This page will broaden your knowledge of sleep and the underlying neurological, psychological and physical processes.
Quality is important - not quantity
The most comprehensive longnitudinal study into sleeping patterns involved 1.1 million people in California. It found that people who slept over 8 hours a day had a significantly shorter life span.
It is not the quantity that is important, it is the quality. If the quality of your sleep is high, then 6 to 7.5 hours per day will be totally sufficient for a healthy adult.
Most people do need sleep to help them function. For example, there is evidence that the cells in the brain reset their sodium and pottasium levels during deep sleep. However, there is an ongoing study in London (United Kingdom) that involves over 4,000 people that never sleep. What is interesting is that they seem to be mentally and physically healthy.
The quality of your sleep is highest when you are totally synchronized with your body's natural sleep cycle. This cycle is easily disrupted by a modern lifestyle with drugs such as caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, artificial light and lack of daily exercise.
Sleep is controlled by biological rhythms
There are two basic biological rhythms
Circadian Rhythms - often referred to as your body clock which cycles in periods a little more than 24 hours. A fact that can cause problems as will be explained later.
Ultradian Rhythms - These are rhythms that cycle more frequently than 24 hours. The most relevant of which is your sleep cycle which lasts around 1.5 hours. It does vary with the individual and has been measured as lasting anywhere between 75 and 120 minutes.
Circadian Rhythms
Your natural body clock has a cycle that lasts longer than a day, so to stay synchronized it needs to be regularly reset. Sunlight and habitual daily routines of exercise and eating are the principle ways to do this. Getting up and going to sleep at a regular times is important. Dull as it may seem, routine is essential to your good health.
The circadian cycle is most evident in your body temperature. Contrary to what you may have thought, this fluctuates over the day and night and has a large effect on your body's activity and consequently on sleep. Matching your daily routine to this temperature fluctuation is the single best way to reestablish a healthy sleep pattern. The 18 step insomnia program has a number of suggestions based on this principle.
Brainwaves
To understand ultradian rhythms you need to know a little about brain wave activity in the brain.
Brainwaves are the tiny electrical pulses, only a few millionths of a volt, which occur during various types of brain activity such as relaxing, learning, and thinking. Different brainwaves can occur at the same time in different parts of the brain.
They are recorded on an electroencephalograph (EEG) by placing electrodes directly onto the scalp.
Brainwaves are categorized according to their frequency, which is shown as hertz (Hz) - the number of times a wave occurs each second.
There at least 6 categories of brain waves but we are only going to discuss the main 4 that are related to sleep. If you need more detail then please see the Brainwaves page.
Gamma 38 - 90Hz
Beta 14 - 37Hz
SMR 12 - 15Hz
Alpha 8 - 12Hz
Theta 4 - 7Hz
Delta 0.5 - 3Hz
Beta Waves Fully awake and alert.
Alpha Waves Relaxed or daydreaming. Generally associated with right-brain thinking activity.
Theta Waves These waves are associated with flashes of dreamlike imagery, inspiration, and your long-forgotten memories. It is common in deep states of meditation.
Delta Waves Long, slow, undulating waves. Delta is the slowest of all four brain wave frequencies. Most commonly associated with deep sleep, certain frequencies in the Delta range also trigger the release of Human Growth Hormone and so is beneficial for healing and regeneration.
Ultradian Rhythm - Sleep Cycle
As you fall asleep the beta wave activity of your brain dies away. It moves through a brief period of more alpha activity before eventually theta waves and finally delta waves take over.
As already mentioned, sleep occurs in cycles of around 90 minutes during which types of brain activity fluctuate.
5 stages of sleep have been identified based on this brainwave activity.
Stage 1 Drowsiness The eyes are closed during Stage 1 sleep, but if aroused from it, a person may feel as if he or she has not slept. Stage 1 may last for five to 10 minutes.
