Neil Cox Hypnotherapy, Cornwall

Tag: Skin Conditions

Hypnotherapy for skin conditions – Improve your skin health with my professional hypnotherapy services and techniques

  • Can Hypnotherapy slow ageing?

    Can Hypnotherapy slow ageing?

    Chronic stress can have adverse effects on our health

    As we age and slow down, our bodies undergo various changes that can affect our physical and mental health. Chronic stress is one factor that can lead to premature ageing and age-related diseases. According to recent studies, psychological distress plays an important role in how quickly these diseases occur in different individuals. Chronic stress can cause imbalances in the body, leading to unwanted responses that can impair normal cell ageing processes.

    Stress can also lead to an unhealthy lifestyle, which can contribute to premature ageing. Behaviours associated with stress such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, a sedentary lifestyle, a high-fat diet, and sleeplessness have all been linked to DNA damage due to oxidation. DNA damage is a significant contributor to cellular ageing, leading to various age-related diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases.

    Fortunately, there are ways to combat the effects of stress and promote healthy ageing. One way to reduce the effects of stress is to adopt healthier behaviours. This includes quitting smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, eating a balanced diet, and getting regular exercise. Research has shown that making changes to these behaviours can lead to subtle but important improvements in premature cell ageing.

    Another method of stress reduction is hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy is a complementary therapy that uses hypnosis to induce a state of relaxation. After a hypnosis session, heart and breathing rates can reduce, leading to stress reduction and minimizing the risk of premature ageing.

    Solution-Focused Hypnotherapy (SFH) is a modern research-based combination of hypnosis and psychotherapy that promotes relaxation and helps clients make beneficial lifestyle changes. SFH focuses on how clients want things to be instead of dwelling on problems. By visualizing their preferred future, clients can think and express themselves positively, which can improve their response to stress and lead to many health benefits.

    Neil Cox, a local hypnotherapist in Cornwall, advocates for the efficacy of SFH in managing stress. SFH can help individuals make positive changes to their behavior, reducing their risk of premature ageing and age-related diseases. By addressing the root cause of stress, SFH can help individuals manage their stress levels, leading to a better quality of life.

    In addition to SFH, other techniques such as meditation, mindfulness, and yoga can also promote relaxation and reduce stress levels. These practices have been shown to improve mental and physical health, leading to a better quality of life in older adults.

    It is also important to note that social support can play a significant role in managing stress and promoting healthy ageing. Social connections can provide emotional support and a sense of belonging, which can help individuals cope with stress. In contrast, social isolation can lead to depression and anxiety, which can worsen the effects of stress on the body.

    In conclusion, chronic stress can have adverse effects on our health, leading to premature ageing and age-related diseases. However, by adopting healthier behaviours, reducing stress perception, and seeking support from others, these ageing mechanisms can be reversed. Additionally, hypnotherapy, specifically SFH, can contribute to stress reduction and health promotion, leading to many health benefits. By taking steps to manage stress and promote healthy ageing, we can lead fulfilling lives as we age.

  • Say Goodbye to Skin Conditions

    Say Goodbye to Skin Conditions

    Itching For a Cure? Hypnotherapy Can Help with Skin Conditions

    This month I am focusing on how hypnotherapy can help with the management of skin conditions.

    As many of us who have suffered from these conditions will know, peeling off those extra layers of clothing and exposing skin to the summer sunshine may be good for us. But we do not want others to see our skin.

    Thousands of people suffer with the discomfort, stress and embarrassment that skin conditions, such as psoriasis and eczema, can bring. These conditions are usually not life threatening.  But they can cause untold misery to those who have to deal with them day in and day out.

    skin conditions itchy

    The skin is our largest organ as well as the most visible, especially during the summer months. Whether it is through sweating when we are too warm, shivering when we are too cold, or doing its job of getting rid of toxins and waste through the skin, this piece of body ‘covering’ has a lot of work to do. It is often the first place where any signs of illness, stress and imbalance in our lives, physically or psychologically, shows itself. As those who suffer are only too aware, the more we worry about the state of our skin, the worse it seems to get!

    So where does hypnotherapy come in to the treatment of these conditions? Well, it seems that us hypnotherapists have been working with clients with these conditions for years.

    Some of us may be aware that there is often a mind-body connection with some common skin conditions, so this is often where support from hypnotherapy can help. To give you some more detail…

    In order to do its work, the skin contains millions of nerve endings which are closely connected to the brain, which is our body’s main ‘Control Centre’. Because of these links to our nervous system, the skin is very closely connected to our emotional responses, as well as those physical ones.

    For example, goose bumps when we are afraid, blushing when embarrassed, and so on. When we feel stressed, these emotional responses can make some skin conditions worse if you have them already. Or can in some cases bring them on.

    Pain control.

