Appetite Increased by Lack of Sleep

     Another reason to deal with chronic insomnia - a study by researchers at King's College London and Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, which was published in THE JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGY AND METABOLISM found that a lack of sleep increases appetite.  The researchers compared the studies of brain imagery in men when sleep-deprived and when well-rested.  Sleep-deprived men who had been well-fed were shown images of high-calorie foods.  These images showed that activity in areas of the brain that control appetite were higher than those of well-rested men.  Those same men who were well-rested found the high-calorie foods much less appetizing.

     Check out some of my earlier posts on this blog about ways to deal with insomnia including hypnotherapy.  Although the study was done on males, it is likely true for females as well.  If you are having trouble with appetite, an underlying trigger may be lack of sleep.  Hypnotherapy can be another tool to sleep better, control appetite and BE WELL. 

MENOPAUSE SYMPTOMS WORSENED BY SMOKING

     Still another reason for women to quit smoking - a recent study finds that smoking worsens menopause symptoms.  The study by researchers at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia was published in JOURNAL OF CRITICAL ENDOCRINOLOGY AND METABOLISM.  The  study of 296 women found that hot flashes are 56% more likely in Caucasian women who smoke and 84% more likely in African-American women who smoke.

    Hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool for women (and men) deciding to quit smoking.  Check out the many posts in this blog on smoking cessation or go to www.BeaHealthyNonsmoker.com  Quit smoking, feel better and BE WELL.

Hypnotherapy for Cell-phone Addiction

    Look around you when you are sitting at a traffic light, walking down the street or sitting in a restaurant  It is likely you will see almost as many cell-phones in use as you do people.  A recent study found that one in every three teen-agers and almost one in every five baby boomers checks his or her cell phone at least once every fifteen minutes.

    Larry Rosen, PhD and past chair of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, has written a book on this problem called iDISORDER: UNDERSTANDING OUR OBSESSION WITH TECHNOLOGY AND OVERCOMING ITS HOLD ON US.  He identifies this obsession as being a compulsion rather than an addiction.  The difference is in why the user feels the need to check the phone so often.  Addicts are triggered physiologically because the behavior releases the pleasure chemical, dopamine, into the brain.  Compulsive use is triggered because the use relieves anxiety.  The cell-phone users become anxious that they might be missing something like breaking news or someone trying to reach them or using the phone reassures them they haven't lost the phone.

    The compulsion to constantly check the phone can cause serious problems both personally and professionally. People who are around cell-phone compulsives can feel diminished.  A person who is constantly looking at his phone is sending the message that the person he is with is not as important. This harm relationships and it can harm job performance.  A person who keeps her phone on her bedside table may not rest as well if she is constantly checking for incoming messages.

    Get a feel for how often you are checking your phone.  Then begin to stretch out the time between checks.  If you were checking every fifteen minutes, push the time to twenty,  Put the phone completely away while driving or with other people.  Place the ringer on silent or turn the phone upside down so you can't see messages coming in.  If you feel that cell-phone compulsion has become a problem in your life, hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool to find new ways to relieve anxiety, control phone use and BE WELL.

Keeping those New Year's Resolutions

   It's now been a few days since many of us made those New Year's resolutions.  Others may have decided it's just not worth taking the time to make resolutions since they rarely are in effect within just a week or two. If you have already slipped in your resolutions or didn't even make any, you may find hypnotherapy can help.  I always tell my clients, hypnotherapy is not magic.  But it can be a great tool to help you get motivated and do what you want to do. If resolutions like losing weight, eating better, starting to exercise or getting rid of a bad habit like smoking were on your list, don't give up.  Instead, find a hypnotherapist to help you get motivated to follow through and BE WELL.

BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON

    At this time of the year, I am always particularly aware of the many blessings in my life. Among them are the opportunity to work in a profession that can touch people's lives in such a positive way.  Every year I meet with many people who are trying to change their lives and make them better.  To release a phobia, quit smoking, lose weight or deal with anxiety takes real courage.  The people who come to my office to make those changes are a powerful and positive role model to me.  This blog has also been a blessing to me as I researched new studies and shared what I have learned.  The best part is the comments I receive telling me that the information is touching lives.  Thank you to each person with whom I have worked and each person who has taken time out of a busy life to read my blog.  I wish you all the blessings of this holiday season.  

