Many people believe insomnia means the body cannot sleep.
More often, the body can sleep but the mind won’t allow it.
You may feel exhausted all day then as soon as you go to bed your thoughts begin.
You replay conversations, plan tomorrow, imagine problems and remember things you hadn’t thought about for years. You check the clock. You try to force sleep. The harder you try, the more awake you feel.
This is one of the most common experiences people bring to hypnotherapy.
Why the Brain Stays Awake
Sleep is not something we consciously do.
It happens when the brain feels safe enough to switch off.
Your brain has a protective system designed to keep you alert when needed. When stress builds up work pressure, family responsibilities, anxiety or emotional strain and then that system remains active.
The brain believes:
“Stay awake, we still have things to solve.”
At night there are no distractions, so thoughts surface. The brain attempts to process the day but becomes stuck in a loop instead of entering REM sleep.
The 3am Wake-Up
Many people wake around 3-4am.
This is when the mind tries to process emotional experiences. If stress levels are high, the brain activates instead of settling. You wake alert and unable to return to sleep.
This leads to a cycle:
less sleep → more stress → busier mind → worse sleep
The problem becomes not sleep itself but a mind stuck in alert mode.
Why Forcing Sleep Doesn’t Work
Trying to make yourself sleep often increases frustration and anxiety. The brain interprets this as a problem needing attention, so alertness increases further.
Sleep returns when the mind no longer needs to stay vigilant.
How Hypnotherapy Helps Insomnia
Solution-focused hypnotherapy guides the brain into a relaxed trance state similar to the REM processing stage.
This allows:
- thoughts to organise
- emotional load to reduce
- the nervous system to calm
When the brain processes during the day, it no longer needs to do it at night.
Clients commonly report:
- falling asleep more easily
- fewer night wakings
- reduced racing thoughts
- waking clearer and more rested
We are not teaching sleep.
We are helping the mind feel safe enough to sleep.
Support Available
Hypnotherapy sessions are available in Bath, Paulton, Midsomer Norton and online.
If your mind becomes busiest when the world goes quiet, your brain may simply need support processing what it has been holding.
Sleep often returns once the mind no longer has to stay on guard.
Healing space and time for body and mind…