DO YOU KNOW YOUR PHYSICAL STRESS SIGNALS?

Stress and the anxiety it causes may be experienced in many different ways. Although often people describe their anxiety as feeling “stressed out”, “down in the dumps” or just “so anxious”, there are a large number of symptoms of stress and anxiety. These symptoms can be experienced physically, mentally, emotionally and behaviorally.

Often, the first stress signals that people experience are physical symptoms. It is unlikely that you will experience all of them. Check to see if you have any of these physical responses to stress.

SLEEP PROBLEMS

FATIGUE

HEADACHES

HEART PALPITATIONS

DIZZINESS AND LIGHT-HEADEDNESS

SHORTNESS OF BREATH

WEAKNESS IN LEGS

LUMPS IN THE THROAT OR DIFFICULTY SWALLOWING

SKIN FLAIR-UPS

HOT OR COLD FLASHES AND CHILLS

MUSCLE TENSION

CHANGES IN APPETITE

Most of these symptoms are perfectly normal when understood as the body’s response to a perceived threat. To learn more about these physical stress signals and find tools for relieving them, check out my book, THE ANXIETY TOOLBOX, available on Amazon in eBook and paperback and free on Kindle Unlimited.

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS OF STRESS AND ANXIETY

It is likely you have heard of the fight or flight syndrome. When a person experiences stress, the body releases adrenalin and cortisol, which causes the body to respond to a perceived threat by trying to fight which today is more likely to be verbal than physical or flee usually by avoiding the threat. A problem with the boss or a quarrel with a partner is not the same as being hunted by a tiger. But the body responds in exactly the same way.

In my book, THE ANXIETY TOOLBOX, are detailed descriptions of a dozen physical health symptoms which may be triggered by stress. It is unlikely that you will experience all of them. But you may experience some of them. They include: sleep issues including insomnia or wanting to sleep all the time, fatigue, headaches, heart palpitations, dizziness and light headedness, shortness of breath, weakness in legs, lumps in the throat or difficulty swallowing, skin flair-ups like acne, eczema and psoriasis, hot or cold flashes and chills, muscle tension and changes in appetite. All of these can also be indications of other health issues so share your concerns with a medical professional.

Stress and anxiety can also trigger mental symptoms including lack of focus and concentration, fast thinking, constant worrying, negative self-talk, and catastrophic thinking. Stress can trigger a number of emotional responses including anxiety, irritability, anger, emotional hyper-vigilance, feeling overwhelmed and being unable to cope, depression and low self-esteem and self-worth. In order to deal with the stress and anxiety, some people adopt negative behaviors that are harmful to themselves or others. Overeating, substance abuse, over-sleeping, over-use of electronics, obsessive or compulsive behavior, procrastination and being over-controlling are some of the negative behaviors sometimes triggered by stress and anxiety.

If you are experiencing physical symptoms or negative thoughts, emotions and behaviors as ways to control stress and anxiety, know there are better methods to deal with the stresses in your life. Don’t suffer. Be guided by your doctor to find the help you need. Start to build a toolbox of positive tools to make the changes you want and need to relieve your stress and anxiety.

Medical Uses for Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis is well-accepted in the medical community. Many highly regarded hospitals and medical centers have hypnotherapy departments. The Mayo and Cleveland Clinics have web sites where you can learn more about hypnosis, hypnotherapy and their programs for pain control, hot flashes, cancer treatment side effects, behavior changes such as insomnia, overeating, bed-wetting and smoking and mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress, phobias and anxiety.

HYPNOSIS FOR ANXIETY AND TO LESSEN DEMENTIA RISK

   If you experience high anxiety regularly, you have a higher risk of developing dementia.  Andrew J. Petkus, a PhD research associate at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, reported on a 28 year study of people who reported experiencing high anxiety.  Those people were found to have a 48% higher risk of developing dementia than those who reported low levels of anxiety.