WOMEN'S JOB STRESS AND HEART DISEASE

     Michelle Albert, MD associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, reported on a study linking work stress and cardiovascular health.  The research was done on 22,000 women whose average age was 57.  The findings of the study indicated that women with the most high-stress jobs were 38% more at risk to suffer heart-related events such as stroke or death than women with less stressful jobs.  The high stress jobs included those with extremely high demands and those with little opportunity to use creativity or make decisions.  In addition to greater risk for strokes, women were also at 70% greater risk for heart attacks.

    If you or a woman you know are working in high-stress conditions, it is time to take preventative action.  See your doctor to be aware of your blood pressure and heart condition. Your doctor may prescribe medication if anything is out of the ordinary.  You should also begin effective coping strategies for the stress.  

    Sometimes you can make actual job changes occur and sometimes that is not possible.  If your employer is unwilling or unable to help you reduce the demands or give you more opportunity to be creative or make decisions, you may decide your health is more important than the job and begin to search for other career opportunities.  

     Coping strategies you could add into your life include:  adding relaxation and enjoyment to your non-working hours.  That could be anything from spending more time with friends, to taking a bubble bath to adding a creative project into your leisure time.  Deep breathing is a great way to relax.  Listening to relaxation CDs or some beautiful music may help as well.  Exercise is a wonderful way to relieve stress.  Think about when you were a kid.  If you liked to run and play, get outside and take a walk or ride a bicycle.  If you liked to swim, go to the Y or a Rec Center.  If you liked team sports, join an adult group your own age.  Or take a class - an exercise class, a yoga class, a dance class.  Get up and move and release the endorphins to help you deal with the stresses in your life.

    Hypnotherapy can be a great way to deal with stress.  I always suggest people record their sessions, so they can listen to them again and relax any time they want.  Reduce job stress and the risk of heart disease by using hypnosis and BE WELL. 

CONTROLLING ANGER

      Almost every evening on the news there is a report about uncontrolled anger ruining lives.  Road rage incidents, school bullying, workplace' school shootings and other violent crimes are common place.  Though some of these are organized by criminal organizations, many of them are caused because of people who cannot control their anger.

     Very few people can completely eliminate anger in their life.  Sometimes it can be helpful in signaling to others that important needs are not being met.  So in small amounts, anger can actually be a helpful emotion to express those needs and to solve problems.

     But this emotion can be very destructive when it is not controlled.  It can cause a great deal of misery not only for the recipient of a person's anger but for the angry person as well.  It can damage relationships both personally and in a working environment. It also can cause or contribute to many illnesses.

    If a person cannot control anger, the fight-or-flight response kicks in with a release of adrenalin and an increase in muscle tension.  Muscles tighten when you are angry to help you fight or run.  In other words, you get "up tight". When the muscles in your neck, jaw, shoulders and back tighten up, it can cause soreness or pain in the muscles and skeletal system.

     When the fight-or-flight response activates, your heart beats faster and your blood pressure elevates.  This increases the risk for developing coronary heart disease.  In addition, your liver releases more fat into your blood and your blood cells become "sticky".  These are normal reactions to protect you - the stickiness in the blood cells is to protect you from bleeding out in case of an injury.  The fat is released to give more energy for the muscles to burn.  But all of these reactions increase the risk of your having a stroke or heart attack.

     Digestive and breathing problems can also occur. Stomach and gastrointestinal problems such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), acid reflux,and nausea can occur when long held anger turns inward.  Throat constriction, shallow breathing and the feeling of having heaviness in the chest can happen as respiration speeds up in order to send blood to the muscles and brain.

