Exciting news hit my email box today, so wanted to share it.  Here is the news for anyone who wants to use Hypnotherapy but through their NHS Board. 
 
Scottish Government updates guidance on complementary and alternative medicine
 
The Scottish Government has updated its guidance about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The revised guidance provides information to all NHS Boards, Special Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships in Scotland about the Professional Standards Authority’s accredited registers programme.
 
The new guidance (DL (2016) 06) was issued to update the earlier Health Department Letter (HDL) (2005) 37 and states: “the Scottish Government recognises that complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) may offer some relief to some people living with a wide variety of long term health conditions.”
 
It also makes clear that use of accredited registers such as CNHC’s: “can have a number of benefits for practitioners, patients, contracting organisations and employers; providing reassurance that professionals are subject to a level of appropriate scrutiny.”  More information about accredited registers is available on the Professional Standards Authority web site at
 
http://www.professionalstandards.org.uk/accredited-registers/about-accredited-registers/faqs
 
The update follows a meeting held in December 2014 between representatives of CNHC and the Scottish Government where the update of the HDL was discussed.
  

Maybe you’ve been struggling with anxiety and panic and you’ve tried everything: medication, progressive relaxation, meditation, exercise, deep breathing, herbs, watching TV till your eyes glaze over—and still you’re feeling nervous, irritable, unable to focus, panicky, and tense.
It could be you are simply suffering from lack of sleep.
Studies show sleep deprivation to be one of the primary contributors to anxiety problems,depression, and other psychiatric disorders. Sleep appears to be very important for emotional regulation and processing.
Experiments with sleep deprivation in humans showed that without sleep, the brain reverts back to more primitive patterns of activity. People then become less able to put emotional events into context and respond appropriately.
The amygdala is the part of the brain that prepares the body to protect itself when it perceives danger. When it senses danger, it sends a message to the prefrontal cortex, which then interprets and assesses the situation and decides whether to activate the fight, flight or freeze response.
Under normal circumstances, the amygdala and prefrontal cortex work together to respond appropriately to danger, while also keeping people from overreacting to emotional experiences. Under conditions of sleep deprivation, subjects’ amygdales and prefrontal cortexes stopped working together. Emotional centers were 60% more active, resulting in slower reflexes, increased irritation, problems with focus and concentration, and higher feelings of anxiety.
Other studies suggest that lack of REM sleep causes or worsens psychological problems. REM sleep, also known as the dreaming phase of sleep, is very important for processing emotions and memories, clearing the mind of the stressful events of the day, and dreaming. During this stage of sleep, the areas of the brain used in learning and developing new skills are stimulated.  About 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep, the first REM cycle occurs.  Ideally, you will experience three to five REM episodes per night. Getting more and better REM sleep has been shown to boost people’s moods during the day.  Fortunately, improving the quantity and quality of REM sleep you get is relatively easy.
Many experts recommend getting seven to nine hours of sleep per night, although some say that the quality of sleep is more important than quantity. Getting six hours of high-quality, uninterrupted sleep is more beneficial than eight hours of restless, interrupted sleep. You can immediately improve the quality of your sleep by making two important changes: change what you put into your body and what you do with your body, both during the day and when getting ready for sleep.
CHANGE WHAT YOU PUT INTO YOUR BODY

• Eating, drinking, and medication habits may be disrupting your sleep more than you think. Too much food, especially rich, fatty food, can keep your stomach working overtime to digest, and spicy food can cause heartburn. Too much liquid can cause numerous trips to the bathroom at night. Your first step to better sleep is to limit your intake of rich, fatty, or spicy food, especially during your evening meal. Stop eating and drinking fluids several hours before you go to bed for the night.

• Alcohol and caffeine use can also be very disruptive to your sleep cycle. Although you may feel temporarily relaxed after using alcohol, it causes you to wake up later at night, interrupting deep sleep and REM sleep. Caffeine can disturb sleep for up to ten to twelve hours after ingestion, so cut out the caffeine after lunchtime. Nicotine is another stimulant which disrupts sleep, so cut down or eliminate smoking to improve your sleep—although if you’ve been a smoker for a while, nicotine withdrawal may temporarily make it harder for you to sleep.

CHANGE WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR BODY

• Regular exercise can help you fall asleep easier and achieve better rest. It doesn’t even have to be intense or rigorous: a brisk walk or bike ride is plenty. As little as twenty or thirty minutes per day of moderate exercise can be very helpful, and you can even break your activity up into ten- or fifteen-minute segments if you wish. You will want to schedule your exercise in the morning or early afternoon, because your body needs sufficient cool-down time to sleep well.

• Set up a consistent, relaxing routine before bed. This trains your brain to recognize that it is time to wind down, making it easier for you to fall asleep. For thirty minutes to an hour before bed, find peaceful, quiet things to do to relax your body and mind. You might try things such as reading a light, entertaining book or magazine, listening to soft music or audiobooks, enjoying a hobby such as knitting or doing puzzles, or making simple preparations for the next day. A cup of hot decaffeinated, fruit or herbal tea or a glass of warm milk can also be helpful.

• Although many people use watching TV as a way to relax or fall asleep, television actually stimulates your brain rather than relaxing it. Watching disturbing, violent material on the news or prime-time shows stimulates thinking as well as your physiology. Even if you do manage to fall asleep with the TV on, the continuous flickering of the screen can interfere with your body’s clock, which is sensitive to any light. You will get higher-quality sleep with the TV and computer off. If you have a hard time getting used to sleeping without the television, try turning on soft music, a sleep sound maker, or a fan.

• Avoid napping during the day, which interferes with your body’s clock. Set up your nightly relaxation routine and stick to a consistent sleep schedule, and your quality of sleep will improve.

Getting adequate, quality sleep is extremely important for emotional regulation and processing. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to make changes in this area. If you start today, the effects can be felt almost immediately.

Hypnotherapy is a variety of alternative therapy that occurs when the patient under the influence of hypnosis. Hypnosis has gathered a myriad of fabrications in recent years; being hypnotised never allows someone to take control of you, and stage hypnotists only work through mild trance, sleight of hand and social compliance from their participant. I am a highly qualified hypnotherapist, having attained a HPD from the UK Academy of Therapeutic Arts & Sciences. My hypnotherapy treatment, based in Kirknewton, West Lothian  can help you with a variety of problems, I offer help with quitting smoking, weight control and eating issues, phobias, panic attacks, child birth and many more psychological ailments that is any problems not started by a physical problem.
My hypnotherapy is induced by talking to you, through which you will fall into what can be called a trance, you will not feel hypnotised and can walk away at any moment. The trance is no different to what most people feel every day, the moments when you are daydreaming on a bus, or watching a TV show you are not truly watching. The trance is a natural state of mind when you are slightly ‘spaced out’ and relaxed. It is while your mind is in such a relaxed state; tensions can be released and deep breathing help ease all worries. Through this stage I will talk to you about whatever problem you want to cure, talking to your sub conscious can deeply change the way you think about your habits, it helps you release all the bad habits. People were not born feeling the need to over eat or self conscious, you have gained this through experiences and through changing the way you think can help you break these habits.
I compliment all of my sessions with an MP3 to help you practice and reaffirm these relaxation techniques at home to help underpin the work done in my sessions. I strive to make you feel as comfortable as possible throughout your sessions and can tailor any session to your needs.