Category Archives: General

World Hypertension Day, 17 May

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World Hypertension Day was set up to highlight the health issues associated with high blood pressure for example greater vulnerability to preventable stroke, heart and kidney diseases.  High blood pressure affects 1 in 3 people but almost 50% of people don’t realise that they have the condition.  This is particularly worrying because hypertension causes 62% of all strokes and 49% of heart disease cases.
Hypertension is often referred to as ‘the silent killer’ because it may cause no symptoms for a long time.  Most common symptoms are: 
  •  Chronic headaches
  • Dizziness or vertigo
  • Blurry or double vision 
  •  Drowsiness and general tiredness
  • Shortness of breath
  • Heart palpitations
If you any combination of these symptoms or think you may have high blood pressure it is important to consult your doctor.  
A complementary approach to the treatment of high blood pressure is Hypnotension ©.   The Hypnotension approach aims to help anyone with primary/essential hypertension to lower their blood pressure naturally.  The treatment puts the client back in control by identifying and addressing the lifestyle factors that contribute to hypertension.  Each client is assessed and a treatment plan devised to effectively address the factors that contribute to the client’s high blood pressure.
You can find Hypnotension practitioners in the UK, Australia and many other countries. 

Sleep – why is it so important?

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This weekend in the United Kingdom, we moved to British Summer Time and lost an hour’s sleep.  I’ve blogged about sleep a lot but I’m not apologising – it’s important.   I run courses designed to help people overcome sleep problems and when I mention this to other people I can guarantee that they say “I wish I could come on that” which just shows how common sleep issues are.
Common problems are short or interrupted sleep and these can be caused by a variety of issues such as stress, life events, environmental factors and medication.  Adults sleep on average about 7 hours a night and this can become less as we grow older.  This is much less than people slept in pre-industrial, pre-electric lighting times.  
Prolonged periods of short or interrupted sleep can lead to physical and mental health problems.  One problem relates to weight control.  Lack of sleep elevates the creation of the hormone ghrelin*.  This forces up the consumption of carbohydrate by up to 35-40% which can lead to weight gain.  Individuals with restricted sleep tend to be heavier.
Poor sleep can also affect the immune system.  Natural killer cell activity is down by 28% after one night’s disrupted sleep.  Levels of cancer are higher in people with disrupted sleep and shift workers.  A study of medical students in America, who work long and irregular hours, have shown that it impairs performance and can lead to accidents at work and at home.
There are some simple things you can do to get a better night’s sleep.  Start with your bedroom environment and make your bedroom a sleep haven.  Make sure your bedroom is cool, dark and well ventilated.  Remove the TV and computer from the bedroom.
If it is worry or stress that is keeping you awake, there are lots of techniques that you can learn to use such as breathing techniques, visualisation and meditation. Consider seeing a hypnotherapist for some help.
Sleep well!
 *Sleep: A Very Short Introduction, 2012 by Stephen W Lockley and Russell G Foster

Dealing with Horrible Bosses

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The recently released comedy film, Horrible Bosses, proposes an extreme solution for dealing with  a boss who bullies you, makes sexual advances or is just incompetent.  The three friends coping with these horrible bosses are unable to quit their jobs so they plot to kill them.  Inevitably their plans go wrong but, being a movie, it all turns out well in the end.

If you are having problems with your manager at work, you’re not alone.  In a survey by MIND earlier in the year,  respondents identified work as their highest source of stress and 48% were scared to take time off sick.  20% believed that if they mentioned their stress levels to their boss they would be first in line for redundancy. So what can you do?

If you are being bullied, you should check your company’s policies on bullying in the workplace.  Is there a Trade Union or Staff Association that you can consult?  Is there a welfare officer that you can talk to in confidence.  If you are starting to get symptoms of stress (eg palpitations, higher blood pressure, poor sleep, loss of appetite etc) you may need to talk to your doctor or another health professional.

There are simple NLP techniques that you could try to reduce the impact of the experience.  For example: if, when you think about your boss, you see an image of him/her that is big and close to you, try making that image smaller, turn it black and white and push the image as far away from you as possible so that it becomes less and less important.  To completely get rid of the feeling, you can add a red nose, Mickey Mouse ears and a spinning bow the to the image

For some people, when they think about their boss, they hear their voice loud and close to them making derogatory remarks.  If you experience that, move that voice further away by reaching out your arm and putting the voice at the tip of your thumb.  For extra effect change the sound of the voice to Mickey Mouse – it will definitely feel less serious!

