More Complementary & Integrative Healthcare Articles
Stop Teeth Grinding
Bruxism is a condition in which you grind, gnash, or clench your teeth. Clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth can be a way for your body to try to relieve stress. Although stress and anxiety are often a cause of bruxism, it can also be caused by an abnormal bite. Many people seek treatment with their dentist to alleviate symptoms of bruxism. However, most experts agree that bruxism is an unconscious habit.
Hypnotherapy is ideal for dealing with the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is everything that’s separate from your conscious awareness. When you first learned to drive, you didn’t know how to do it. You had to think about every little step, from how to turn the car on, to how much pressure to apply to the break, to how to make a turn properly. But once you learned how to drive, and after lots of practice, this behavior became part of your unconscious behavior – something you do without thinking. You now drive easily, likely with your mind on hundreds of things other than the operation of the car.
In a hypnotherapy session, you are allowing yourself to get into a very relaxed state. From this state of deep relaxation, you are able to access your unconscious mind to begin building new habits of relaxation. Many people are under the impression that you are fully asleep, but in fact your mind is very alert during a hypnotherapy session. You are physically relaxed, emotionally calm, and mentally alert and open to positive suggestions towards wellbeing, or positive changes that you’d like to bring into your life.
From this positive state, you can learn techniques for managing your stress and having a more positive mindset. You’ll also likely find that you sleep more deeply throughout the night. This stress management techniques are ideal for helping you to relieve stress naturally instead of venting frustration out through your teeth and jaw.
There are numerous studies to support that hypnosis helps not only to decrease teeth grinding and the associate pain, but that it has long lasting effects of many years.
The benefits you’ll receive from incorporating hypnosis into your plan for dealing with bruxism can reach into many other avenues of your life. Relaxation techniques and stress management skills can also help you sleep better, have healthier relationships, and find more satisfaction in your career.
