Dan’s Blog

Reducing Wine Drinking – Alcohol Habits Hypnotherapy

by Dan Regan | Jan 28, 2024 | Excessive Drinking and Binge Drinking

Reducing Wine Drinking – Alcohol Habits Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Have you been struggling with reducing your wine drinking? What may have started as the odd drink to relax in the evening may have become a habit that has taken over. Rather than just the glass or two on the weekend or on the occasional evening after work, it becomes something that you feel you need and that you struggle to do without.

Instead of something pleasurable, relaxing and enjoyable, you may find yourself reaching for the wine almost as soon as you walk through the door. You can find yourself thinking about the wine during the day, looking forward to that first glass and, despite your best intentions, stopping off at the shop to get a bottle in. The thought of going without a drink may make you feel a bit anxious and you can find yourself easily getting through a bottle a night (or perhaps even more than that).

Your habit may have started during a stressful period where it was a way of seeking to unwind and relax, or it may have just crept up to the point where your wine drinking has taken over. Your evenings can start to be all about the wine. You want to cut down or stop but even the thought of it seems overwhelming.

Your sleep can be impacted, you may feel foggy headed in the morning, you have less energy that you’d like and you know that your wine drinking is not good for your health. You get little from it except a way of letting time pass by yet, despite any positive intentions as you start your day, there you are again struggling with reducing wine drinking by the evening.

As creatures of habit, pattern and repetition it can be tough to try and change any habit simply with willpower. There’s a certain psychological expectation that means the harder you try to reduce wine drinking, the more you crave it and think about it. At some point you give up the struggle and reach for the bottle again.

Successfully reducing wine drinking and taking back control (or stopping completely) involves addressing the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that have been repeating and going on for too long. And hypnotherapy is the perfect way that you can take back control and start feeling healthier and happier again.

Why You Should Get Dancing For Weight Loss

by Dan Regan | Jan 25, 2024 | Weight Loss

Why You Should Get Dancing For Weight Loss – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

You should be dancing, yeah! Dancing, yeah! So sang the Bee Gees, whose songs, alongside those from Showaddywaddy, are guaranteed to get me up on the dance floor at any party. I’ve still got all the moves! You’ll just have to trust me on that one!

And who doesn’t love a good dance to a good song at a party. My moves are nothing like those rehearsed, synchronised things you see on TikTok or the copy and paste my kids sometimes do to a just dance video on You Tube. I know a lot of people love the dancing on Strictly but I’m more of a freestyle type guy!! Or ‘no style’ if you ask my kids!

There’s no doubt that exercise and movement are good for you. Being active supports both your physical and mental health, and there are a whole load of health risks associated with being too sedentary. I’ve written before about the mental health benefits of exercise and how it can help with things such as anxiety, depression and stress. And, as you’ll already know, burning some calories through moving also helps with weight loss. Sure, you need to be eating the right amount and in control over your eating habits (which my hypnotherapy sessions can very much help you with) and exercise certainly helps with weight loss too.

Regardless of the science, I’ve always subscribed to the view that the best form of exercise for weight loss (and your mental health), is to do something you enjoy. If it is fun and enjoyable then you’ll stick with it and get more from it instead of trying to make yourself do something when you heart isn’t in it (and any excuse to not do it starts to seem like a good one). As long as you are moving and your heart rate increases a bit then all is good.

And whilst we already have evidence for the benefits of strength work and cardio, there is now the evidence around whether you can get dancing for weight loss. Now, before we get onto the evidence, of course I think we can all guess the outcome of moving and being active if you want to get fitter and healthier. Yet if you’ve been thinking that to lose weight you have to force yourself to the gym or run a marathon even though you hate running, then this may be the inspiration you need to get dancing more.

And so, is dancing an effective intervention for weight loss?

Exam Room Anxiety

by Dan Regan | Jan 21, 2024 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Exam Room Anxiety – Anxiety Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

Do you suffer with exam room anxiety? You revise and know your stuff when you feel calm, yet as the exam gets closer your stress and anxiety levels just rise and rise. And then, on the day, just when you want to perform to your best, your exam room anxiety kicks in and you panic, struggle to think clearly and it’s like all your knowledge has somehow faded away.

