Research Shows Senior Insomnia Is Treatable With EFT

Millions of people suffer from insomnia, especially in the senior population. Is there a remedy better than meds? This research study may give you sweet dreams.

Michael Jackson. Margaret Thatcher. Joan Didion. Jimi Hendrix. Arianna Huffington. Roxanne Gay. Erica Jong. George Clooney. Joni Mitchell. Maya Angelou.

All were self-proclaimed insomniacs at some point in their lives.

Of course, it’s not just celebrities. Many people struggle with insomnia, including new parents, workers on third shift, and people who have moved to a new time zone.

But insomnia in seniors is even more common, and more serious because of the effect it has on their already vulnerable bodies.

The researchers in this study reported that 50% of adults over 60 complain of problems with sleep. Aging people often deal with physical illnesses, depression, anxiety, general physical weakening, and side effects from medications for other illnesses.

This research team was interested in studying non-pharmacological treatments. They were also looking for an effective treatment that’s cost-effective and easy to learn for those with cognitive limitations.

At the time of this study, there was already a “gold standard” non-pharmacological treatment for insomnia called Sleep Hygiene Education (SHE). The researchers were aware of the effectiveness of EFT in many of the causes of insomnia, like anxiety and depression, and so wanted to test it against the standard SHE treatment.

Tapping Treatment Customized For Seniors

Researchers first looked at the “Basic Recipe” of the Tapping protocol in order to see if it was something seniors could easily be taught, and then integrated into their daily lives.

The Basic Recipe for EFT is a series of setup and reminder phrases that combine the patient’s experience of a difficult issue with an affirmation. Practitioners then ask patients to speak the phrases while the practitioner taps on their acupressure points.

Of course, Tapping can also be self-administered, as we demonstrate through all of Tapping Solution Programs.

In this study, however, researchers took the basic structure of an EFT treatment and adapted it for seniors by “…standardizing the setup phrases and reminder phrases so that even those with limited cognitive abilities can use the Basic Recipe.” They called this variation “EFT-1.”

Several years prior, these same researchers had conducted a pilot study that concluded that EFT-1 helped seniors with insomnia, depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction. They wanted to do another study this time as a randomized controlled trial, where the seniors learned EFT-1 in a group to make it more affordable in hard economic times.

Getting to Dream: The Study

After receiving approval from the University Oriental Medical Hospital in Seoul, 20 subjects were recruited who had all been diagnosed with insomnia by a doctor, scored high on a questionnaire indicating clinical insomnia, and were over the age of 60, the average age being 77.

The participants were divided into two groups: EFT-1 and SHE (Sleep Hygiene Education). Each group worked with a different therapist and received eight sessions of treatment over two weeks.

The “lesson plans” in both groups were made as similar as possible, except the first group learned about Tapping, and the other SHE.

Before and after treatment, each group filled out questionnaires for insomnia, anxiety, depression, and quality of life. Then researchers followed up with each group at five weeks after treatment and then again at nine months after treatment, having the subjects fill out the questionnaires each time.

Waking Up: The Results

Researchers found that participants in the EFT-1 group slept significantly better than the “gold standard” SHE group.

The EFT-1 group also fared better in relation to depression, but neither group made any reported progress with their anxiety or life satisfaction. In my opinion, this could be because there were other issues involved that may not have been specifically addressed, due to the specific focus of this study.

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Researchers found that participants in the EFT-1 group slept significantly better than the “gold standard” SHE group.

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The adjustments to the standard EFT treatment were helpful, though, and made the treatment accessible to seniors who had cognitive issues.

In spite of the small group and the study taking place in a single setting with a population from the same basic demographic, these researchers were confident that the study results indicate that EFT-1 is an effective treatment for senior insomnia.

The Old, the Young, and Everybody In Between

Even though this study focused on seniors, there’s no reason to think that others with insomnia wouldn’t benefit from it.

EFT is ideal in so many situations because it’s inexpensive, easy to learn and teach, can be practiced by patients & clients themselves, and has no harmful side effects.

For a condition that has eluded doctors and patients for ages, this information is exciting, and could help many people live happier, healthier, and more well-rested days.

And that’s a dream we all deserve to have. 😊

Until next time…

Keep Tapping!

Nick Ortner

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Do you sometimes have trouble sleeping? What naturopathic remedies have you tried?