Successful Revision

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When I was at school (cue violins!) not much was known about individual learning styles.  As a result, we were all taught the same way, sitting at desks, looking at the blackboard and listening to the teacher.  The only experimentation that went on was in the science lessons, dissecting cow’s eyes and constructing milk bottle xylophones.
So much more is known now through advances in neuroscience.  We know that we all receive information through our five senses but what varies is that we will favour one sense above the others.  If you favour visual information, the blackboard and book approach will be ok.  But if you if your preferred input is kinaesthetic, ie what you touch and feel, you will learn better by experiences and experiments.
Our learning is also affected by our personality traits.  Some people like ‘big picture’ information while others learn better from detail.  Extraverts like group discussions and making presentations while introverts prefer individual study.
If you are revising for exams at the moment, here are some tips to make your study more effective:
1.      If you have been revising and the information isn’t sticking, try something different.  If you are very visual, mind maps will be useful.  If you prefer sounds to images, try recording your revision notes and listening back to them.  If you are kinaesthetic, try walking with your notes or tracing key words in the air with your finger.
2.      Exercise first thing in the morning to increase your brain power.  Exercise increases levels of hormones that are important to neurotransmitters and generates new brain cells.  Study the subject you find most difficult after exercise.
3.      Have some peppermint or rosemary essential oil in your revision room.  Both scents have been shown to stimulate the brain.  If you find it helpful, you can put some on a tissue to take into the exam room.
4.      Baroque music is frequently used by trainers as background music to aid learning.  You can try playing Bach, Handel or Vivaldi while you are studying.
5.      Have a laugh!  The Von Restorff Effect predicts that material that is outstanding in some way is easier to remember.  That distinctiveness can come in the form of humour or by making something bizarre or funny.  So if you are having trouble remembering something see if you can put it into a joke or cartoon or make a humorous mnemonic for it.
Good Luck!

Archers to Ashes

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Buffy Davis who plays Jolene
Regular listeners to the Archers will know that Jolene, the landlady of The Bull, is trying to give up smoking but is not doing very well.  Part of the problem is her motivation – or lack of it.  Her new boyfriend, Kenton, is the person who wants her to give up and is bribing her with a trip to Monte Carlo.
It’s not enough for someone else to want you to give up smoking.  To be successful at becoming a non-smoker, you need to be self-motivated.  Motivation comes from your values, the things that get you up in the morning.  Good motivators can be connected to your health, your family, your finances or your future plans.
Once you’ve got your motivation sorted out, you need to think about your beliefs.  Some beliefs are enabling and help you to achieve your goals eg “I can do this because I’m a strong person” or “I’ve done difficult things before and I can do this now”.  Other beliefs are limiting and don’t support what you want to do eg “Nothing has worked in the past so it won’t work now” or “I’m weak-willed so it won’t last”.  You can change your limiting beliefs for positive ones or you can choose not to believe them.  The first step is becoming aware of them.
So come on Jolene, you’re a strong woman, what will motivate you to stop smoking?

Happy Easter!

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The weather’s lovely, there’s a long weekend to enjoy and I can start eating chocolate again!  Every year I give up chocolate for Lent and, as I love chocolate in all its forms, it is a real trial.  I did have a piece of chocolate cake on my birthday but I think that’s allowable.  The first mouthful of Easter egg will be fantastic.
As an NLP practitioner and a hypnotherapist I do have some techniques that help to control the craving.  I could use an aversion technique, which is very effective, but I want to eat chocolate in the future so I won’t do that.
A really useful technique for controlling any sort of craving is ‘spinning’.  Feelings often start in the tummy area and move upwards in a circular motion.  If you reverse that motion you can reduce feline.  Follow these steps the next time you have an unwanted craving.
1.       As you start to experience the feeling of craving, notice where it starts and how it moves in a particular direction.  Connect the end to the beginning so that you have a spinning circle. 
2.       If that feeling had a colour, what colour would it be?
3.       Move that spinning circle outside your body and notice the speed it spins at.
4.       Now, slow down the spinning and reverse the direction of the spin
5.       Change the colour to the colour of calmness.
6.       Bring that calm circle back down into your body.
7.       Notice how the feeling of craving has reduced or gone.
Have a Happy and Peaceful Easter

Mind over Matter

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Last week the BBC reported a remarkable new piece of research being carried out by Nottingham Trent University into the treatment of arthritis (Mind tricks may help arthritic pain).  The technology, called ‘Mirage’ started off as a research project into the way our brains put together what we see and feel happening in our bodies but, after a woman with arthritis reported relief from the symptoms, the scope of the research has been extended..

“For the illusion to work patients place their hand inside a box containing a camera, which then projects the image in realtime onto a screen in front of them.  The subject then sees their arthritic fingers being apparently stretched and shrunk by someone gently pushing and pulling from the other side of the box.”