    The researchers noted that chronic anxiety is a precursor to higher levels of stress hormones.  In turn, those hormones can damage the parts of the brain involved with memory.  If you suffer from chronic anxiety, get help.  Your first step is to talk to your doctor about the right treatment for you which may include psychotherapy, anti-anxiety medications or alternative therapies such as acupuncture and herbal treatments.

    Hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool to treat chronic anxiety either as a stand-alone treatment or as an adjunct therapy to medication or psychotherapy. Self-hypnosis can also be useful in dealing with anxiety. I released THE ANXIETY TOOLBOX by Jennifer Johnson on Amazon in November 2020 which includes self-hypnosis scripts you can read and make your own recordings to lessen your anxiety and dementia risk.

RELIEVE ANXIETY AND REDUCE STROKE RISK WITH HYPNOSIS

   Anxiety is not only uncomfortable for a person suffering its symptoms.  It also can cause significant health risks  According to the National Comorbidity Survey as many as one in four of the men and women in the United States may experience an anxiety disorder ranging from a phobia to panic attacks to long-term chronic anxiety such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

    Most people have a general awareness of symptoms of anxiety disorders which may include over-whelming fear, avoidance of certain places or situations, worry about situations, avoidance of situations, having sleep problems in falling or staying asleep and fear of losing control.  It's good to know that early recognition and treatment including hypnosis can prevent much suffering from anxiety.

   Research in an over 22-year study of 6,000 adults reported by Maya Lambiase, PhD,  and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh, indicates that people with high levels of anxiety were 33% more likely to have strokes than those with low levels. It is believed that anxiety caused higher levels of stress hormones, elevated heart rate and high blood pressure.  In addition, smoking and physical inactivity which were identified as anxiety-related behaviors may have raised the risk for strokes.

   The good news is that there are treatments which can help including medications and cognitive-behavioral therapy.  Self-help techniques such as breathing exercises, avoiding caffeine and quitting smoking can also be of value.  In my own hypnotherapy practice, I often worked on referral from psychotherapists for anxiety.  As an adjunct to the therapists own work, I did one to a few sessions of hypnotherapy to reinforce their work and support the self-help techniques.  

    With treatment from physicians, cognitive-behavioral therapists and hypnotherapists, anxiety can be relieved and your health risk of strokes caused by anxiety can be eliminated.  Get the help you need.  Hypnosis can help you to feel better and BE WELL. 

DEPRESSION TRAPS AT THE HOLIDAYS (Copy)

     "It's the most wonderful time of the year" sing the carolers.  But for many people, the holidays from Thanksgiving till New Year can be cause for depression.  The holidays are times of high expectations, jammed calendars and memories of the past.  All of these things can trigger depression which can cause behaviors that may make things worse.

    Every year many people put great stress on themselves by trying to create "the perfect" holiday. There are homes to be decorated, food to be prepared, gifts to be bought and wrapped and people to be entertained. Trying to do this while still maintaining work schedules, school schedules and regular homelife can be overwhelming.  As time to the big day gets closer and closer, a feeling of failure can trigger depression.

    Because people are busy, some important self-caretaking can be dropped. The time demands and the darkness outside may have regular exercisers dropping their routine. Exercise increases levels of the mood-boosting brain chemicals, serotonin and dopamine.  When people don't exercise they lose those helpful chemicals. Then there are all the food choices to be made around the holidays.  Most of us do not usually have six dozen fat and sweet cookies sitting on the table year round.  Gaining weight through the holidays is typical and can be depressing.  In addition, we tend to eat more sugar.  Sugar is a substance which will originally elevate mood, but then comes the sugar crash and depresses the mood. 

     As depression begins to occur, many people try to relieve the anxiety that comes with depression by drinking alcohol. This self-medication may be a temporary fix for depression but soon causes more harm than good as it interferes with sleep, depresses the central nervous system and may interact with any antidepresants being taken. While some people drink, other people begin to withdraw from family and friends.  Social withdrawal will in actuality increase depression.

