Do you like the idea of cleaning in your sleep?

On paper it sounds like a fabulous issue to have!

Imagine this – You go to sleep with the house a bit of a mess, and wake up in the morning with everything magically put away and cleaned up – as if Mary Poppins and her tidy up fairies have actually visited in the night.

But, for Anita the reality of this issue was far from fabulous. Her unusual night time activity of dusting in the dark was causing havoc with her health and her out of control tiredness levels had a seriously damaging effect on her ability to focus properly, think clearly and stay on top of her work.

Anita, came to see me and described her very unusual issue to me, and I had never heard of anything this severe. I had dealt with sleep talkers and sleep walkers in the past, but this was so different, I was very much intrigued!

This was not the usual kind of sleep walking, but actually full on getting out of bed and apearing to be fuly wide awake, but actually not at all consciously aware. In this state of unconscious awareness, she would regularly go downstairs, mop floors, load and unload the dishwasher, put the washing in the machine, clean, dust and tidy up.

One night her husband discovered her with a plugged in, burning hot iron in her hand and when he realised she was actually not fully awake and consciously aware of what she was doing they decided enough was enough.

Anita found out she had a very severe case of Parasomnia. This is a term to describe unusual behaviour and activity performed during the deep sleep phase of the brain.

In a healthy functioning sleeping brain there is a switch that gets activated while we move into deep sleep that causes sleep paralysis – which means ordinarily we stay in our bed and don’t really move very much at all.

However with Parasomnia, this paralysis switch does not activate and means that Anita and sufferers of Parasomnia may not necessarily stay still and remain in bed as they should, they can become fully active physically, but not always consciously.

Parasomnia can be exacerbated by stress and this negative sleep habit causes further sleep deprivation which adds to the cycle of stress in the system and this can unfortunately become a very difficult sleep ‘habit’ to break.

Anita was on This Morning last week talking about it – it’s a fantastic watch if you have a few minutes spare (the video link is here and also at the end of this blog).

Hypnotherapy helps with Parasomnia

Anita was given a Sleep Hypnosis Audio to listen to as part of her sessions, which she began to use every night. As well as coming along to her weekly sessions of hypnotherapy to help her relax enough and let go of any unwanted stress in her stress bucket.

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy works wonders on the subconscious signalling system of the mind mind to fix and repair the faulty communication inside the brain.

Hypnotherapy helped Anita get control over her daytime stress levels as well which meant that her sleep quality also began to improve over time and the sleep functioning systems went back to normal.

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy also helps break any repetitive cycle of negative habits – not just sleep habits, but any habit that has formed that a client wants to stop because it is not helpful to them.

Meet Anita – She is such a good ambassador for how Hypnotherapy works so well to help you get your life and you sleep back in order.

I think she even has a cleaner now! (Well, I really hope she does!)

Listen to Anita’s fascinating story on THIS MORNING!

Find out how Hypnotherapy can help you

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can help with so many common issues as well as more unusual ones, like Anita’s.

If you would like to have a chat with me to see if Solution Focused Hypnotherapy may be a good fit and solution for you or somebody you know – Do remember you can find me in person in the Cotswolds at The Cotswold Practice near Stroud.

You can also book an Initial Consultation Online via Zoom Sessions anywhere in the world from the comfort of your own home.

For now, enjoy sleeping deeply in your bed, and remember there are some people out there that can’t do this naturally – I do hope you are not one of them!

Much love & sweet dreams,

Dipti x