      Besides these negative health issues, anger can cause you to just not feel good.  You may feel edgy and have very little energy.  Many of my clients complain that they just "can't relax" or "don't know how to relax".  So what can you do to manage your anger?  If you  feel like you are angry more often or all the time, it's time to seek professional help.  Ask your medical doctor or find an anger-management expert through the American Psychological Association.  

    If you do not think you are at that level of need but would like some tools to control your anger, there are some simple techniques you might try.  Step outside yourself and try to view a situation that makes you angry from a distance.   Evaluate how high your anger is by picturing a yardstick and imagining an arrow pointing at the number you are at then consciously begin to drop the number.  Deep breathing down into the abdominal cavity and exhaling slowly can help you to feel more calm and safe.  As you breathe in think "I am", and as you exhale, think "relaxed".    Imagine blowing the anger out as you exhale.  Muscle relaxation will help you relax.  Practicing deep breathing and muscle relaxation strengthens your control.

   Clinical hypnotherapy can be a great tool to control anger by working to deal with the underlying issues and helping to work with the techniques described above.  Control your anger and BE WELL.

BUILD SELF-ESTEEM WITH POSITIVE SELF-TALK

     Self-talk is the conversation we have with ourselves all day long.  Unfortunately, too often, these messages are quite negative.  The messages may include irrational beliefs and distorted thinking about ourselves.  They may also include a running commentary about our personal failures or inadequacies.

     Sometimes these negative messages are subtle.  But other times, the negative self-talk is quite blatant.  If you catch yourself often thinking negative messages like "I'm so fat",  "How could I be that stupid."  "I'll never be able to pass that test", you are suffering from negative self-talk which can lead to low self-esteem, anxiety and depression.

     The good thing to remember is that our moods and how we feel about ourselves are not determined by actual situations but by how we think.  We get upset and depressed not because of the bad situation but because of how we think about it.  If you are upset about gaining five pounds and you begin to beat yourself up about your weight with negative self-talk, it is not the number on the scale but your own thoughts which are making you feel anxious or depressed.

    But the good news is that negative self-talk is a bad habit.  And, like other bad habits, it can be changed.  It takes a desire to make the change and a consciousness about your self-talk, but you can learn to recognize the old patterns and choose to change the way you think.  I compare the process to changing the channel of your mind.

     When you become aware through living more consciously about your negative self-talk, you will learn to recognize the old pattern.  Then take a moment to stop and identify the negative pattern and then change the channel of your mind.  I compare this to changing the channel on a television.  Begin to give yourself positive, self-affirming messages.  "I'm making better choices in my eating.", "I am studying with great focus for my class."  "I am capable."  Whatever the negative messages were, change then to positive, confidence-building positive messages.

   Like any other skill, changing negative self-talk into positive self-talk takes practice. Hypnotherapy can help you in recognizing and shifting old patterns to new  and change your entire way of thinking.  With positive self-talk, you will feel better, have a more positive outlook and build positive self esteem.  Try positive self-talk and BE WELL.

BEAT METABOLIC SYNDROME

    If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome.  Know you are not alone. More than one-third of all American adults have the condition.  And in a study published in DIABETES CARE, it was reported that more than half of those participating who were older than 65 had it.

    There are five different factors that together make metabolic syndrome.  They include high blood glucose level, high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, low HDL (the good) cholesterol and a large apple shaped waist circumference.  You are likely to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome if you have three of these factors.

   If your blood sugar is 100 mg/dL or higher, your blood pressure is 130/85 or higher,  your triglycerides (blood fats) are 150 mg/dL or higher, your good HDL cholesterol is less than 40 mg.DL for men and less than 50 mg/dL for women and if you are a woman with a waist larger than 35 inches or a man with a waist larger than 40 inches, you have increased risk.  The DIABETES CARE study reported one in ten adults age 65 or older had all five of these factors.  Since the only one you can see is your waist size, it is important that you have regular physicals including blood work to monitor those numbers.

    It is important to know if you have or are at risk for metabolic syndrome.  If you are diagnosed with this condition you are at five times as much risk to develop diabetes and twice as likely to develop heart disease, have a heart attack or a stroke.

