Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ)
Sleep bruxism or teeth grinding
"Sleep disorders" is a fairly loose term. It encompasses symptoms that occur during sleep or that affect sleep itself. And the problems often overlap. Often jaw clenching (TMJ) or teeth grinding comes with sleep apnea. Sleep apnea (before you go through a sleep study) may seem like insomnia. Many people don't know where normal fatigue ends and hypersomnia begins.
However, if you find that you have trouble falling asleep (whether not feeling tired or feeling distracted by racing thoughts), trouble staying asleep, trouble awaking refreshed in the morning, or some sort of tooth or jaw damage from nighttime clenching, read on. This section is for you.
Insomnia can mean that you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. If you experience problems in going to sleep, there are a number of possible manifestations:
- You don't feel tired enough to sleep until late at night
- Your mind races with regrets about the past or worries about the future
- You lie in bed without anything particular in mind and don't fall asleep
- You keep getting out of bed finding things that you want to get done
- You delay going to bed (possibly because you're afraid it will be difficult)
I am surprised how often clients come to me who have forgotten how to fall asleep. Starting as young children or some times in college or some other stressful time in adulthood, they learn to stay up until they are tired enough to fall asleep. The problem is that they aren't falling asleep -- they're passing out from exhaustion!
Overactive mind is also a frequent issue among my clients. Sleep is supposed to be a time to process the 60,000 new pieces of sensory information you accumulated during the day. Some of us get so obsessed with worry that we give our subconscious the additional task of trying to solve issues for which it doesn't have enough information nor control. This can delay falling asleep because our subconscious is overwhelmed with the task and wants to give it back to our conscious mind to handle.
Insomnia responds very well to hypnosis. Most of my clients get immediate results after one or two sessions. After sleep improves, I usually recommend one refresher a week later.
Sleep apnea has a lot of variations, but the most common one is obstructive sleep apnea. Someone with sleep apnea as often as every few seconds or hundreds of times per night stops breathing for a few seconds, gasps and wakes slightly, and continues breathing normally for a while and goes back to sleep. Since the person with sleep apnea likely snores as well, the person or his or her bed partner may not notice the breath interruption amid the snoring sounds.
Although sleep apnea has a variety of possible causes
- overweight, obesity
- post-traumatic stress syndrome
- post-menopausal hormone imbalances
- asthma
- brain injury or cancer
hypnotherapy can often help to reduce or eliminate the symptoms of sleep apnea. The disorder exists in a very deep level of the brain, however, so deep trance is required to effectively treat it. So if you are part of the approximately ten percent of the population who can go into deep trance easily, you are likely to get good results fast, after one or two sessions. Other clients may need 6-8 sessions before reaching a deep enough trance. Consultation with your doctor is highly recommended.
If you think you may have sleep apnea, get a positive diagnosis first (a sleep study will usually be required). If you have already been diagnosed, whether or not you are on forced oxygen, talk to your doctor about hypnotherapy as an adjunct to whatever therapy he or she recommends. You do not want to wait. Research has shown that sleep apnea is connected with the following more serious problems:
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (part of NIH) has a nice summary of hypersomnia (some times called Excessive Daytime Sleepiness or EDS). It is often related to narcolepsy, sleep apnea, or other disorders. It is characterized by frequent naps during the day or excessive sleep at night (often over 10 hours).
Many teenagers and some younger children going through a growth spurt may find themselves sleeping longer, but hypersomnia sufferers often do not feel refreshed after sleep, no matter how long the nighttime sleep or how frequent the naps.
Hypnotherapy for hypersomnia can vary greatly in treatment length, and it is not recommended for patients with narcolepsy.
All of these terms refer to clenching the jaw and/or grinding the teeth during sleep, though TMJ can also be experienced during the day and may involve the jaw locking open instead or as well. Because there is a strong neurological component to these conditions, they often respond to hypnotherapy, though research suggests that deeper trance produces more dramatic results especially for bruxism.
Often, a doctor or dentist will suggest the use of an appliance to be worn in the mouth at night to help preserve the teeth. If this or any therapy is in use, consultation with your health provider is highly recommended. Since complete cures of the disorder seem to come only through deep trance work, the number of sessions you require to get significant relief with hypnotherapy will vary greatly, depending on your level of trance.