Tag Archives: health

Links found between stress and autoimmune conditions.

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Pretty much everyone will experience severe stress or a major trauma at some point in their life. Going through a divorce, experiencing the death of a loved one, being in a serious accident or witnessing violence or abuse are all life stressors which can have a significant impact.

Many people manage to recover from such deep hurtful experiences. But some develop stress disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or ongoing chronic anxiety disorders. The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) says it is important to reduce anxiety as research shows that prolonged exposure to cortisol and other stress-related hormones can cause memory problems, weaker bones, increased blood pressure and can even reduce fertility as well as impacting negatively upon immune functioning.

A study published last month by researchers from the University of Iceland found an association between stress-related conditions such as anxiety and PTSD and autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, coeliac disease, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

This study confirms prior work in the area which found a correlation between PTSD and lupus, in 2016 Healthline reported on the link between RA and PTSD, a link has been uncovered between RA and 9/11 first responders and in 2008 a study was published which indicated that up to 80% of patients who were diagnosed with an autoimmune disease reported uncommon emotional stress before disease onset.

Supporting the call for better mental health care, the National Council for Hypnotherapy says that about one in seven people are suffering from stress or anxiety at any one time in the UK currently.

 “Stress really affects long-term health,” said the lead author, Dr. Huan Song, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Iceland. “It affects not only psychiatric health, but leaves people vulnerable to other diseases. There are many treatments now available for stress-related disorders, and it’s important for people to get treatment early.”

Clinical hypnotherapy has a proven record in treating anxiety, stress, PTSD and other similar issues successfully, with the hypnotherapist working in partnership with the client to identify and treat those ‘triggers’, allowing the person understand them and cope with them in the future.

In some cases, a therapist could use cognitive hypnotherapy or analytical hypnotherapy, both of which function on a deeper level than suggestion hypnotherapy and are able to work with the unconscious mind so that negative beliefs which were built up during the trauma can be explored and alleviated.

To find someone who can help you manage your stress, use the NCH directory, which lists therapists near you. Your health could be at stake.

Is losing weight a struggle?

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A lot of us are overweight to some degree, or simply unhappy with our bodies.

Social media is the place where we compare our lives and bodies to those of strangers, and cashing in on this dissatisfaction, the diet industry is an ever growing mega-billion pound industry.  We all know the basic equation for weight loss goes a little something like this: eating less food + more exercise = lose weight but it’s difficult to keep the weight off and it’s now been documented now that diets often don’t work in the long term. In Weight Watchers’ own studies, the average person will reduce their body weight by around 5% after six months, but within two years a third of that will return. And while the exercise part still stands, a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests weight loss actually has a lot less to do with smaller portion sizes and reduced calorie intake than we first thought.

The study, published this week in the academic journal JAMA, showed that dieting individuals who reduced their consumption of added sugars, highly processed foods and refined grains while focusing on increasing their vegetables and whole foods, lost significant amounts of weight over the course of a year without counting calories or limiting the size of portions.

The National Council for Hypnotherapy says hypnotherapy has a proven track record in helping people manage weight through creating healthy self-management techniques by changing negative habits.  Rather than just reducing calories with a diet plan that you are unlikely to stick to long term, hypnosis gets you in touch with the reasons why you unconsciously eat. If you are the type of person that struggles to stop after a small piece of chocolate and feels compelled to finish the packet then working with a hypnotherapist can help you understand why, and help you create new healthy self-management techniques.

Healthy and sustainable weight loss takes time and sustained habit changes.  By sticking to their eating plans for a year both groups from the study demonstrated significant weight loss even though they didn’t worry about their calorie intake. Those in the low-fat group lost about 11.7 pounds on average, while the members of the low-carb group lost a little more than 13 pounds. Individuals in both groups also showed improvements in other important health markers such as reduced body fat, lower blood sugar, improved blood pressure levels and decreased waist size.

“Hypnotherapy for weight loss is about changing your habit with food for the rest of your life, so unlike crash diets it changes the root of your compulsive eating or lack of interest in exercise so you are free to enjoy the rest of your life – eating and exercising sensibly without having to think about it,” adds the NCH.

“After a session you may feel uplifted, lighter and very relaxed. Often change is very subtle, as your hypnotherapist will be working with you subconscious mind, and you may just notice a very positive shift in how you are feeling,” says the NCH.

Search for a qualified hypnotherapist near you now and take control of your eating habits.

 

 

Is health anxiety harming you?

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Do you worry that you have a serious, undiagnosed medical condition?  The number of people in the UK suffering from health anxiety is rising.  Many of us are guilty of Googling a symptom when we have a cold or worrying that a sore throat may be something worse; but health anxiety is more than that. People affected by health anxiety have repeated, obsessive thoughts that they have (or will have) a physical illness.  The most common health anxieties tend to centre on conditions such as cancer, HIV, AIDs, etc. However, the person experiencing health anxiety may fixate on any type of illness.

According to the NHS, people with health anxiety have obsessively anxious thoughts about their health. They frequently check their body for signs of illness and are always asking people for reassurance that they’re not ill.  Often the physical symptoms of anxiety become signs of an impending and life-threatening health problem.

