In my opinion the experience of hypnosis is in between the state of being awake and being asleep. Each evening when we fall asleep we pass through a feeling that is similar to hypnosis. The feeling is an experience of still having conscious thoughts and hearing something in another part of the house, but at the same time drifting away into a sleep with an absence of conscious awareness. Hypnosis feels similar to this experience. When you are hypnotized you are awake and aware yet at the same time you are drifting into a feeling of being absent of conscious awareness. We can still hear the hypnotist or the recording we may be listening to, but we are also in another place of consciousness nearing sleep, but not fully asleep.

There are many reasons for sleep difficulties. Hypnosis cannot assist with all; however if  you have difficulty falling asleep because you have too much activity in your conscious or awake mind while attempting to fall asleep then most likely hypnosis will be an excellent way to sleep better and straight through. The difficulty in falling asleep for many is attempting to quiet the mind. Your mind may begin to think of issues in life which have no use at this moment of attempting to fall asleep. You may begin thinking of thoughts of issues of life which worry you or cause concern if they are not corrected and you begin to toss and turn unable to find peace in your mind and rest in your body. Sleep seems further away at this time and now you add another worry that you won’t be able to fall asleep. The more you attempt to fall asleep the further sleep seems to slip away from you. Finally you fall asleep from physical exhaustion. A couple of hours later you awaken.

The reason hypnosis is so good for sleep issues is because you are almost asleep by being hypnotized. Your mind memorizes this place of consciousness while being hypnotized and goes back there tonight when you are ready to fall asleep. This is called a post hypnotic suggestion. The feeling is almost like hearing a song play which was significant at an earlier age and you hear the song and the feeling of the memory returns. When you receive a post hypnotic suggestion it creates a memory to reactivate the feeling you had while being hypnotized. You then can quiet your mind when attempting to fall asleep as your mind was quiet while being hypnotized. This is done at night using self-hypnosis which you will learn while visiting with me.

Below is an excellent article with great research of hypnosis having great effects on sleep disorders.

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_146901.html