    So avoid the depression traps of overeating, self-medicating with alcohol, food or sugar or social withdrawal.  Hypnotherapy can be a great tool to help you deal with the stresses and depression traps of the holidays.  BE WELL and have a happy holiday season.

USES OF HYPNOSIS

Sometimes prospective clients call me expressing an interest in hypnosis without being sure what kind of issues it can help with. As I have mentioned in other blog posts, hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness similar to daydreaming, meditation and other relaxation techniques or even driving on autopilot. Hypnotherapy involves using hypnosis for a goal beyond relaxation to focus concentration on an issue in the client’s life.

Hypnosis has a long history of therapeutic use going back to the “sleep healing” of ancient Greece. It was used in the fourteenth through mid-nineteenth centuries for what practitioners called a “mind cure” Through and after the world wars of the twentieth century, hypnotherapy was used as a treatment for what was then called battle fatigue and is now called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the later twentieth century, hypnotherapy became popular for habit modification such as quitting smoking and overeating.

Today hypnotherapy is gaining a wider acceptance in working with mental, emotional and physical healing. Dr, Andrew Weil has noted, “In general, I believe that no condition is out of bounds for trying hypnotherapy on.” I often see clients on referral from their psychotherapist for a session of hypnotherapy as an adjunct therapy to their work to deal with anxiety and depression. Studies have found that hypnotherapy is particularly useful for those suffering dermatological and gastrointestinal problems. This makes sense as the skin and gut are areas of the body which often express stress. Pain management, erectile dysfunction when no known organic cause is shown, preparing for surgery, and easing the side effects of chemotherapy are other ways hypnotherapy is being used at this time.

If you are interested in exploring hypnotherapy, ask for a referral from your doctor or mental health practitioner. It is important to find someone you feel comfortable with. I offer a free consultation to every client that would like to learn more. I tell all clients that two things are necessary for hypnosis to be a viable option for change. 1) They have to be open to making a change. I can’t make them do anything they don’t want to do, and 2) They have to feel comfortable with the person they are working with.

If for any reason, you do not feel comfortable with the hypnotherapist. Leave and find another therapist. Listen to your gut. A good hypnotherapist can help you to harness your mind-body skills to BE WELL.

QUIT CIGAR SMOKING WITH HYPNOSIS

Some smokers have a very romanticized image of cigars and cigar smoking. They may see themselves as very sophisticated like elegant men in tuxedos shown in James Bond films. Some believe that smoking cigars emphasizes masculinity like that in movies like “Wolverine” and “Iron Man” . While others associate cigars with relaxing places like out on a deck or on a boat. And some women have seen Madonna and Demi Moore puffing away on cigars and consider cigar smoking glamorous. If you are ready to give up the “romance” of cigars, hypnotherapy can help.

Unfortunately, many cigar smokers think that they are at much less risk for health problems than that caused by cigarette smokers. This is simply wrong. Cigar smokers often tell me that it is alright to smoke a cigar because they don’t inhale. Certainly most cigar smokers do not inhale in the same way cigarette smokers do. But cigar smoking is linked to cancers that develop where the smoke traveled - the lip, tongue, mouth and throat as well as the lungs. Smoking cigars also increases the risk of heart and lung disease and pancreatic and bladder cancer.

Secondhand smoke from cigars is even more dangerous than cigarette smoke. This is true for a number of reasons One reason is that cigars are bigger so they contain more tobacco. Because it takes longer to puff through a cigar, a person’s exposure time to the toxic chemicals increases. In addition, a large cigar can contain up to 200 milligrams of nicotine. This is 23 times the amount of nicotine in a typical cigarette.

For all these reasons, smoking cigars is not a good alternative to smoking cigarettes. If you are ready to set yourself free from smoking cigars, hypnosis can be a valuable tool to stop smoking permanently.