     The good news is that even if you are diagnosed with this syndrome, there are things you can do to lower your risk.  Your doctor will likely prescribe medications to treat each of the risk factors.   But there is a lot you can do as well. In many cases, by changing your life style you can reduce or even prevent metabolic syndrome.  

     One of the best ways to care for your heart is by exercising.  Think about when you were a kid.  If you liked to get outside to run and play, get outside and take a walk.  Ride a bicycle, Buy some roller blades, fly a kite.  If you liked to swim, got to the Y or local Rec Center.  If you liked team sports, join an adult group your own age.  Or take a class - a yoga class a Pilates class, a dance class.  Get up and move and reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome and its complications. 

    It's also a great time to improve what you eat.  Cut out fast foods and highly processed foods which often are high in sugar and salt. Change the old bad eating habits by increasing good foods into your meals.  Add more fresh vegetables and fruits and whole grains.  

    If you are exercising and improving your eating habits, you may also choose to watch and cut calorie intake so you can lose that belly fat which is so dangerous to your heart.  If you need help to make those changes and avoid metabolic syndrome, hypnotherapy can be a valuable help to get you motivated.  Lower the risk of metabolic syndrome and BE WELL,

USING HYPNOTHERAPY TO TREAT LONELINESS

      If you are feeling lonely, know you are not alone.  Everyone feels lonely occasionally even in the middle of the crowd.  And loneliness can happen at any age.  Young adults are at risk when they leave school and their parents' home and move into their own home for the first time.  Retirees may feel particularly lonely when they no longer have a daily routine and lose workplace relationships.  Married people may feel lonely during rough patches in a relationship.

    Unfortunately, loneliness can spiral downward into the three D's of defensiveness, desperation and depression.  These, in turn, can push people away and cause even more loneliness.

     Defensiveness actually separates lonely people from others.  If you are feeling lonely, take the time to look at your own behavior.  Look at what could be limiting your ability to establish relationships.  Sometimes some tweaking of your social skills is all that is needed to feel less lonely.  Do you go places to meet people?  When was the last time you accepted an invitation or attended a social function?  Do you join in conversations already taking place?  Release the defensiveness and see how you can reach out to others. Taking a class or joining a volunteer group can be a great way to meet new people and do something positive for yourself and others.

    Desperation occurs when people feel that lack of social connections.  But often the best cure for loneliness is not meeting new people, it is deepening the relationships you already have.  Reach out to the people you already know.  Reconnect.  Go through your address book or emails and reconnect. Find old high school, college friends or co-workers. Then make a real effort to stay reconnected.

    Depression can happen when loneliness becomes overwhelming and the person simply gives up.  They begin to believe that it's impossible to be anything but lonely and become very pessimistic.  They step into the "why bother" mode - why bother to try to make a new friend, why bother to reach out to someone,  why bother to attend a social event.  Of course, you will likely not meet your soul mate or your future best friend at every event.  But, if you are lonely, step out of the loneliness box of your home and into the world of possibility.

    If you need help to release the defensiveness, desperation and depression that can be triggered by loneliness, a clinical hypnotherapist using brief therapy can help you to step out into a better and happier future.  Hypnotherapy can help you BE WELL.

REDUCE BLOOD PRESSURE WITH WEIGHT TRAINING

     A study was published in THE JOURNAL OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING RESEARCH on reducing hypertension in middle-aged men.  The researchers at Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, set up  a study of middle-aged men who had been diagnosed with hypertension.  The subjects of the study did  weight training three times a week for twelve weeks.  The men were able to stop their medication and lowered their systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure.  The researchers found that the men's blood pressure stayed low for four weeks even after stopping weight training.

     Because weight lifting directly improves nervous system functioning, if you are a male with hypertension, you can reduce your blood pressure with weight training.  If you need help in getting motivated to start lifting, a hypnotherapist can help to get you moving.  Get help, reduce your blood pressure with weight training and BE WELL.