The distress and negative impact upon lives that health anxiety can cause is real, with sufferer’s worrying that their GP may have misdiagnosed them.  This preoccupation impacts negatively upon their lives, affecting work, study and relationships because of the constant need to seek reassurance about their health.

The National Council for Hypnotherapy notes that our society is one where great demands and responsibilities are placed on us and while some people manage, more and more people are showing signs of stress and anxiety which can make a significant impact on the quality of life and wellbeing.  Last year a report was released which found that mental health issues were the most common reason for people to take time off work.  Anxiety can also manifest itself in different worries, explains the NCH. “It may be fear of being around other people; it may be anxiety in specific social situations, anxiety in your relationships with particular people at home, at school or at work.

Working with a hypnotherapist may help you feel more confident and more at ease about things which have previously been challenging for you says the NCH.

“Hypnotherapy unlocks the potential you have to break free of negative thought patterns, and to react more positively and more confidently to situations in your life that may have previously made you anxious.”

To contact your nearest NCH-registered therapist and start the process of shedding your anxieties, simply click here.

Sticking to your resolve…

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How are you progressing with your New Year’s resolutions?

According to a survey conducted by health insurance company Bupa in 2015, 66% of you will have thrown in the towel already.  Making changes towards a healthier lifestyle is the most common resolution but it really doesn’t matter what your resolutions were, it’s not too late to get yourself back on track and achieve your goals in 2018.

According to the BBC, research indicates that we are more likely to be successful at achieving our resolutions if they are aimed at recovering something (a skill, activity or level of fitness for example) that we used to have, rather than looking to add something new to our repertoire.  Here are some tips to help you get back (and stay) on track:

  • Make sure your goal is something that’s really important to you. This may sound obvious, but sometimes we make resolutions to change things to make other people happy.  Connect with the essence of your goal; how will achieving it improve your life, what impact will it make?
  • Enlist the support of your family and friends. This helps you stay accountable and it also means that you’ve got someone else to offer you a different perspective or give encouragement when your motivation starts to flag.
  • Expect that your motivation levels will fluctuate throughout the process. It’s unlikely that you’ll wake up every day with the energy and motivation to pursue your goals.  Sometimes the motivation comes after you start doing the work.  Connect back to why your goal is important to you to help get through those times.
  • Break your resolution down into smaller, measurable goals. As the NHS explain here, having small sub-goals linked to motivating rewards can make you more likely to stay on track.
  • Keep track of your progress. It doesn’t matter how you do it, it could be a journal or a computer spreadsheet or a series of pictures. Make yourself a record of your progress for those days when you just don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere.

If you still feel like you’re struggling to achieve your goals, hypnotherapy can help.  It has been clinically researched and found to be effective for a wide range of lifestyle and habit changes from quitting smoking to weight loss and boosting self-esteem.

The reason why hypnotherapy works so rapidly with bad habits and behaviours is because it works directly with your subconscious, bypassing the critical mind and getting to the root of the issue so that changes can be made that support your goals quickly and efficiently.

Depending on what you are seeing the therapist for, they will assess your habit and work with you using a range of techniques to help you achieve your resolutions.

Have a look at the National Council for Hypnotherapy’s directory to find a hypnotherapist near you and take a step towards achieving this year’s resolutions today!

Is your acid reflux medicine damaging your health?

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Hypnotherapy can help

You might have noticed after the excesses of Christmas that you developed a bad case of heartburn.  Left unchecked heartburn can progress and become acid reflux or GERD, illnesses which cause stomach acid to move up into your esophageus. Acid reflux raises the risk of cancer of the throat, tonsils and sinuses in older people, a study has found.  Worryingly, taking remedies for acid reflux may further increase your risk of cancer. Research published last month revealed regularly taking heartburn pills could double your chances of getting stomach tumours.

GERD is thought to affect 10 to 30 percent of the population, more frequently in patients who are obese and elderly. And cancers of the respiratory and upper digestive tracts account for more than 360,000 deaths worldwide each year.  The scientists, from the University College of London and the University of Hong Kong found that using proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) which are freely available over the counter in the UK significantly increases the risk of contracting stomach cancer.

Often, physical conditions are exacerbated by underlying stress or anxiety.  By taking action to relieve the root causes of stress and anxiety in your life you may find that you experience a significant reduction in your acid reflux or GERD symptoms.  Hypnotherapy can be an effective treatment for heartburn and other stomach conditions.  A recent article in Medscape suggests that GERD is form of brain-gut dysregulation and that by working with the mind, researchers were able to reduce abnormal acid secretion under hypnosis.

Also, when you’re in the hypnotic state, a lot of defenses come down, and the brain does open up to the possibility of controlling symptoms better. That’s why we use hypnosis—because it gives that subconscious messaging.

The National Council for Hypnotherapy has a register of qualified practitioners from around the UK who can help.  Find a therapist near you and start to feel better.

 

The newest healthy living trend: Sleep

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Insomnia is thought to affect one in 3 people in the UK, with sufferers finding it difficult to get to sleep, having interrupted sleep, waking early, and having difficulty concentrating and feeling tired and irritable during the day. With the … Continue reading →