Twenty volunteers diagnosed with arthritic pain in their hands and fingers were recruited by the University to test out the process.

“Before starting the test they were asked to rate their pain from 0-20, with 0 indicating no pain and 20 representing the most unbearable pain they could imagine….The study showed a marked reduction in pain – on average halving the discomfort for 85 per cent of volunteers.  Some reported greater reduction in pain for stretching, some for shrinking and some for both.

The pain reduction worked only when painful parts of the hand were “manipulated” and for a third of the volunteers it temporarily eliminated the pain altogether.  Anecdotally, many volunteers also reported an increased range of movement. The results will be reported in the next edition of the medical journal, Rheumatology.” (Anthony Bartram, BBC 2011)

Our minds find it hard to differentiate between what we physically experience and what we see or visualise.  There are a number of NLP and hypnosis techniques that work on this principle.  Using visualisation as part of a therapy, I can help clients to change their experience of pain and improve their physical performance.

All of this is exciting news for the 10 million people who suffer from some form of arthritis, particularly those who don’t like taking drugs or don’t experience any pain relief from them.

Visiting Japan

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Last October I was very lucky to have a holiday in Japan.  It was somewhere I had wanted to go for many years and I decided not to put it off any longer.  I had always thought I would go there for cherry blossom time in the Spring but, after I read an article about how beautiful the Autumn colours are in Japan, I changed my mind.  In the light of recent events it was a very fortunate decision.
The trip far exceeded my expectations.  The gardens and temples in Kyoto were awe inspiring.  I had never heard of the island of Miyajima, just off of the coast of Hiroshima.  It was so beautiful, the mountains, the forests, the wild deer in the streets and the floating Torii gate.  I also went to Iga Ueno and did some ninja training, really, I have the certificate!
I was surprised how easy it was to use public transport and navigate around the cities and the countryside.  Japanese people in restaurants, shops and on the streets were generally helpful, polite and charming.
It has been shocking to watch the news reports of the earthquake and tsunami.  Although the areas I visited were not affected, the scenery and houses look very familiar.  I can’t even imagine how you start to clear up and recover from that sort of devastation but I think everyone has been impressed by the calmness and dignity of the Japanese people.
 I hope to go back Japan sometime and visit some new places but in the meantime my thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected.

Growing Pains

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As soon as the sun starts to warm up in the Spring, the urge to get outside is overwhelming.  Yesterday I rushed out into the garden to mow the lawn, pull out the weeds and prune the bushes.  All that pushing, pulling and bending without doing any warm-up exercises inevitably leads to aches and pains the next day.  Sounds familiar?
If you have severe back pain after you have been gardening you may need to consult your doctor.  If you have an annoying ache, there’s a simple NLP technique developed by Richard Bandler that you might like to try.  You may prefer to have someone else ask you the questions so that you can concentrate on the answers.
1.       If your pain had a shape, what shape would it be?
2.       If your pain had a colour, what colour would it be?
3.       If the background had a colour, what colour would it be?
4.       If you were to make the shape the same colour as the background, would it need to get lighter of darker?
5.       Now make the shape lighter/darker until it’s the same colour as the background, so that you can only just make out the faint outline of the shape.
6.       Now make it smaller and smaller until it’s as small as it can possibly be before it disappears.
7.       Now make it smaller still so that you can look at the background and find that the shape has gone.
8.       If healing had a colour what would it be?  Allow that colour to flow all over the background.  Flowing all over from top to bottom and side to side, everywhere that it needs to flow for your back to feel completely comfortable and free from that feeling that you had.  And when it’s done you can relax completely.
Happy gardening.

Save 5

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I met T Sandeman-Charles at Royston Business Network last week.  She is a lovely, cheerful, passionate woman who wants to save 50,000 lives.  T has two serious lung diseases and will soon need a lung transplant but she knows that there are a limited number of suitable donors.  T says that she will die smiling if she is able to recruit 10,000 organ donors who could then save or benefit 50,000 lives.
“As to how I feel about having these 2 diseases now.  Well in truth I now know why I have these 2 diseases.  It is because if I didn’t, Save5 would never exist and the fact that I will, with the help of others registering online, mean that we could save or transform a minimum of 5,000 lives – I’ve come to terms with having the diseases now – no matter what the outcome is for me. “
Another member of RBN said that she has a friend who is waiting for a transplant.  It raised the spirits of the whole family when the hospital contacted them to say that they might have a suitable organ.  A bit of hope can really improve the outcome for someone in this situation.
So if you haven’t yet registered to be an organ donor visit www.save5.org.ok and ”Join and Be Proud”.
Pat