A woman came to Bob Ranger for help with sleep problems after spending a few nights in a sleep study, yet no one could figure out the issue.
Ranger, founder of the Institute of Transformational Hypnotherapy in Okemos, made the woman an audiotape with relaxation suggestions of how to fall asleep, and a couple of days later, she reported her issues were gone.
"Our minds are very, very capable of taking new information and assimilating it in creative ways," Ranger said.
Although Ranger only creates audio tapes or CDs for clients on an individual basis, he said many people seek hypnotic audio material to ease their sleeping woes or to relax.
Barnes & Noble, 333 E. Grand River Ave., sells a variety of CDs to help with sleep troubles. Most of them are located in the "new age" music section of the store, and music department manager Shawn Parker said they have "relatively low sales."
"It's a specialty market. It always sells and will always sell," Parker said. "(It has) nothing to do with music fads and trends."
Joan Ratliff, a hypnotherapist at Clinical Hypnotherapy in Okemos, said to hypnotize someone with sleeping problems, she'll go through the process of "progressive relaxation," then give the person suggestions about falling asleep.
"(I would) have the person imagine a time that they could sleep comfortably and deeply," Ratliff said.
"And since you already know how to do that, you're able to do this for longer periods of time."
Ratliff added that she makes personalized tapes to give to her clients.
Ranger, who graduated from MSU around 1970, said while most college students simply don't sleep enough or may use substances that interfere with sleep, some actually have sleeping issues that can be fixed on a subconscious level.
"When you're in grad school, you've got all these pressures and papers," Ranger said.
"Those tensions build up. All those tensions interfere with sleeping."
Ranger said audio tapes do provide release for some people, but suggested seeking professional help for persistent problems.
"Often, those (sleeping) difficulties go away with the work we do," he said of his company.