JUNK FOOD ADDICTION AND HYPNOTHERAPY

    Are you a junk food junkie?  In working with weight loss clients for over twenty years, I have found that many overweight and obese people feel that their unhealthy eating habits are caused by actual addiction.  They often believe that an addiction to junk food was the basis of their weight issue

    A research study by Paul Kenney, PhD, an associate professor in the department of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter Florida, confirmed my clients' suspicions.  Kenney's research involved an animal food behavior study which was published in "Nature Neuroscience".  In the study, rats were given as much food as they wanted with access to both healthy foods and high-calorie foods.  Very quickly the rats, showed a decided preference to the junk food snacks and began to gain weight and even become obese.

    The rats showed decreased levels of a dopamine receptor which provides a feeling of reward.  The same decreased levels are reported in people addicted to drugs from nicotine to cocaine.

     Hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool in dealing with junk food cravings.  If you are concerned about unhealthy eating or junk food addiction, see a qualified hypnotherapist.  And BE WELL,

CHRONIC PAIN AND HYPNOTHERAPY

     If you are among the 100 million Americans who suffer from chronic pain, you know how debilitating it can be.  In recent years, there has been a great deal of focus and research on pain.  The Institute of Medicine reported the shocking pain numbers.  The annual cost of chronic pain, in lost productivity and in treatment is estimated at $635 billion.  In fact, 4.6 hours of productive time was lost weekly by 13 percent of workers due to pain.

     Researchers and physicians continue to try to understand chronic pain.  Most doctors now believe that chronic pain is not just a symptom but a disease in itself.  They identify a number of different causes including inflammation and genetic causes particularly on the HCN2 gene.  An even more complicated cause may be that with long term exposure to physical pain, the nerves may be hard-wired into a neurological memory.  So pain may continue to occur after the original cause is gone.

      With 26 million Americans reporting frequent back pain and 42 million Americans saying pain keeps them awake at night, sufferers are desperate for help.  Typical ways of treating chronic pain have included treatment with over-the-counter drugs (like aspirin and ibuprofen) to treat inflammation and morphine and codeine, narcotics prescribed by medical doctors to block the pain.

     Integrative medicine combines these treatments along with complementary therapies like massage, acupuncture and massage.  Studies at the Stanford University Center for Integrative Medicine indicate that medical hypnosis can reduce chronic pain.

    Before you begin any attempt to relieve pain, you need to understand why you are suffering.  Pain is a warning system.  If you have chronic pain, you need to see your medical doctor for a diagnosis.  Sometimes clients come into my office and say that they have chronic headaches.  Before I would work in hypnosis with that client, I would need a referral from a medical doctor.  The pain could be a symptom of a serious medical condition such as a brain tumor.  If, on the other hand,  the client had seen a doctor and has a referral, hypnotherapy could be a valuable tool for the pain sufferer.

    Dr. Helen Crawford at Virginia Tech says, "Hypnosis seems to eliminate or reduce the perception of pain as well as the anxiety that accompanies it.  It's as if the brain sends out a message that it does not want to feel the pain; it wants to inhibit it."  If you suffer from chronic pain, hypnotherapy can help you feel better and BE WELL. 

DIET DRINKS AND CARDIOVASCULAR RISK

    Are you still drinking diet sodas or diet fruit drinks?  Another study has confirmed risks for consuming these drinks.  Ankur Vyas, MD,a cardiovascular diseases fellow at University of Iowa Health  Care, in Iowa City, Iowa, reported on an observational study of almost 60,000 women who had an average age of 62.  He found that drinking two or more diet drinks per day resulted in a 30% greater risk of heart attack or stroke than those who rarely or never drank diet fruit drinks or diet sodas.  It is theorized that the reason for this result is that these drinks may cause metabolic syndrome and weight gain which raise the risk for heart disease.

    Thinking about giving up diet drinks?  Hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool to let go of this old bad habit and BE WELL. 

LACK OF SLEEP - RISK FACTOR FOR STROKE

    Another reason to find a solution to your insomnia - a University of Alabama, Birmingham, study found that there is more stroke risk with less sleep.  The study  of 5,666 adults was presented in 2012 at the Associated professional Sleep Societies in Boston.

