Medical research is now proving the effectiveness of hypnosis in making for a relaxed pregnancy and far more comfortable delivery. This article is simply intended as a brief guide to how hypnosis can help in many different ways, ranging from its successful use in prolonging pregnancy, reducing complications and thereby preventing premature delivery to the reducing of delivery time by a massive 2 to 4 hours.

Medical research is now proving the effectiveness of hypnosis in making for a relaxed pregnancy and far more comfortable delivery. This article is simply intended as a brief guide to how hypnosis can help in many different ways, ranging from its successful use in prolonging pregnancy, reducing complications and thereby preventing premature delivery (Schwartz, 1963, Omer 1986, Omer 1987) to the reducing of delivery time by a massive 2 to 4 hours (Jenkins and Pritchard, 1993).

Most people do not understand what hypnosis really is and therefore cannot appreciate how vital its use can be in taking control of your pregnancy and well being. Hypnosis is normal and natural and is finally becoming recognized in the medical profession as an extremely valuable tool to assist in many areas of health, not just in pregnancy and childbirth.

In the Jenkins and Pritchard study referred to above, not only was delivery time dramatically reduced, significantly less pain medication was administered. They also found that the incidence of postpartum depression was reduced and the incidence of spontaneous deliveries was increased. All this of course, is better for mother and child, and also the medical personnel dealing with mother and child. In the Omer study mentioned above the birth weight of the babies was significantly greater than in a control group. Again, this is much better for the baby.

Hypnosis is also known to be a natural aid to increasing your chances of conception. This makes very good sense as hypnosis is a state of relaxation and reduces stress which is known to be a barrier to getting pregnant. It is also quite logical that the more relaxed you are during pregnancy the more comfortable and relaxed your baby is as well. Once again, medical research supports this phenomenon. Mothers using self hypnosis to reduce stress and anxiety whilst pregnant had fetuses that moved more actively than those who didn't. (Zimmer, Perets, Eyal and Fuchs).

Other than the prime importance of having a healthy baby, the thing that every single prospective mum is interested in is, of course, pain control. A lot of research has been carried out in this field and so I'm not going to refer to particular studies, but merely say that its effectiveness has been sufficiently well proven. Simply type "hypnosis for pain control in childbirth" into Google and a whole host of information will appear. It is worth remembering that before pharmaceuticals became available to assist in pain control, the only technique available was mind control; and you can learn to use your mind to put your natural opiates to work. I'm not advocating that you use hypnosis instead of pharmaceuticals; simply that this is a natural option open to you and both are complementary.

I think everyone will agree that in the Western world medicine in general has moved from one end of the scale to another with the advent and easy availability of so many new pills and potions. It has become the norm to look to the medical profession to provide a pill in answer to every circumstance instead of looking to see if there is anything you yourself can do to assist. For best results, a combination of mind and medicine cannot be too highly recommended.

In what other ways can hypnosis assist in making your pregnancy a more comfortable experience? How would it feel if you could overcome morning sickness? Or have a confident body image through pregnancy and after the birth? You can also use hypnosis to avoid the baby blues and overcome post natal depression...and help is even at hand to get your baby to sleep well!

So you can now see that there are many, many ways in which hypnosis can help you to have a comfortable and relaxed pregnancy and an easy childbirth. Suggestions can be given which will help you through each of the three trimesters, assisting you in reducing not only anxieties and tensions and emotional ups and downs but also physical symptoms like aches and pains, heartburn, flatulence, backaches, swollen feet and legs, high blood pressure and so on.

What's great about hypnosis as well is that the more you practice it the deeper the states are that you will achieve. As you relax in hypnosis your brain wave patterns change from the beta waves of normal waking consciousness to the alpha waves of drowsy relaxation to the theta wave patterns associated with dreaming. You have plenty of time whilst pregnant to practice your hypnosis so that you can readily access the deeper states (just as yogis learn to do this) which will allow you to more greatly numb your perception of pain at the time of the birth.

On top of all this good news, you can get hypnosis downloads instantly and listen to them in the comfort of your own home, and they are really very inexpensive.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis downloads for healthy pregnancy and easy childbirth.