HYPNOSIS FOR PHYSICAL PROBLEMS

Sometimes people call asking if hypnosis can be used for a physical problems. My answer is always the same - “sometimes”. I tell prospective clients to see their general practitioner who will diagnose and perhaps refer them on to a specialist. Hypnotherapists are rarely medical doctors and should not be the first way to deal with a health problem. However, hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool in the tool box in dealing with a medical issue.

As I have mentioned before on other blog posts, I always start with a free consultation so people can understand the process and spend some time to be with me and get their questions answered. It is also a time for me to make sure that what they want from their session is an appropriate use for hypnosis.

Hypnotherapy is not a magic wand. I often tell clients that I can’t make them fly by flapping their arms no matter how much hypnosis is done. It can be a great tool in dealing with medical issues. It can be used for everything from treating chronic pain like arthritis to acute pain experienced in childbirth. You can find a whole article on medical hypnosis in another post on this blog if you are interested.

Sometimes a client presents with a medical issue I have not worked with before. Recently, a woman came to me after being diagnosed with cervical dystonia, a painful condition in which the neck muscles contract involuntarily, causing the head to twist or turn to one side. She had had multiple treatments and was still in pain and uncomfortable.

I explained that if she wanted to proceed, we would do one session. The least she could expect was a nice, relaxing session with similar results to a massage. She chose to do one session. Here is the e-mail I received yesterday:

“Dear Dr. Johnson,

I wanted to touch base with you regarding my neck and the session I had with you.

It absolutely did make a difference. I am 75% improved. I can drive, turn my head,

relax easier. I have used the tape twice now. (Note: In actuality, my clients record

on their cell phone) You were right, with each session I am more relaxed. I will

continue to use it and am hopeful I can stay where I am physically. I am eager to

share my experience with you with my neurologist. I will keep you posted.”

Notice she did not say she was 100% cured. She had improvement which was exciting for her.

Notice she was going back to her neurologist. This is important. Hypnotherapy is an an adjunct

therapy to the medical care of her physicians.

If you are having a health or physical problem, ask your doctor if hypnotherapy might be another

tool in your tool box.

SECOND-HAND SMOKE AND THE BRAIN

If you or someone you love have been exposed to second-hand smoke, you need to be concerned about the health risks associated with that exposure. If you share your home or your life with a smoker, please have them read this to learn how secondhand smoke can affect the people they love. If they are ready to stop smoking and eliminate the risk for those they love, hypnosis can help.

Exposing others to the risks of heart disease, stroke and brain damage are three important factors to consider in making the decision to become a healthy nonsmoker.

David J. Llewellyn, PhD, a research associate with the department of public health and primary care at the University of Cambridge, England, theorizes that second-hand smoke damages the brain as well as raises the risk for heart disease and stroke based on a study of 4,809 nonsmoking adults.

The study showed that the participants with the highest levels of nicotine by-product, cotinine, were 44% more likely to show memory problems and other cognitive impairment than those with the lowest levels..

If you have not chosen to stop smoking for yourself, perhaps you will decide the risk of second-hand smoke to your loved ones including young children is important enough to stop exposing them to toxins which could affect their health. If you want to stop, hypnosis can help you protect those you love and be a healthy nonsmoker.

HYPNOSIS FOR IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) as been described as “a panic attack of the bowels.” If you have been diagnosed with IBS or told you have colitis, spastic colon or even a “nervous stomach”, you are likely aware how much the syndrome can affect your life.

Unfortunately, IBS affects 15% to 20% of the population. In fact, one in three women suffer from Irritable Bpwel Syndrome symptoms, And these symptoms can very negatively affect a sufferer’s life. Chronic pain, uncontrolled diarrhea, fecal incontinence and dehydration can severely limit a person’s activities. In fact, it is the second most commonly cited reason for missed work days.

The first step in addressing these issues is to see your physician for a conventional medical diagnosis. It is likely if an IBS diagnosis is given that the doctor will prescribe daily medications including prednisone. But researchers have found that IBS only responds to conventional medical treatment 25% of the time.