Exam anxiety and stress can mess up all your hard work and plans. You may be fine with your subject when the pressure is off. Yet anxiety will block your ability to think clearly and make decisions. In the exam room you struggle to think and focus and you burn up and waste so much energy as your heart races and the panic attacks.

Recently, I’ve been helping several students to manage their thoughts, feelings and emotions around exams. Mocks have been taking place and they’ve gone from believing they can’t do exams successfully to being calm, positive and confident as they head towards their end of year exams in the summer. Exams are not just all about the learning and knowledge. To perform to your capability you need to be in control of your thinking as you revise and in the lead up to exams, and then to calmly manage how you feel from before the exam starts and right through to successful completion.

You don’t want to be wasting your revision time stressing out and letting your anxious imagination run wild. All the anxious thinking, dwelling and catastrophising stops you learning and retaining the subject matter you are covering. You become more focused on thoughts of failing, messing up and going blank in your exam. It can interfere with your eating and sleeping. The worrying, rather than the learning, revising and getting everything covered, starts to dominate your mindset and leaves you feeling stressed, tense and agitated.

Anxiety Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 21, 2024 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Anxiety Ely and Newmarket

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent issues right now, and the one that can have the most debilitating and limiting impact on your life. Whether you’ve always had a bit of a tendency for worry and now it has grown out of hand, or it’s something newer, anxiety thoughts and feelings can lead to you feeling lower and lower.

There are all the anxious thoughts that take over your focus and that dominate your awareness. You think the worst, catastrophise, think of the worst case scenario and dwell on things. Your anxious imagination takes over and thoughts accelerate through your mind. Everything seems negative and daunting. You feel that you aren’t in control over what goes on inside of your own head. Even where you know your worries may not happen or aren’t totally logical, that doesn’t stem the tide of ongoing anxiety that rolls on from one thing to another.

Alongside those anxious thoughts, there are all the uncomfortable feelings that you struggle with. You feel hot, tense and restless. Your sleeping and eating can be affected. You lack energy and feel weak. Your heart pounds, your breathing rate increases and you may feel wired all the time, like you can’t switch off. And you can get stomach issues where you feel nauseous and sick, meaning you want to eat less and do less. These are all things your body can cope with in times of stress, yet where they are too much and last too long, you feel awful.

You then get stuck in the habitual anxious cycle. Your anxious thoughts lead to you feeling anxious. And feeling anxious leads to thinking even more worst case scenarios. On top of that, you don’t want to do things because you feel so anxious and so you withdraw from normal activities. And you avoid as much as possible that could cause you anxiety and in doing so strengthen the sense of threat about those things that your mind has somehow learnt.

As a former anxiety sufferer myself, I know how dominating and debilitating it can be. Yet, I also know that you can learn how to master your own thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions. And you can change those thoughts and those feelings and the patterns of anxiety into new habitual ways that leave you feeling calm, confident and in control.

Blood Phobia and Needle Phobia – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 18, 2024 | Phobias and Fears

Blood Phobia and Needle Phobia – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

Blood phobia and needle phobia are two of the main fears that I help people to overcome. And the other day, as I was donating blood again, I was reminded of all the people that I’ve helped over the years to overcome this specific fear, anxiety and phobia.

As with all phobias and fears, if you can avoid anything to do with blood and needles then you very much will. That can mean avoiding anything on TV that is related to it and feeling anxious and uncomfortable if someone mentions the subject. Just the thought of anything to do with blood or needles may be enough to ramp up your anxiety. And with avoidance being the number one strategy for blood phobia and needle phobia, you may have been able to swerve things like blood tests for a a long time. Yet, at some point a need arises for a blood test or injection of some kind and your fear and anxiety quickly escalates.

Before I gave blood for the first time I was very apprehensive. I had no idea then of how easy and straightforward it all is and how, apart from a bit of tiredness afterwards, there are no real impacts. And with your phobia, you may logically know that it’s all a bit harmless and painless yet the overwhelming anxiety, worry and panic still strikes.

No matter how severe your anxiety seems, it is possible to change how your mind perceives blood and injections from something fearful and threatening, to something more calm and comfortable. I’ve helped people at all levels of fear, including those who cancel appointments that they really should attend for their health. There have been those who can’t lift their arm for the nurse to have a blood test. And there have been those who, before hypnotherapy, used to pass out at the sight of blood or a needle.

