself. Go somewhere quiet and practice some breathing exercises or EFT to help soothe your nerves.

Stress isn’t good for the body or the mind. It’s important to take note and observe your emotional behavior. Don’t just let it build up inside you. It’s important to release negative energy. Often we do something silly when we’re in a bad mood or our behavior becomes erratic. Remember, you are in control of your emotions.

A friend of mine emailed this video to me the other day. At first I found it amusing, but then I felt sympathy. There have been days in my life where things have seemed too much to cope. But nowadays I pay attention to my emotional levels and put my health first before work.

Anyway here’s the video:

November 24th, 2007 by Phil

Anxiety and insomnia are common problems which are often interrelated. Too much stress, worry and anxiety are common factors for the cause of a sleepless night. Likewise insomnia can perpetuate anxiety, worry and stress which often lead to more serious psychological disorders and psychosomatic illnesses.

Anxiety can be characterized by symptoms such as feeling on edge, excessive worry, fast heartbeat and breathing. This often affects the ability to carry out normal daily tasks and can seem all too powerful to cope with.

Anxiety disorders generally develop over time through negative life experiences negative life experiences or thoughts such as having a negative self image or feelings of inadequacy. Negative acts toward us such as being ridiculed and being made to feel guilty also have detrimental affects on our psyche.

These problems can seem too much to handle at times and can deeply affect our lives. They can be so ingrained that we find it impossible to clear from our mind and body. Negative thoughts and experiences that have been stored into our subconscious, over months and years cannot simply be forgotten. They are learned, developed and are a part of the way we think, feel and act.

It’s important to seek guidance and professional advice if you are suffering from anxiety. Accepting and wanting to do something about your condition is the first step to recovery. Your doctor may be able to provide guidance or be able to recommend a good therapist.

However, generally people who suffer from anxiety fail at combating anxiety for the same reason insomniacs do. Too much reliance on outside help and the belief that ‘quick-fix’ remedies work, can often perpetuate your symptoms. Prescription medication can sometimes help relieve the symptoms of an anxiety or sleep disorder. However it will almost certainly fail at tackling the root cause.

Often the root problem runs deep into psyche. The physical symptoms that manifest barely touch the surface of the root issue. The only permanent way to tackle anxiety is self-help. Sure, guidance from a good therapist will certainly help you, however they will not be able to get inside your head and rid of your problem. You are the only one who can recondition your mind. By changing your habits and behaviors, you can learn to control your thoughts and emotions. Through this you can learn to change your who you want to be.

Anxiety and insomnia can be cured, but at the end of the day it’s down you to overcome the problem. If you need more information and guidance on how to tackle anxiety and insomnia, visit How to beat insomnia

November 10th, 2007 by Phil

Want to learn how you can sharpen that brain of yours and keep it vibrant and effective? Then read on…

1. Learn what is the “It” in “Use It or Lose It”. A basic understanding will serve you well to appreciate your brain’s beauty as a living and constantly-developing dense forest with billions of neurons and synapses.

2. Take care of your nutrition. Did you know that the brain only weighs 2% of body mass but consumes over 20% of the oxygen and nutrients we intake? As a general rule, you don’t need expensive ultra-sophisticated nutritional supplements, just make sure you don’t stuff yourself with the “bad stuff”.

3. Remember that the brain is part of the body. Things that exercise your body can also help sharpen your brain: physical exercise enhances neurogenesis.

4. Practice positive, future-oriented thoughts until they become your default mindset and you look forward to every hansgrohe-downpour-air-royale-14in-shower.jpgnew day in a constructive way. Stress and anxiety, no matter whether induced by external events or by your own thoughts, actually kills neurons and prevent the creation of new ones. You can think of chronic stress as the opposite of exercise: it prevents the creation of new neurons.

Please go to www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2007/08/22/10-habits-of-highly-effective-brains/