Dan’s Blog

Using Music to Help With Anxiety and Stress – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jul 21, 2022 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Using Music to Help With Anxiety and Stress – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Can music help you to be able to better handle, deal and cope with your anxiety and stress? We all encounter music of some kind every day, whether it’s on TV, a film soundtrack, listening to the radio, playing your playlist, hearing someone sing, overhearing someone else’s music, or some other form of music that you encounter during your day.

Several days a week my day starts with exercise and listening to the accompanying music selected by the trainer (much of which is of a dubious quality in my opinion!). I use music through the day to support the hypnosis work I do with people and there will probably be some sort of music going on when I get home, whether that’s from the TV or one of my children singing.

As it happens, only recently one of my girls was part of a choir that put on a celebratory musical performance at a local theatre. I love the way that kids just sing with a smile of their faces and a real sense of positivity and enjoyment. Throughout the various acts and songs at the show you could sense the fun, energy and excitement coming from each and every person involved, which added to the enjoyment of us watching them. Certainly my daughter is always buzzing from the experience afterwards. One of the songs they performed was ‘Happy Together’ by the Turtles, and now if anyone in our house says the word ‘imagine’ (the first word in the song) they can expect to person they are talking to to break out into a rendition of the song.

Before the performance started there was a video on loop showing interviews with some of the kids where they described how important music was to them. And one of the key themes was about how music can help you to deal with stress, to feel better after a bad day and how it can help lift your mood. I know from my own music listening, as well as playing the guitar, that when you get engrossed in music then you are often just there in that moment and other thoughts and other mental noise fades away and can diminish.

When someone is anxious, stressed or depressed they often describe to me how they have lost their love of music or have stopped listening to the things they used to enjoy. They are focused on the negative and unwanted thoughts and feelings, and in doing so, often get caught in an increasing spiral of worry and negativity. And sometimes if we do listen to music then we match it to our mood so that when you are happy then you will likely play happy, upbeat tracks and when you feel sad you play slower, sadder songs. Again, this can magnify, reinforce and amplify how you are feeling (helpfully or less helpfully).

So what is the impact of music if you want to alleviate your symptoms of stress and anxiety?

Ely Business Awards Finalist 2022 – Hypnotherapy in Ely

by Dan Regan | Jul 11, 2022 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Ely Business Awards Finalist 2022 – Hypnotherapy in Ely

I’m delighted to report that I am once again a finalist in the Ely Business Awards!

Last year I managed to bag the silver award in the Cambridge Building Society Service Excellence award and this year I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed to go one better and bring home the gold!

There’s more on how I fared at the Ely Business Awards 2021 here: Award Winner For Service Excellence! Hypnotherapy in Ely

Joking aside, I’m honoured and delighted to have made the shortlist for service excellence again and it’s a huge thank you to all of you for your support and encouragement and for sharing your positive reviews, thank you!!!

Health Anxiety and Online Health Information Seeking – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jul 4, 2022 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Health Anxiety and Online Health Information Seeking – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Health anxiety has always been a common type of anxiety that I help people with. In these days where things like heart issues and cancer are likely to have affected someone you know, and where our media is full of warnings about symptoms and requests for donations from health charities describing their work, someone with health anxiety can find that their worries and fears are never far from the forefront of their mind.

People with health anxiety describe to me how any physical symptom can start an anxious spiral that takes over and leads to excessive anxiety and worry about their health, along with fears about the impacts that would be there if they couldn’t work or needed care, or about how their family and others would cope if they died. That health anxiety can attach to any ache or pain, can be fired off by hearing of someone else’s health condition, or can be a sense of fear of dread about what if something was to happen.

And, of course, the physical symptoms you experience from health anxiety and worry can lead to heart palpitations, aches from being tense, a tight chest and other anxious symptoms. These physical sensations then in turn add more fuel to your anxiety as you worry that these are the signs of something being seriously wrong with you. That can then lead to you feeling even more anxious, experiencing even more anxious overthinking and feeling even worse.

The excessive worry from health anxiety can be about the likelihood of possibility of illness or a negative health issue, a heightened awareness and worry about bodily sensations and a sense of catastrophising that a physical sensation (even a normal bodily sensation) is something threatening and dangerous.

The pandemic with all of it’s warnings, uncertainty, fear and information (as well as mis-information) certainly exacerbated health anxiety for many people. Particularly in the early days when everything was unclear and there were pictures of hospital beds full of sick people and daily reports of high levels of illness and death. Now, of course, there can still be worry about covid and long covid, what could happen if you got ill and a worry about any physical symptoms you may notice. And alongside this, there are the ever present risks and dread of cancer, heart disease, heart attacks and so on that for someone with health anxiety can surface and be triggered by anything health related.

And these days, someone with health anxiety is likely to head over to the internet to search out information about what they are feeling and experiencing. Now the internet can be a fantastic resource for finding out about all sorts of things, yet, as anyone who has ever done it knows, relying on ‘Dr Google’ and trying to self diagnose online can easily become problematic and counter productive.