The following article Research Shows Senior Insomnia Is Treatable With EFT is available on: http://tappingsolution.com/

Tapping Research Shown to Ease Your Public Speaking Fears

This is your moment. They’ll all be looking at you. Will you shine? This research study shows how to greatly increase your chances of public speaking success by decreasing your anxiety.

It’s 2:45 and you’re up in 15 minutes.

Your palms and temples are wet, and you’re hoping your deodorant is doing its job.

You review your notes for the 411th time and try to remember your mental cues: slow down if they laugh… pause at the end of an idea… look at individual members of the audience… keep breathing…

But these reminders don’t seem to be slowing down your pulse. You sit back down, waiting, wondering if this will be the time that you pass out or lose your cookies.

The scenario above might seem funny from a reader’s perspective, but for people with public speaking anxiety, it’s actually quite serious.

Most of us in our everyday adult lives have to occasionally get up and speak in front of a group. Even if it’s something informal, like toasting a family member at an event, to somebody with this degree of anxiety, the task can seem as insurmountable and frightening as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

Because this particular fear, known as “glossophobia,” affects such a large number of people (10% of adults in the US according to Forbes Magazine, which would be about 32 million), researchers have been working on understanding and treating it for years.

Enter Energy Psychology, an alternative way of understanding and treating a variety of illnesses through restoring flow to the body’s natural life force.

In the early 1980’s, a psychologist named Roger Callahan devised a method of balancing the body’s energy by linking mental health issues to acupressure points. Clinicians would have the patient talk about the issue while they tapped on the corresponding point, which would unblock the flow of energy.

The developer of Emotional Freedom Techniques, Gary Craig, took this one step further by simplifying it so that anyone in the health care field could apply it and teach clients how to do it themselves.

It takes some time for a treatment modality to earn the respect and legitimacy of society and the medical community. Because of the many research studies conducted, however, EFT has been rapidly accepted as an “evidence-based treatment,” particularly by the American Psychological Association for specific phobias.

But is public speaking one of them? Let’s find out…

To Be or Not to Be... A Study

Researchers of this study in Australia recruited 36 volunteer students to fill out a questionnaire about public speaking and fear.

The group was divided into two: the first would receive EFT as a treatment and the other was the wait list/control group. All students were given several questionnaires that are considered reliable measures in research about public speaking anxiety. They were also asked to predict how effective they thought the treatment would be for them on a scale of 0-10.

The students in the EFT group were asked to give a four-minute speech before the treatment. Then they were shown how to use EFT.

One interesting aspect of this study was having the students rate their anxiety at three points during the treatment itself: 15 minutes into it, 30 minutes into it, and at the end, at 45 minutes.

After treatment, the students filled out all of the questionnaires again. Finally, they were asked to give another short speech in front of a small group that was video recorded.

Using this recording, the researchers then scored students on observable anxious behaviors, like wetting their lips, swaying, gesturing awkwardly, or pacing.

The control group followed the same protocol, but without treatment. One week later, they came back to the counseling center and also received the Tapping Therapy. They then filled out the questionnaires and gave their video recorded speeches, being evaluated just like the first group.

Toastmasters for Tapping

The overall findings in this study showed that EFT was a highly effective treatment for public speaking anxiety.

Researchers noted the particularly short treatment time and the fact that individuals can even give themselves the treatment without a therapist.

In comparing the questionnaires, researchers found that students who received the EFT treatments felt less anxious in general, and specifically calmer about public speaking post-treatment. There were improvements in anxiety levels, statistically significant ones, on all measurement tools they used.

The anxiety measurements taken at each 15-minute interval during the treatment process showed a steady decline of anxiety throughout. Interestingly, there was a big drop in just the first 15 minutes of doing the tapping.

Applause!

Given how easy it is to teach and learn, and how quickly the treatment begins to work, Tapping is a fabulous tool that could save millions of people from the suffering they experience every time they are required to speak in front of a group of people.

Even when I have to take the stage for a talk or conference presentation, I still tap beforehand because it just simply helps to calm the nerves and provides me with better focus.

If you’d like to try Tapping for your public speaking anxiety, we’ve got a free Tapping Meditation to help you.

Go ahead and give it a try the next time you have to get up to speak in front of others. Your voice and your words could be just what someone else needs to hear.

Until next time…

Keep Tapping!

Nick Ortner

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Tell me about a time where you had to speak publicly. How did it go? Do you think Tapping could have helped?