Stage 2 This is a period of light sleep. There are spontaneous periods of muscle activity mixed with periods of muscle relaxation. Muscle movements of this kind can be seen in other stages of sleep as a reaction to auditory stimuli. The heart rate slows, and body temperature decreases. At this point, the body prepares to enter deep sleep.
Stages 3 and 4 These are deep sleep stages, with Stage 4 being more intense than Stage 3. These stages are known as slow-wave, or delta, sleep.
Stage 5 REM REM (Rapid Eye Movement). Brainwave activity is similar to Stage 1 but the eyes tend to move erratically beneath eyelids.
Intense dreaming occurs during REM sleep as a result of heightened cerebral activity, but the mind paralyses the muscles, possibly to keep the body from acting out the dreams and harming itself. The first period of REM typically lasts 10 minutes, with each recurring REM stage becoming longer, The final stage may last as long as an hour.
Quality sleep by definition must include deep sleep (slow wave sleep). It is deep sleep that the body establishes as soon as it falls asleep. In studies where subjects were deprived of sleep, the moment they were allowed to sleep they went rapidly into a deep sleep and stayed there longer.
The following diagram shows the cycles of sleep for a healthy adult. Notice that as the night progresses, less and less deep sleep is required and REM sleep becomes progressively longer.
Sleep Hypnosis CD
"You are right. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy sleeping ... thank you ... I would gladly recommend your sleep course ..."
Peter Seltzer
STV |
Sleep Hypnosis (3 CDs and 16 page guide)
You may not remember learning to sleep as a baby, but you did, successfully and it is all stored away in your mind. If you lie in bed at night with your mind wandering, worrying and going in circles then these CD sessions can break that pattern, so you find yourself exploring pleasant memories and thoughts and just drifting off to sleep.
We have all learnt how to sleep successfully in the past but sometimes we just get out of the habit. This CD is all about relearning what a good night's sleep really is, so you will look forward to going to bed every night. Just allow your unconscious mind take back control with these powerful hypnotic sessions.
This is far and away our best selling CD set. Hypnosis is ideally suited to the treatment of sleep disorders and we have combined it with brainwave training technology to ensure the suggestions are delivered deep into your unconscious.
You can rediscover that your sleep environment is a calm relaxing place to be. You can let your unconscious mind take back control so you will sleep soundly every night.
You won't even notice that anything happened until you wake up the next morning feeling well rested. After a week, you will notice how much more alert you are and how much more energy you have.
"I must say the CD is great. It works like a bomb..... I think I might order some more of your CD's in future."
L Botha (S Africa)
Thank you Dr.? Ralph. I spent years sleeping badly and like you say some things can just change in a moment.
P Elland (NYC)
Surprisingly this worked. I was somewhat skeptical having tried a lot of remedies, and it wasn't just me, my husband loved it. He uses it to relax after work and he wont mind me saying he is a changed man.
Mary London, UK. |
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Binaural Tone Technology™ |
Experience a deeper hypnotic trance more quickly, with specially designed sound tones that create hypnotic brain waves. |
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Advanced Hypnotherapy Suggestions |
Proven, state-of-the-art suggestions and universally accepted hypnotic language patterns developed at our London clinic. |
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Human Heart Beat |
The deeply relaxing sound of a human heartbeat captures that womb like experience for greater hypnotic effect. |
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Natural sounds help you to relax and assist your imagination. |
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Free Hypnosis Software
 Experiment with your own sounds and spoken suggestions. Simple to install on all Windows PCs.
Free Relaxation CD
 Designed to quickly relax your mind and body, 40 minutes of deep hypnotic relaxation can feel like the equivalent of several hours of quality sleep.
The main hypnotic recording teaches you to use relaxing memories, progressive muscle relaxation and breathing techniques to help you reduce stress at any time.
Free Sleep Guide
 Biological rhythms, body temperature, brainwaves, sleep cycles, exercise. diet, relaxation, breathing, light, environment, worry and mental focus.
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