Your mind works on patterns, habit and repetition and so, once you overcome your phobia, you can calmly and confidently be exposed to anything blood or needle related. You can handle it in the way you would many other straightforward things that you already deal with now with hardly a troublesome thought.

Back in Ultramarathon Training – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 16, 2024 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Back in Ultramarathon Training – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

I know many of you share my love of running and I always enjoy sharing stories of races and training with clients I am working with. And I know many more of you, even if not runners, like to know how I’m getting on with my running (even if only to tell me, like my wife regularly does, that I must be mad!).

And so this is just a little update to let you know that I am now back in full ultramarathon training mode! My long runs are already starting to nudge up in distance with a fourteen mile run yesterday and there is lots more mileage to come on top of that in coming weeks. Whilst some runs seem more challenging that others, yesterday was one of those occasions where I just lot myself in my thoughts. It was as much a meditation as a run and one of those occasions where I wish I’d taken a notepad and pen with me to write down some work ideas that came to me.

Those of you who have spoken to me about exercise in the past know that it is one of the primary ways I take care of both my physical and mental health. And there is a lot of evidence and research to support running and exercise to help with anxiety and depression. I’ve included some links about that further on. For those of you who want to improve your running performance and mindset, I’ve also included some links to articles about sports hypnosis and running psychology. When it comes to the mind-body connection and enhancing your well-being, it really is the case that exercise and movement should be right up there on your priority list.

Last year, I came out of some sort of race retirement and managed to complete both a marathon and 50k ultramarathon and, as a result, was able to bag two shiny new medals for my collection. This year I’m aiming to do another one or two 50k ultramarathons and hopefully a bit more fluidly than last time out.

Yesterday, the bulk of my run was along the riverside here in Ely. It’s one of my favourite routes around here. It’s mainly off-road, the paths are pretty quiet and there is so much wildlife and nature to enjoy (to distract from the heavy legs!). As much as I miss the hills of Wales, there is a beauty to be found and appreciated in the landscapes and views around the Fens.

Here’s the view looking back along the fields and river towards Ely, with the Cathedral always present and standing over the town:

Free Hypnotherapy Initial Consultation in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 15, 2024 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Free Hypnotherapy Initial Consultation in Ely and Newmarket

I hope that your New Year has started well and that things are progressing positively for you. It’s been a busy one with hypnotherapy appointments and I’ve already been working with many people to help them with problems such as anxiety, controlling eating habits, panic attacks, overcoming fears, low confidence and insomnia.

And on top of that, at home, we went straight from Christmas into the madness of my eldest daughter’s birthday (I’m too young to be a Dad to a sixteen year old!). And I’m starting to ramp up my weekly running mileage as I look forward to a Spring ultra-marathon (or two if my body holds it together!).

In the busyness of helping people who contact me to make changes to their thoughts, feelings and behaviours, I sometimes forget to remind you about my free hypnotherapy initial consultation.

I know that many people are a little hesitant and sceptical about hypnotherapy, especially if all you have to go on is what you’ve seen on TV or heard about stage shows. And sometimes the most challenging thing is taking the first step to start therapy. That’s why I’ve always offered my free hypnotherapy initial consultation. I want you to be sure that working with me is the best thing for you to help you feel better. And I want you to be able to do that with no obligation when we first meet and chat.

Think Like Sherlock To Tackle Anxiety

by Dan Regan | Jan 8, 2024 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Think Like Sherlock To Tackle Anxiety – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

We are into the start of the new year as I write this, and the Christmas festive period is now well and truly over for another year. I’ve written before about my love for A Christmas Carol and all things Dickens over the festive period and there was certainly some of that. However, things were certainly much more dominated this year by another character and his creator.

I’ve loved everything Sherlock Holmes since I was a teenager and I first picked up the books. I’ve re-read them dozens of times over the years, along with many other Sherlock stories from different authors. Over Christmas, I watched a couple of Sherlock films that were on, a fascinating documentary series about Sherlock and his creator, Conan Doyle, as well as a less fascinating programme on the same subject. And things certainly went Sherlock crazy at home when my daughter received a present of a Sherlock board game.