For those still suffering, hypnosis can be a valuable tool to relieve or even free the patient from symptoms. Hypnotherapy is to be used as an adjunct therapy in conjunction with your physician(s) and is not a replacement for conventional medical diagnosis and treatment. But hypnosis can help alleviate IBS symptoms or even help a sufferer become symptom free and BE WELL>

HYPNOSIS CAN HELP LOWER RISK FOR PREMATURE DEATH

If you want to have the best chance at a long, full healthy life, make positive lifestyle choices. That is the result of a study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study followed 4,886 adults for twenty years. Habits identified as unhealthy included smoking, alcohol consumption of three or more drinks per day for men and two or more for women, less than two hours of exercise per week and averaging less than three daily servings of vegetables and fruits. Hypnosis can help you make those changes.

The statistics are clear. During the twenty years, 1,080 of the participants in the study died. Those who scored poorly on all four standards and were identified as having the worst health habits compromised 29% of those who died. By contrast only eight percent of the 1,080 died from the category which had none of the four unhealthy standards.

The chances of dying earlier were greater in every category for people with the unhealthy habits. The risk was 10% greater because of poor diet, 18% from excessive alcohol consumption and 43% higher for both physical inactivity and smoking.

The researchers indicated that the study did not try to assess whether changing a poor lifestyle behavior would also change people’s risk for dying prematurely. They did conclude that the more unhealthy behaviors in which a person engages, the greater the risk for premature death.

If you are ready to lower your risk for premature death by changing poor lifestyle behavior, hypnosis can help you make the changes. Whether it’s quitting smoking, lowering alcohol consumption, exercising more or eating healthier, hypnosis can be a valuable tool to make those changes, lower your risk for premature death and BE WELL.

HYPNOSIS TO HELP YOU GAIN WEIGHT

Did you know that being underweight can be as dangerous as being overweight. Joel Ray, MD, associate professor at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, reported on a study comparing adults with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5 with those of a normal BMI and those considered obese. The study did not include people who had chronic or terminal illness. If you are underweight, hypnotherapy can help you reach a reasonable, healthy goal weight.

A normal body mass index is between 18.5 and 24.9 Dr. Ray reported that people in the obese BMI range of 30 or above had a risk of dying that was 1.2 times higher than for those with a normal BMI while those who had a BMI of less than 18.5 were 1.8 times more likely to dies than those with a normal body mass index. In other words, being underweight carries more risk than being obese.

You can check your BMI by logging in to www.NHLBI.NIH.gov and search for the “BMI Calculator.” If you are either overweight or underweight, hypnosis can be a valuable tool to help your body have a reasonable amount of muscle mass and fat. Check your BMI and remember hypnosis can help you BE WELL.

AGING FROM SMOKING? STOP SMOKING WITH HYPNOSIS

Have you ever heard the term “smoker’s face”? Even if you have not, did you immediately get an idea of what the term means? Almost everyone knows someone who has smoked for years and has not aged well. Time to stop smoking? Hypnosis helps.

The combination of smoke damage and the component chemicals in cigarettes damages skin in several ways. These chemicals reduce the body’s ability to create collagen. As collagen, the skin’s main structural component, decreases, elastin, the long smooth fibers in the skin thicken and break apart. This can cause heavily wrinkled skin. When the elastin breaks apart it cuts estrogen levels in women, causing cracking and skin dryness which interferes with the skin’s ability to protect itself from oxidation.

Researchers have found that female smokers between the ages of 40 and 70 were three times as likely to have moderate to severe wrinkling as nonsmokers. Plastic surgeons verify this research in their practices reporting on more dramatic wrinkling in smokers than in nonsmokers.

In my own practice, I see a fair number of clients referred by plastic surgeons to stop smoking before having a face lift, tummy tuck or eye brow lift, Smoking increases the complication of all surgeries and since cosmetic surgery is elective, some surgeons ask this commitment before a surgical procedure.