     The study was conducted on adults with low sleep apnea risk ad normal body mass index.  Researchers reported that 30% of working adults who regularly sleep less than six hours per night are four times more likely to suffer a stroke than people who sleep seven or eight hours per night.  This as the first study to find that lack of sleep is an important risk factor for having a stroke.

     If you are having difficulty sleeping and are concerned about this risk, hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool to help you get the sleep and the rest you need and lessen your risk for having a stroke.  Sleep well and BE WELL.

USING HYPNOTHERAPY FOR METABOLIC SYNDROME

   A study published in DIABETES CARE reported that more than half of the participants older than 65 had metabolic syndrome.  This syndrome is a combination of symptoms including high blood glucose levels, high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, low HDL (the good) cholesterol and an apple shape large waist circumference.  Usually a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is given when you have three or more of these factors.

      These risk factors means you are five times as likely to develop diabetes, twice as likely to develop heart disease or a heart attack and twice as likely to have a stroke. Those are scary statistics.  So what can you do to protect yourself?  Since only that apple shaped waist is obvious, the first step is to find out what your other risk factors are.  So see your medical doctor to have your blood pressure read and blood work done to include, blood glucose levels, cholesterol levels and triglyceride levels.  

     If you are diagnosed with a problem with high blood pressure or in your blood work, what can you do to bring down the risk? Genetic components to risk can't be changed.  If you have a parent or sibling with diabetes, your risk is higher.  Aging is another risk for developing metabolic syndrome that you can't control.  

     But there are things you can control such as your physical activity level, your diet, and your weight.  Your medical doctor may prescribe medications to improve blood pressure, cholesterol levels and control your blood glucose. What can YOU do?  Get more active - a reasonable goal is two and a half hours a week.  You can cut down on processed food especially those high in sugar and salt.  Instead, increase your intake of vegetables, fruits, lean meats, whole grains and low-fat dairy products.  Cut the extra belly fat by adding that exercise and cutting calories.

    If you need help to get motivated to take care of yourself by exercising, making healthy food choices and losing weight, hypnotherapy can be a great tool.  A hypnotherapist can help you to avoid the health risks of metabolic syndrome and BE WELL.

MISOPHONIA AND HYPNOTHERAPY

Does the sound of listening to someone eat or even breathe really bother you.?  Anger and even high levels of anxiety to such everyday sounds may indicate you have a condition called misophonia.  Michelle R. Berman, MD, editor of the medical information site CelebrityDiagnosis.com,  has explained that misophonia usually begins at the ages of 10 to 12.  It has been observed that the closer the emotional relationship between the person reacting to a noise and the person creating the sound, the stronger the reaction level.  

     Though most experts believe misophonia cannot be cured, there are a number of treatments including, antianxiety medication, habituation therapy and cognitive therapy.  This is an issue I have worked with a number of times using hypnotherapy.  In almost every case, the client was around 10 or 11.  The cases did tend to involve the eating or breathing of a family member.  In most cases, the family member was a parent.  In one case, I recall, it was a sibling.  

    Though misophonia cannot be cured, it is certainly worth trying a treatment to relieve the symptoms.  Hypnotherapy can be of particular value because it is brief therapy and does not involve medications.  If those intimate sounds connected with eating and breathing are bothering you or a loved one, seek help and BE WELL,

REFRAMING: MAKING OLD SITUATIONS NEW WITH HYPNOSIS

      Have you ever been to a yard sale or flea market and seen an old oil painting that you liked?  Perhaps the frame is beautiful and appealing.  But often an old painting has an ugly dark frame that makes the painting dreary and unattractive.  If you love the painting, you might buy it and decide to reframe the painting in something brighter and more appealing. 

      Sometimes situations and circumstances in our lives our limited by the frames of our thoughts, ideas and attitudes.  Hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool to change the perception of the situations and circumstances to make positive changes.  You can use hypnosis to reframe a situation by reframing your thoughts about it.  It can help you to have a new positive perspective about a situation in your life. 

