Does sleep hypnosis work?

Well if by 'sleep hypnosis' you mean hypnosis to help you sleep, then yes, absolutely, hypnosis is an amazing aid for better sleep, as we've experienced with our clients since 1998 and this research shows (link to recent sleep research piece discussed with Mark).

But if you mean hypnosis that works on you while you sleep, then no, there's no evidence we're aware of that it works, and our opinion is that it doesn't.

The idea that you can use hypnotherapy while you sleep to solve your problems and improve your abilities is very attractive, for obvious reasons.  It's so attractive, in fact, that you'll find plenty of people around the Internet happy to sell you hypnosis sessions that claim to do just that.

Here's why we at Uncommon Knowledge don't sell these sorts of sessions, and why we don't believe they do what they claim:

For the long version, read our article How Do Subliminal Messages Work. In short, for a suggestion to work, your senses need to register it. Now while there is some evidence that you might be able to familiarise yourself with some words while asleep, we would suggest that vey much depends on the level of sleep and other factors.

More importantly, becoming more familiar with the odd word while asleep is a long way from the absorption of  the complex patterns that are conveyed in a good hypnotherapy session - what we call 'uncommon hypnosis'.

So we're sorry to be the bearer of bad news if you were hoping to spend your nights solving problems and optimising your mind, but we reckon nights are best for sleeping, and hypnosis is a purely daytime activity.

Besides, we think that you'll find uncommon hypnosis such an enjoyable experience, you'll want to be conscious for it!