Nutritional Wisdom and Food Choices – Weight Loss Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jun 28, 2022 | Weight Loss

Nutritional Wisdom and Food Choices – Weight Loss Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

So many people who come to see me describe their never ending battle to try and achieve their weight loss goals. They tell me about all the different diets they’ve been on and how they lost some weight for a while, only to put it back on again. They describe how they seemingly self sabotage their own success through their unhealthy relationship with food and their habits around eating. They’ll tell me about emotional eating, eating when not hungry and mindless eating.

And, most of all, they will tell me about their frustration, annoyance and disappointment that, despite knowing what they should be doing, they continue to struggle to lose weight and keep it off.

Taking control over eating habits and feeling healthier and happier are things that can be positively achieved with the right psychological approach and behaviours. In the same way you will have learnt unhealthy patterns, habits and behaviours around food, you can also learn how to eat the right amount of the right things and to handle any challenges that may come along.

When I was younger I used to struggle with my eating and weight. I would use food to deal with how I was feeling and I would then feel annoyed with myself for putting on weight. It became a cycle of habitually eating poorly and feeling bad. Yet, in the same way that you can using hypnotherapy, I managed to finally break out of this cycle and adopt much more positive and healthy eating habits.

It’s always a pleasure and joy when my clients describe to me how they no longer snack for the sake of it, how they can leave food if they don’t need it and how they feel better in their body and in their clothes. With the right mindset and habits, weight loss and achieving the size, shape and weight you desire, become easier and easier each day.

Impostor Syndrome – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jun 23, 2022 | Confidence and Self Esteem

Impostor Syndrome – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Recently I’ve been working with a number of people who, as part of their self-doubt, anxiety and stress, are struggling with imposter syndrome.

Impostor syndrome leads to you feeling like a bit of a fraud in what you are doing at work or another aspect of life, like at some point you expect to get found out and that others will finally discover that you aren’t up to the job and that you’ve somehow just been getting away with things. You doubt your own skills, capabilities, accomplishments and achievements and you live with a fear of being found out.

Now, this worry, self-doubt and fear will continue even where you can point to a long list of achievements. You may put your successes down to luck or chance, or that others didn’t notice the flaws in what you did (which can contribute to elements of perfectionism). When you receive positive feedback you probably don’t internalise it and feel good, but rather think it’s well-meaning but false.

And, of course, the more you achieve and the greater your responsibilities, the more there is to lose and the greater your fear of failure and of being uncovered for the fraud you think you really are.

No matter what positive feedback comes your way, how well others may say you do or how objectively visible your accomplishements are, that perception that you aren’t as good as they think lingers on. It leads to self-criticism, putting pressure on yourself, fear of failure, perfectionism, anxiety, fear and doubt.

By it’s very definition it’s a false perception of your own skills and capabilities. No matter how much praise you receive or how well things go, it doesn’t stop that feeling of fear of failure and the fear of exposure as a fraud.

Binge Drinking and Alcohol Problems – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jun 23, 2022 | Excessive Drinking and Binge Drinking

Binge Drinking and Alcohol Problems – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

I often work with people who struggle to control their binge drinking or who habitually drink too much. It may be one or two bottles of wine a night, or that struggle to leave a bottle unfinished. It may be that they can’t have alcohol in the house without finding themselves reaching for it and drinking the lot. And for others it may have become part of the end of day ‘wind-down’ ritual or the weekends have become the time to binge drink.

In all these cases and more, someone comes to me for help because they are struggling to control their drinking behaviours. And hypnotherapy is a very effective way of taking back control over your drinking.

Most people would probably agree that drinking alcohol, in the right circumstances, can be a pleasurable experience. Many people enjoy a glass of wine with a meal or a few social drinks with friends. Yet for others their drinking habits may have become problematic. They may rely on alcohol, look forward to it and have urges and cravings to drink. Your drinking may dominate social situations, lead to concern from others and impact upon your well-being. Yet, even the adverse consequences of your drinking may not mean you can stop it or curtail. The habits, patterns, thoughts and feelings around alcohol mean you feel like you are now out of control.

As I cover below, many people use alcohol to try to help them cope with stress, anxiety and depression (and for many, alcohol consumption increased during the pandemic). For others, the habits and behaviours around drinking and binges are the problem. Yet drinking has an impact upon your mental health and well-being and even binge drinking at a moderate overall level of consumption can be problematic.

Could A Social Media Break Help Your Mental Health, Depression and Anxiety?

by Dan Regan | Jun 21, 2022 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Could A Social Media Break Help Your Mental Health, Depression and Anxiety? Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Now I don’t know about you, but in our house the most powerful threat of punishment I can call upon with my kids is to threaten to take away their screens and to switch off the wi-fi. There is nothing else that is as guaranteed to bring an expression of horror and fear upon their faces and to get them moving and doing whatever it is they are meant to be doing!

Screen time and social media use are things that have risen massively in recent times. At least in our house, I can usually reliably find my wife and kids engaged in something on their screen and pretty oblivious to the world around them. And, at least in the case of my kids, some of the stuff I’ve seen them watch on Tik Tok and the like just seems to me to be pure mind numbing nonsense (although that may be cause I’m old and out of touch, as they like to often remind me!).

