Clocking the right solution to a long term sleep problem!

Michael sat opposite me looking tired, pale and drained. Having already told me that he was finding his new job to be increasingly stressful, he finally admitted that he hadn't had more than four hours sleep at night for more than three years.

Adrenaline was keeping Michael going through the workday - but as soon as he came home at night, his body ached and he felt more unwell as the evening unfolded.

Initially, his symptoms were limited to a sore throat and headaches but lately chest pains had forced him to make an appointment with the doctor. Relieved at being told there was nothing wrong with his heart, Michael was still depressed as he continued with disrupted sleep patterns and feeling unwell.

His lack of sleep was also beginning to have a knock-on effect in his relationship with his wife. Not only was he quick to fly off the handle but Michael was also suffering from impotency. We agreed that both of these conditions were probably symptoms of his lack of sleep.

Clearly the situation had to change - and fast. I asked Michael about his sleeping patterns and we quickly established that he had no problem dropping off to sleep when he went to bed.

"But," he said, "I know that every night I will wake up and then look over to the clock which will tell me that it is exactly two in the morning! And after that, I'll spend the rest of the night worrying about work and all the things I need to get done."

I explained to Michael - who at the beginning of our session together had proclaimed a nervousness of hypnosis - that he was a very effective hypnotist, judging by his ability to programme his own mind.

The sub-conscious mind delivers whatever we think about and believe to be true. Michael's belief - and self programming - was that: "Every night I will wake up and then look over to the clock which will tell me that it is exactly two in the morning!"

Breaking this pattern was the obvious solution, so I suggested that he initially set his alarm for the time he wanted to get up in the morning, so that his mind could rest - knowing that he would awake in time for work.

Next, before going to bed, he should make a "to-do" list that itemised all the tasks that he had previously been carrying around in his head. This would ensure that his mind could relax, without worrying that he would forget something important.

I also suggested that he should remove his bedside clock from view. He had the strict instruction that if he were to wake in the night, he was not to check the time. This would ensure that his brain would soon forget his previously programmed intention to wake up and check the clock at two in the morning.

Finally, I asked him to focus on the word "sleep" as he was preparing for bed - and to remove the word "awake" from his night time vocabulary!