In the game you are given a case to solve and with the game afoot, you then move around the board picking up clues along the way. It’s one of the most enjoyable games we’ve had and we all got involved with a new case each day. It requires a bit of strategy and some thinking and then nothing beats that ‘a-ha’ moment when you can put the clues together and work out the culprit, the weapon and the motive. Elementary, my dead Watson! (Although that phrase doesn’t appear in any of the Sherlock books!).

One of the things I admire about Sherlock Holmes and his methods is the way he approaches issues and solves things using evidence, science and logical thinking. It’s exactly the sort of mindset that can help you if you need to tackle anxiety, fear, worry and overthinking. Rather than the feelings and emotions of anxiety driving your thinking towards worst case scenarios, you want to be able to think clearly, evaluate what goes on inside your head calmly and so then be in control of your own thinking and subsequent responses. Whereas most hypnotherapists sadly do not draw upon any of the science and evidence in their methods, thinking like Sherlock can help you to successfully tackle anxiety, feel better and stay feeling better.

More Reasons for Quitting Smoking – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 5, 2024 | Quit Smoking Hypnosis

More Reasons for Quitting Smoking – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

There are very few (if any) reasons for continuing to smoke and many, many good reasons for quitting smoking.

Top of the list whenever I help someone to quit is pretty much always your health. You know that smoking damages your health and, even if you’ve been able to make yourself ignore the unseen damage, there is always the lingering worry that sooner or later all those cigarettes are going to catch up with you. You could wait until you notice you get out of breath, that you have less energy, that you are coughing all the time and that things seem a bit harder for you now, or you could take action to change your habit and give up before the damage is too great.

Of course there are many other great reasons for quitting smoking too. You save an absolute fortune when you don’t smoke anymore. You’ll no longer worry about smelling of fags or needing to slip away and find the next opportunity for to smoke. And, of course, with fewer and fewer people smoking now, you can stop feeling like the odd one out when you are around others. You also get the freedom of no longer needing to rely on cigarettes, you will feel healthier as a non-smoker and you are no longer controlled by that old habit.

Many smokers think that their cigarettes help them to relax. However, there is nothing in a cigarette that does this, it’s just that you’ve got used to smoking in situations where you are already feeling calmer, such as when taking a break or having a few moments to yourself. And although nicotine plays a role, the biggest factor is your ongoing smoking habit is psychological. Having smoked so many times in the same situations, your mind creates a pattern that links the cigarette and the situation together and there is an ongoing psychological expectation of doing the same thing each time. That’s why smokers light up in the same sort of situations and may not even think about smoking when they are somewhere they have never smoked.

And as with any pattern and habit, with hypnotherapy and a bit of effort and action, it is certainly possible to quit smoking for good.

Control Eating Habits and Weight Loss Hypnotherapy

by Dan Regan | Jan 3, 2024 | Weight Loss

Control Eating Habits and Weight Loss Hypnotherapy

A major component of any successful and sustainable weight loss programme is always learning how to control your eating habits.

Rather than dieting and restriction, you can reach your ideal weight and still enjoy all the tastes, textures, smells and tastes of healthy and nutritious food. You simply learn to enjoy consistently eating the right amount.

So many of us learn eating habits that are less than ideal and then get stuck in a cycle of repeating them. Even if you make some changes for a while, without addressing the underlying psychological and behavioural issues, you soon find yourself back where you started. You may have been told when you were young that you needed to clear your plate (perhaps through the guilt of starving people in the world). You may have always eaten quickly, over-eaten or made less than healthy choices. And it’s quite common that once you had the freedom to make your own eating decisions then the calories came thick and fast (and perhaps sweet too).

Many eating habits get ingrained without you even realising until your weight is an issue. And, as with all habits, your brain is designed to repeat the same patterns, regardless of whether they are helpful or not. And so you eat too much, make unhealthy choices, crave certain foods, find it impossible to stop once you’ve started and mindlessly snack. You get stuck in a rut and, no matter how many diets you’ve tried, you can’t break free.

If your weight is an issue for you, you may already be trying to summon the motivation and inspiration you need to try and start yet another weight loss programme of calorie counting, restriction and deprivation. It’s a depressing prospect of struggle and likely failure.

However, with weight loss hypnotherapy it certainly is possible to take control over your eating habits and so to then successfully lose weight.

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