Why specialize in sleep disorders?
I have a 26-year history of insomnia. I went through a real medical desert of therapeutic follow-up. During these training sessions, I worked on everything that was belief. On my values, my attitudes, my behavior. And my sleep improved. So, I decided to dig deeper.
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What are the most common sleep problems?
There are almost a hundred different sleep disorders. I work on insomnia which can be classified into three categories. First, there are difficulties falling asleep, for example, a mind that never stops. There are also problems with maintaining sleep, with nocturnal awakenings. And finally, there are early awakening insomnia, with an inability to go back to sleep. I also have clients who have light sleep that does not allow for sufficient recovery and therefore, they are tired during the day.
Do people who consult you know what type of insomnia they have?
They can tell me if they are having trouble falling asleep quickly, if they wake up during the night, and from there, I refine the work and also break the beliefs related to sleep. So thinking that we absolutely must have 8 hours of sleep, that can create insomnia due to thoughts, stress related to performance. If you are energetic without fatigue all day even though you only sleep for 6 hours, that’s great. Sleep is truly something very personal. Our sleep does not necessarily correspond to that of our partner, our children, our parents, our neighbors.
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When can we say that we suffer from sleep disorders?
There are quite concrete criteria to identify insomnia. Such as taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, staying awake for more than 30 minutes during the night, sleeping less than 6h30 per night. And this difficulty must occur at least three nights a week. It’s the rule of 30 and 3.
It is often said that we sleep poorly during a full moon. Truth or myth?
Some people are more sensitive and therefore may feel more of the moon’s variations. But there are not really any scientific studies that show the impact. However, brightness can have an effect on the production of melatonin which is the sleep hormone.
Do we have more sleep problems today than before?
We have lost almost two hours of sleep since the invention of electricity, we can have daylight all the time. Before the invention of electricity, we were lit by candles and it had less impact on the body’s biological rhythm and synchronization between wakefulness and sleep. Electricity made us lose two hours of sleep. Today as well, we are increasingly solicited constantly, especially with continuous information, social media, professional pressure. Our nervous system remains in alert mode practically all the time, there is really no moment to decompress and switch to recovery mode at the end of the day and at night. The problem is not just lack of sleep, it is also the lack of true decompression moments.
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Are sleeping pills a solution for insomnia?
Sleeping pills are a crutch, they should be taken in specific situations and with medical supervision. They should be used for a few days to a maximum of a few weeks. It’s really about stabilizing a situation, a difficult grief to go through, a depression. The sleeping pill creates artificial sleep, it does not really allow for physical recovery. They cause a complete disruption of the body’s biological clock, as we introduce a molecule to take over this sleep phase.
More and more people are sleeping with sleep apnea equipment. Is this a trend?
Such equipment is a solution when there are sleep problems, sleep recovery. There are more and more people who have been diagnosed precisely because their sleep was not restorative at all. And so, these devices allow for circulation of oxygen in the body to allow for rest, restorative sleep.
During insomnia, instead of tossing and turning in bed ten thousand times, is it better to get up?
Staying awake in bed is not problematic in itself. What becomes problematic is when you start staying in bed too long with frustration and annoyance at not falling back asleep. Indeed, getting up calmly, doing a calm and gentle activity – but not turning on the lights as if it were broad daylight – can also be a good strategy. The key is not to create an association between the bed and struggling to sleep. The bed, the room should be a sacred place so that the brain correctly associates that in bed, we are calm and resting. Remaining awake calmly in bed without looking at the clock and counting the hours left to sleep, even if you are not sleeping, you are still resting while remaining calm.
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So, having a television in the bedroom is not a good idea?
Not a good idea at all. The bed should really be the place where we rest and are not mentally solicited. So long heated conversations in bed and in the bedroom, it’s not a very good idea.
What does a good night’s sleep mean to you?