Now, of course, not all online social media use is of this type. There’s much on it that can be informative, amusing and worthwhile. It can help in communicating, understanding, keeping up to date and sharing news. I use social media to find out things, to share work and life posts and photos and to keep in touch with people. It’s a tool for enhancing life, communication and productivity.

Yet it seems clear that, for some people at least, social media can have a detrimental impact upon their well-being and mental health.

Social media can help you with finding support and encouraging talking about how you feel, yet all too often people start to feel their life isn’t as good as others, and that they have less shiny things and fun and happiness and the like. Everyone likes to show the good stuff (real or otherwise) on social media, and those aspects of their lives that aren’t as good get papered over and are kept from view. Negative comparisons, a sense of not being as good, a feeling of lacking and too much unproductive, sedentary time can lead to negative thinking, feeling low, anxiety and have a negative impact upon your well-being and mental health.

With so much time now spent with faces buried in screens, the question moves to whether taking a break from social media could have benefits for your mental health and help with you with the symptoms of anxiety and depression?

Physical Activity and Risk of Depression – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jun 16, 2022 | Depression

Physical Activity and Risk of Depression – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

I’ve written many times before about the mental health benefits of physical activity and exercise. Being active can help with combatting depression and anxiety, as well as lifting your mood and boosting your levels of positivity.

And as you will know from the articles here on my website, exercise is something I routinely make time for in my own life. It helps me to feel better in myself, manage the demands of everyday life and to have (mainly) enjoyable time where all I need to do is focus on the next step or the move in front of me rather than thinking about everything else. When I don’t exercise, I know that I don’t feel quite as good in myself and there are times when I really miss it!

One of the other great benefits of exercise is how you get out of it just as much as you put into it. Through consistency you become fitter and stronger. Only this morning I was at the gym lifting a level of weights that only a few months ago would have been far out of my capability (although don’t be fooled into thinking that it was one of those huge bars with massive weights on that you see in athletics strongman competitions!). There is endless scope for setting and achieving goals, making improvements, getting fitter and feeling better. You can also just take your time and enjoy exercise, such as getting out in nature for a walk (something I’ve covered before as time in nature is also associated with mental health benefits.

The more I write about physical activity for mental health, depression and anxiety, the more I recognise how important it is to include some activity in your daily or weekly routine. On a personal level it’s part of how I seek to manage my own thoughts, feelings and emotions, and beyond that, there is an ever mounting mass of evidence that supports the importance of physical activity for helping with issues such as depression and anxiety.

Hypnotherapy in Ely Video Review – Dan Regan Hypnotherapy

by Dan Regan | May 9, 2022 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Hypnotherapy in Ely Video Review – Dan Regan Hypnotherapy

I always regard it as a massive honour when someone takes the time and trouble to leave some positive feedback about how their hypnotherapy sessions have had a beneficial impact upon their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. They continue to inspire me and I know that it gives many other people the hope and belief that they need to take active steps to seek help for their own mental health, rather than continuing to struggle and battle with how they feel.

Recently, Ian very kindly took a couple of minutes to record his hypnotherapy review following on from our sessions together. You can take a look at what he had to say in his review video further down this page. It really is worth a watch.

And if you want an even greater positivity fix then you can find all of the video hypnotherapy reviews from my clients over on this website page (there are nearly sixty review videos there): Hypnotherapy Review Videos

Or, if you want to have a look at all of the feedback from clients about their hypnotherapy sessions, then take a look at these (nearly three hundred) positive reviews: Hypnotherapy Testimonials

I’m always massively grateful when you take the time and effort to leave a review, so thank you to all of you!

And now, on to my newest feedback review and Ian’s video…

Pregnancy Related Anxiety – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Apr 19, 2022 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Pregnancy Related Anxiety – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Life can be funny when you’re a parent. One minute they are on the way, and then they arrive and the life is full of ups and downs, and laughter and telling offs and getting stuff done (and then even more needing to get things done!). In no time at all, old photos are popping up on social media memories and you realise how much has gone on and is still to happen in their lives (and your own too).

Recently my youngest had her birthday and, amongst all the fun, we talked about some of early memories of her. There where the moments when we first met her at the hospital, when her sister excitedly saw her for the first time, the laughs, the chats and the other little quirks that we love so much and that happened along the way. A friend brought her little baby around to our house and you suddenly remember there was actually a time before they could even answer you back!

And pregnancy and babies seems to have been very much the theme at home recently, with my wife currently training to be a doula (which I think she’ll be fab at) so that she can provide guidance and support to new mum’s, especially during those early days when everything goes haywire and the level of demands and challenges massively magnify.

I often work with women during pregnancy where they may be struggling with anxiety and a sense of overwhelm. There may be anxiety about health, about being in hospital and coping with the birthing process, and about how well they think they will cope with having the responsibility of a new born to look after. There is no doubt that there are a lot of demands, challenges and things to learn through pregnancy and into parenthood (as well as a lot of love, happiness and joy, of course!!).

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