     A qualified hypnotherapist can help you reframe situations that you have been unable to change by yourself.  With hypnosis you can reframe your choices to choose to eat healthy foods, be comfortable speaking in public, stop smoking, exercise more or sleep through the night.  Make your life brighter and more appealing by using hypnosis to reframe old ideas, attitudes and thoughts that are keeping you from having the life of your dreams.

APPETITE CONTROL THROUGH EXERCISE

     James LeCheminant, PhD, and associate professor of exercise sciences at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, did a study of 35 women who had brain scans to figure out how their brains responded to pictures of food.  One group of scans was done after the women walked briskly on a treadmill for 45 minutes.  A second study was completed of their brains without having the women exercise first.  LeCheminant's study found that when the women had just exercised, the brain responses to the pictures of food, which were considered a marker of appetite, were reduced.  Dieting to control your weight can be difficult if you are not exercising.  Reduce your desire to eat by doing moderate exercise.  And remember, a hypnotherapy session can be a great motivator to get moving!

MEDICAL HYPNOSIS

    Guy Montgomery, director of the Integrative Behavioral Medicine program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and the leader of many studies on use of hypnosis for medical reasons once said, "Hypnosis is like a good kid with a bad reputation.  Everybody is interested, but in the back of their minds, they're thinking of Bela Lugosi."  Many people have images of hypnosis based on old movies, tv shows and comedy club hypnosis performances.  Sometimes I will meet with a first time client and they will joke, "I don't want to bark like a dog, quack like a duck or cluck like a chicken."  But people with illnesses also ask if hypnosis can be used for medical issues.

    The good news is that hypnosis used for therapeutic purposes can be a valuable tool to give clients more control over their bodies.  Over the past few years increasing studies have been done on hypnosis for medical issues. Studies have shown diminished side effects from chemotherapy after using hypnotherapy.  Medical situations such as high blood pressure, asthma attacks, hot flashes and migraine headaches have been shown to improve with the use of hypnotherapy.

     In 2012, two Swedish studies found that symptoms of irritable-bowel syndrome (IBS) eased 40% in patients after a one hour a week hypnotherapy session for twelve weeks.  The researchers reported that the positive effects could last as long as twelve weeks after the hypnotherapy.

    Over the years, I have worked with cancer patients.  These people often undergo grueling treatments including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.  These patients often work with me not only to control pain but also to control the anxiety that goes with the treatment and a frightening diagnosis. David Spiegel, a psychiatrist and director of the Center for Health and Stress at Stanford University who has studied hypnosis for 40 years, noted that "We can teach people how to manage pain and anxiety."

    Hospitals are using medial hypnosis as part of a broad program of services for their patients.  Tanya Edwards, director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic says that about half of the center's patients are referred, particularly by primary-care physicians, gastroenterologists and primary care physicians.

   Anxiety is often an underlying problem for medical issues.  Even taking the medical tests can provoke extreme anxiety in some people.  Having an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is a painless procedure unless you have a fear of enclosed spaces.  MRIs are confining and the loud banging, clanging sounds that are a part of the procedure can also cause discomfort. A bronchioscope pushed down the throat in a lung exam can be frightening as can an instrument inserted to go down your throat in an upper-GI endoscopy.  A hypnotherapy session before the test could make this much easier on the patient.

    From trying to conceive, to dealing with nausea, to delivery, hypnobirthing is a specialty of  medical hypnosis. Another specialty is dental hypnosis which is particularly valuable to patients who are phobic and have avoided the dentist for years. Preparing for surgery by doing a hypnosis session can be very valuable as well.

    In my practice, I always ask for a medical referral before working on a medical issue.  Sometimes people come in and say, "I'm having headaches.  Can you do a session for me?"  I always say that I would be happy to work with them on referral from their medical practitioner.  I certainly don't want to help disguise a serious medical issue such as a brain tumor.

    If you or a loved one has a medical issue, call a hypnotherapist to see how hypnosis could help you deal with the issue so you can BE WELL.