A good night’s sleep does not necessarily mean a perfect night where we sleep through. A good night is one that is sufficiently restorative to feel functional and clear-headed the next day.
We often have misconceptions about hypnosis. So how would you define it?
Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness. Children up to 6-7 years old are practically always in a state of hypnosis. It is at this moment that they learn the most. We as adults also experience this hypnotic state several times a day. For example, when you drive from point A to point B and you haven’t realized the time passing because you were lost in your thoughts, that’s a state of hypnosis. It is really an altered state of consciousness. You are absorbed in a book, it is a state of hypnosis. Hypnosis allows access to unconscious mechanisms that influence our reactions, habits, behaviors.
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So, do you not sleep during a hypnosis session?
You do not sleep at all. You remain conscious and it is a very deep state of relaxation. Meditation is also a hypnotic state. Contrary to what one might think, hypnosis does not make us lose control. You remain completely aware of what is happening around you. You can move at any time or interrupt the session if something is not right or if the subconscious says “no, I’m not going to do this”.
And how does a hypnosis session to combat sleep disorders work?
It always starts with an exchange to understand what is happening with the person, their habits, their rhythms, their stress level, the thoughts they may have, the conscious thoughts. Good sleep is also about having a sense of inner security. Without inner security, the body will not let go and you will not be able to fall asleep. So, in addition to being a hypnotherapist, I am also a sleep educator and an integrative sleep hypnotherapist. I also provide an educational component to truly understand what sleep is and how people can recover the keys to their sleep. It is both a mental and physical work. Depending on the situation, I use different tools. The goal is always to understand, to soothe, and to reprogram the mechanisms that maintain sleep.
Is one session enough?
I always start by mapping out the sleep. This allows for a comprehensive view of sleep. These are questions about lifestyle habits, sleep environment, emotions, stress management, diet. Depending on this, there are often two or three levers to act on to recover a complete sleep puzzle where all the pieces fit together. And this can be from one to five sessions depending on the levers to act on.
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Can you really regain normal or at least restorative sleep through hypnosis?
Yes, with hypnosis or sleep education. Sleep is truly a biological function, an innate capacity that sometimes needs to be reacquired. Sleep does not disappear. It can simply be blocked by certain stress or hypervigilance mechanisms, by poor nutrition or lifestyle habits. The way you wake up in the morning already conditions your sleep the following night. Sleep can be disrupted for different reasons. Once the causes are addressed, we find a sleep that responds to us.
Are the effects long-lasting or do you need to come back as soon as it gets disrupted?
Having a bad night every now and then is also normal. Having a micro-awakening between sleep cycles – which are 90 to 120 minutes long – is also normal. We need to move away from this performance-oriented view of sleep.
Are there people for whom it doesn’t work?
If it doesn’t work, there may be a medical problem like sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome for example. I then refer to a doctor if I suspect it. But as long as there is no physiological problem, everyone can regain good sleep.
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Who comes to see you?
Mainly adults because I prefer to work with adults. But teenagers also have sleep problems.
Has Covid had an impact on people’s sleep?
I have been in practice for just over two years, so after Covid. But I sometimes have clients who tell me that since Covid, they have not been sleeping well. Probably because Covid has brought out a lot of anxieties. It’s a period that has also disrupted our rhythms.
If you could give our readers one piece of advice for a more peaceful sleep, what would it be?
One thing to remember is to keep the same waking time. Do not wake up one day at 7am, the next at 5am, and then on the weekend at 10am or 11am, because all of this disrupts the body’s biological rhythm and clock. In the end, the body doesn’t know whether to send cortisol, melatonin, if it’s time to sleep, to stay awake. You should also maintain regularity in meals which helps synchronize the biological clock. And then, create a transition moment before bedtime. Don’t close your work laptop and go straight to bed. It’s really about creating a kind of routine and signaling to the body and subconscious that the day is over and that we are moving into the evening and soon to the night. Finally, if there is a bad night from time to time, do not dramatize.
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