If you are aging before your time or planning to have surgery, i may be tme to stop smoking. If you need a strong, non-invasive tool to help you become a nonsmoker, hypnotherapy helps.

SMOKING, LUNG CANCER AND HYPNOSIS TO CHANGE

It’s not too late — that is the good news for those smokers age 50 or more who are thinking about quitting smoking. The statistics about smoking and lung cancer are truly terrifying. A report in the British Medical Journal shows that men who are lifelong smokers have a 16 percent chance of dying of lung cancer by the age of 75, and those who smoker more than 25 cigarettes a day have a 24 percent chance. Women smokers have a 10 percent chance of developing lung cancer which escalates to 19 percent by the age of 75 for heavy smokers.

Richard Peto, one of the authors of a study at Oxford University, on lung cancer risk for smokers states, “Even in middle age, stopping really works. This idea that adults can’t stop, that all you can do is prevent young people from starting smoking, is just really wrong.”

According to the study, quitting smoking at age 50 reduces the risk of dying and lung cancer to six percent for men, effectively cutting it by more than half. Quitting at age 30 lowers the chance of dying of lung cancer to 1.7 percent, which is far less than that of people who continue to smoke until age 75.

If you want the best chance at a long, full healthy life, it is time to become a non-smoker. Hypnosis is a valuable tool to quit smoking without putting other chemicals into your body. Use hypnosis to quit smoking and BE WELL.

HYPNOSIS FOR A BETTER SEX LIFE

     You may not have thought about hypnosis for improving your sex life. But clients come to see me with a variety of issues around this important aspect of their lives.  Some are dealing with physiological issues such as premature ejaculation, impotence, a lowered sex drive or inability to reach orgasm.  Others feel emotionally disconnected from their partners and no longer desire intimacy.  And many have a lifestyle that is so busy and demanding, that sex has long been put on the back burner.  If your sex life is not what you would like it to be, hypnosis can be a great tool to revive it.

    If you have a physical issue such as erectile dysfunction or lowered sex drive, don't give up.  Go to your family physician who will examine you and may give you medication or refer you to a clinic. Your physician may tell you that there seems to be no physical reason for your problem.  In that case, hypnosis may be valuable to help improve your sex life.

    Sometimes the relationship between partners becomes a battle ground.  Often, the disharmony and anger carry over into the bedroom and sex is not good or disappears completely. A marriage counselor will work on the relationship. But improving your sex life can be a part of that.  The sex act itself can produce emotional intimacy which in turn improves the relationship.  If emphasis in hypnosis is on pleasing your partner that intimacy can return quickly.

    Sexual addiction is another area of sexuality that can destroy a relationship. Some mental health professionals do not believe that sexual addiction exists.  They believe that it is actually some other emotional or psychological issue such as bipolar disorder or anxiety.  But The National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity talks to people every day who describe their out of control sexuality as destroying relationships and causing deep problems in their lives.

    Their are specialists in sex and marriage therapy.  To find a sex therapist contact the American Association of Sex Education, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) at 319-895-407 or the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) at 202-452-0109. 

   Hypnosis can be an adjunct therapy to working with a medical doctor, marriage counselor or sex therapist.  It can help you make the positive changes you need for a better sex life. 

HOW HYPNOSIS CAN HELP REDUCE RISK FOR KIDNEY STONES

     Most of us have heard of the tremendous pain that kidney stones can cause.  Whether it is continuous, throbbing pain or extremely severe spasms, no one wants to deal with them if they can be prevented.  Hypnosis can help reduce the risk for developing them by helping you get moving.

     A study of 84,225 women led by researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle reported on a way to reduce risk for kidney stones.  The study was published in JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEPHROLOGY encouraging people to become more active.

     The researchers reported that active post-menopausal women were 16% to 31% less likely to develop kidney stones that sedentary women.  The women were followed for eight years and maximum effects were found in the most active subjects.  Best effects were found at the equivalent of four hours of light gardening, three hours a week of walking at a moderate-pace or one hour of moderate-paced jogging.

