Do This With Your Hands to Relieve Stress
By admin
Ever feel so stressed you could pull your hair out, mindlessly stuff your face, or chomp away at your cuticles? Turns out there’s a way more productive way to relieve stress and put your hands to use using a technique that could also help you drop a few pounds and even nip that back pain in the bud.
Research shows that the Emotional Freedom Technique (a.k.a. EFT or tapping), a treatment which combines ancient Chinese acupressure with modern psychology, can reduce cortisol levels in the body and counteract the negative impact of stress by sending a calming signal to the amygdala (the part of our brain responsible for our fight or flight response).
You won’t need metal-toed shoes for this kind of tapping: It involves repetitive finger-tapping on acupressure points of the body (listed below) while repeating certain statements aloud.
“A regular tapping practice can create numerous physical and psychological benefits like increased circulation, deeper and more satisfying sleep, relaxation in muscles and joints, improved immune system function, digestion, and sports performance, and increased energy, mental clarity, and focus,” says Jessica Ortner, co-producer of The Tapping Solution, a documentary film that explores tapping.
Skeptical? The Women’s Health team was, too—but we were also intrigued. So we invited Ortner to our office in New York City to give us the deets.
Turns out that, although it remains unrecognized by the American Psychological Association, clinical trials, studies, and research show EFT can be effective for treating certain conditions like post-traumatic stress syndrome and stress. In fact, researchers at Griffith University found that tapping can even help you to lose weight (by focusing on particular foods you crave and thoughts and emotions related to overeating, you can actually reduce cravings in the short and long term!).
“For a relatively new technique, it is very widespread and used around the world–a recent Google search for EFT showed over 25,000 related videos on the topic,” says Ortner. Not to mention, the 2012 Tapping World Summit, an annual online event, attracted 500,000 participants.
Ortner showed the WH staff how to tap to relieve stress. “Tapping while experiencing or discussing a stressful event counteracts that stress and reprograms the response to it,” says Ortner, but it can also be done on a regular basis as a form of preventative self-care. Ortner says that the length of tapping time can vary greatly. “Some aspects of an issue can be cleared in minutes while others may take repeated sessions,” she says.
Here’s how to try EFT:
FIRST: Identify your tapping points.
THEN: Learn how to tap.
- Start by using the tip of your index and middle fingers to rhythmically tap the side of the hand point while saying the “setup statement” aloud (speaking out loud will help with focus):
“Even though I have this problem [insert your particular problem, such as neck pain, stress from a deadline, or anxiety], I accept myself.”
Repeat three times.
- Tap briefly on each of the other points in the order they are listed in above while you express how you feel aloud, as if you’re venting to a friend. It doesn’t matter what side of the body you tap or what you say, says Ortner.
- Once you’ve tapped on each of the points, take a deep breath to complete round one. Continue for as long as you’d like, or until you feel better.
Check out this video demonstration from Jessica Ortner for more on tapping.
More from WH:
How Integrative Medicine Helps You Heal
Stress Relief Secrets
Acupuncture to Relieve Pain: Does It Work?