    Hypnotherapy is a great way to reduce stress levels in general. We understand that stress and anxiety affect the chemical responses in the body and mind. Hypnotherapy can really help to recreate that sense of balance. This is shown to improve skin conditions in general. There is mounting evidence to show that hypnotherapy is very helpful for pain control too. It is helpful for reducing the stress and chemical responses that cause flare-ups. It can also reduce the pain that’s associated with them. We work in a way that helps the client to manage stressful situations more effectively. Thus reducing the possibility of re-occurrence.

    I encourage clients to focus on how they want things to be. We avoid problem-talk and instead help our clients to visualise their preferred future. By encouraging clients to think and express themselves positively, we can help to improve their outcomes and say goodbye to skin conditions.

  • Blushing

    Blushing

    Learn 5 psychological tricks to stop blushing in its tracks

    I could feel it happening. Suddenly all the attention was on me! That horrible burning feeling in my face, can they tell? Some of us end up blushing all through life. Some seek help but find they’re just told why they start. But all they want is to actually stop. We blush when embarrassed, then become embarrassed because we’re blushing! So hey lets blush some more. The more we think we’re blushing, the more we blush.

    So, here are five effective tips or rather strategies that help reduce, then eventually stop, the blushing that plagues so many people through their lives.

    1 – Stop the blushing cycle by ‘unmasking’.

    One way to short-circuit blushing is to draw attention to it yourself. Yes, really. When you do this, the results can be amazing.

    Blushing seems to be nature’s way of disclosing our true feelings. If, for example, I say I am not attracted to someone when in fact I am, I may blush. If we were totally shameless, we wouldn’t blush; but blushers tend to feel ashamed or embarrassed where others don’t. Feelings of being ‘on display’ also cause blushing.

    I very rarely blush nowadays; however, for some reason I did blush once when speaking to around thirty people. But I was, excuse the pun, cool about the blushing. I said: “Oh, I don’t believe it! Look, I’m blushing!”

    Actually, no one was very interested but I noticed that now I had ‘unmasked’ the blushing myself, it had nowhere to run and stopped immediately. Blushers blush because of the fear of being seen differently from how they want to be perceived.

    I realise this might not be acceptable in an important business meeting, but give this strategy serious consideration because it does short-circuit the whole thing.  And it fits in nicely with the next tip.

    2 – Stop feeling so responsible for blushing

    In the example I gave in Tip 1, I said that I was ‘cool about blushing’. Why did I not feel embarrassed about changing from my usual pallid complexion to someone resembling a bright red neon light?

    It’s amazing how people feel consciously responsible for stuff that is actually generated by their unconscious mind. For example, I have much more conscious control over whether I speak rudely to someone than whether I blush or hiccup or blink.

    Separate your conscious and unconscious processes. For conscious stuff, I (at least try to) take responsibility, but unconscious stuff has nothing to do with me, mate! So I felt ok about the fact I was blushing.

    It’s your unconscious mind that has been producing the blood changes that lead to blushing, not your conscious mind. So really think about how much responsibility you need to feel for it. If your dog barks at a kindly stranger, you may feel responsible, but it’s your dog, not you, that barked. Really thinking about this will make Tip 1 much easier to enact.

    3 – Stop blushing by learning to direct your blood flow

    What?  Am I crazy? Well, perhaps a little, but blood flow can be controlled through the use of the imagination.  By spending five minutes daily imagining your hands heating up around an open fire, you’ll find you can easily direct more blood into your hands. By focusing on your hands heating up during times when you might typically blush, you can actually stop yourself blushing.  It’s as if the blushing was still there, but only in the hands. And pretty soon, you won’t even have to do this. But there’s something else you can do too…

    4 – Stop blushing by mentally rehearsing staying cool

    Your body responds to preparation. What do I mean? Well, if you prepare for an event by feeling nervous when you imagine it, then this will prime your mind and body to actually feel nervous when the situation occurs.

    If, on the other hand, you imagine upcoming events while feeling very relaxed, and imagine seeing yourself (from the outside) looking calm and cool, you are sending your unconscious mind and your body a powerful signal to actually be calm and cool in these situations.

    This is a form of self-hypnosis and you can become very good at this. Think about typical times you might blush. When you are very relaxed, breathing deeply, imagine watching yourself in those situations looking calm and cool. The more often and powerfully you do this, the more automatic keeping cool will become.

    You can even imagine a beautiful cool breeze sweeping across you in these times.

    And lastly…

    5 – How to stop blushing by rewriting history

    Spend time thinking about times you blushed in the past that are really memorable (because their unpleasantness stands out). Now revisit some of these times in your mind, with eyes closed, from a detached perspective, just watching yourself in those times. Now realise that you can change those memories. Watch those past situations in your mind as if they had been fine and you had either relaxed totally about the fact you blushed or you didn’t blush at all and remained cool and relaxed.

    This ‘rewriting history’ exercise sends the message to your unconscious mind that, actually, there is no real history of blushing. Your conscious mind will still know you blushed in these times, but your unconscious mind will start to feel as if the pattern had never become established.