    So we have still another reason to get moving.  If you are having trouble starting or maintaining an exercise program, hypnosis can help.  Get a hypnosis session to get moving, protect yourself from the pain of kidney stones and BE WELL.    

STOP SMOKING WITH HYPNOSIS

    Are you ready to quit smoking?  Have you already tried and failed to become a nonsmoker?  Mark Twain once wrote, "It's easy to quit smoking.  I've done it thousands of times." And, nearly a century ago, the magazine Punch, reporting on a raise in the tobacco tax predicted, "All those people who gave up smoking last year will do so again this year."

   There are lots of ways to quit smoking from going cold turkey to going to a medical doctor for a prescription.  But you may not have thought of using hypnosis for smoking cessation.

    If you want an easy and simple way to quit smoking, hypnosis is a great method and has the added bonus of not putting chemicals in your body.  Clients often ask me what are the side effects of using hypnosis to become a nonsmoker.  The answer is simple, "you quit smoking."

   My program for smoking cessation is simple.  I ask a commitment to two sessions.  There is no hypnosis in the first session.  It is a clinical interview in which I will ask the client a lot of questions to understand their smoking habit.  What do you smoke?  How much do you smoke?  What do you like about smoking?  What do you dislike about smoking are just some of the questions that I will ask in the 90 minute interview.

    At the end of the first session, I give the clients some forms to bring back to their second session.  These will give me information about how they process stress, whether they are left or right brain dominant and whether their neurolinguistic learning channels are visual, auditory or kinesthetic.  These help me design their individual hypnosis session.

    The  second session is about 75 minutes and includes a 45 minute hypnosis session which many clients choose to record on their cellphone for reinforcement.  At the end of the second session, they will be nonsmokers.

  I am so confident of this, that I guarantee that I if they slip I will do a free session and get them started again.  Obviously, I couldn't do this if it happens often.  Last year I saw two people that needed to do a free session.  One started again when he picked up a cigarette at the funeral home when he was there for his mother's funeral.  The other went on an alcoholic binge and found that alcohol brings down inhibitions.  

   Every hypnotherapist will have their own process but hypnosis can work to help you be the healthy nonsmoker you want to be.  

EXTRA STEPS LOWER HEART ATTACK RISK

    Want to have the best chance at a long full healthy life?  THE LANCET reported on a study of 9,307 adults from 40 countries for six years conducted by researchers at the University of Leicester, UK.  They found that each time a person increased his or her activity by another 2,000 steps per day day, the risk for heart attack went down by another eight percent. Hypnosis can help that be a possibility.

    Just getting started helps, walking the first 2,000 extra steps a day lowered heart attack risk by ten per cent.  Since that is the equivalent of a twenty minute walk, this is a realistic goal for most people.

   So now you have another reason to get up and move.  If you need some motivation, hypnosis can be a valuable tool to get moving and lower your heart attack risk.

EXERCISE HELPS PREVENT ALZHEIMER'S

    Are you fearful of developing Alzheimer's?  If you are trying to figure out what you can do to prevent dementia.  Another study reinforces the need to get moving.  If you need help, hypnosis can be a valuable tool.

   You may not have had genetic testing.  But genes are one of the many risk factors for dementia.  A gene called APOE epsilon4 allele (e4 gene) which is present in approximately ten to fifteen percent of people can influence your risk for late-onset Alzheimer's.  Stephen Rao, Phd, professor and director of Schey Center for Cognitive Neuromanaging at the Cleveland Clinic was leader of a study of 97 people with the e4 gene which was published in FRONTIERS IN AGING NEUROSCIENCE.

    The 18 month study found that the brain scans of people with the e4 gene who exercised moderately a few times a week had far less shrinkage in the hippocampus, an indicator of Alzheimers, than those the gene who were not physically active. 

    So once again, we find it's time to get up and move.  If you need help to start moving and protect your brain from shrinking, hypnosis can help.