Tapping Research Shown to Ease Your Public Speaking Fears was originally published on: The Tapping Solution

Research Shows EFT Tapping Can Ease Your Dental Anxiety

Are your teeth suffering out of a fear of visiting the dentist? You’re not alone. But one study reveals how to brush away that dental anxiety and bring a smile to your face.

Your alarm clock sounds and you sit straight up in bed. Fear grips your very soul - today is your dentist appointment.

You’re sweating and your heart is pounding as you get dressed, brush and floss your teeth (twice) and look for your car keys.

You wonder if you should call your best friend and ask if she’ll go with you. You wonder if you should drink some Chamomile tea because it sometimes relaxes you...

You wonder if you should call the receptionist and tell her that you’ll have to reschedule because you just found out your cat has shingles. Then you remember, “24 hours notice is required.” Darn!

But what if somebody told you that a ten-minute anxiety treatment was available that would make that appointment bearable, or even somewhat pleasant? Would it be worth trying?

The Ten-Minute Remedy for Dental Anxiety

Fear of dental treatment is a common phobia, with up to 30% of patients in the U.S. reporting anxiety related to going to the dentist.

This particular research study is exciting not only because it shows that EFT Tapping is an effective way to calm pre-dental appointment jitters, but also because the duration of the treatment, just ten minutes, is so manageable within the context of a busy dental practice.

In the study, 30 adults waiting for dental treatment were recruited to test out the effectiveness of Tapping to calm their dental fears.

Both male and female, ages ranging from 18-70, when asked to rate their anxiety on a scale from 0 to 10, reported a 6 or above. Each were then given a 10-minute EFT treatment (which was actually 4 minutes of explanation and 6 minutes of tapping).

First, the patients described their anxiety. Then, the EFT facilitator created a setup statement using the patients’ own words. For example, “Even though the sound of that drill scares me to death, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

Finally, the facilitator asked the patients to tap on the acupressure points shown to them while describing their anxiety and repeating the self-acceptance phrases.

After the session, patients were asked to rate their anxiety from 0-10 again.

All of the patients reported a decrease in their level of anxiety.

83% experienced a drop of a minimum of four points and 73% ended up with an intensity rating of 3 or less at the second reporting period.

Researchers noted that usually the goal for a post-treatment anxiety rating is 0. In dentistry, though, it’s typical for patients to feel a bit anxious as a result of activation of the sympathetic nervous system, so a 2 on the scale was considered normal.

This study was also unusual in that the facilitator, a certified EFT practitioner, was also the dentist. (It’s neat that Tapping is getting out there into the mainstream, though, isn’t it?)

EFT Tapping has been shown through numerous other studies as an effective treatment for anxiety, fibromyalgia, PTSD, test-taking, public speaking, and a host of other issues.

It has also been shown to have lasting effects. The subjects of these other studies not only report a drop in their anxiety at the time of the treatment, but when contacted for follow-up, they also report that their anxiety level had remained low over time.

An Easy Pill to Swallow

With so many prescription anxiety medications being given out like candy these days, a simple 10-minute Tapping exercise to ease your dental fears is very good news!

Given how much research has already demonstrated the effectiveness of EFT Tapping in reducing anxiety, and how short an EFT session needs to be to work, perhaps dentists will look into getting their office staff trained in EFT to pass on this method to their patients.

If you, yourself, would like to learn how to Tap, we’ve got plenty of resources available for you. Or, if you’d like to work with a qualified practitioner for easing your dental phobias, we’ve got a whole directory of expertly trained individuals who’d love work with you.

Perhaps the next time you wake up on the day of your dental appointment, you won’t sit up in a cold sweat. Instead of panicking, you’ll spend 10 minutes doing some Tapping.

Then you’ll leisurely eat some granola and cantaloupe, sip some strong java, and drive to the appointment, thinking about what you’re going to wear to the wedding you’ve been invited to, pondering a gift idea for your friend’s retirement party, or looking forward to the cat show you and Tuffy will be attending on the weekend. 😊

Until next time…

Keep Tapping!

Nick Ortner

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Do you have a fear of going to the dentist? Have you tried EFT Tapping to relieve your anxiety? Comment below.

The following article Research Shows EFT Tapping Can Ease Your Dental Anxiety is republished from: http://www.tappingsolution.com

Tapping Case Study – Attachment, Identity, and Spiritual Beliefs

Tapping together with so many people over the years, I get to witness again and again just how many of our adult beliefs are a result of our childhood upbringings.

Here is one such story of a woman’s journey of having to let go of her attachment to old patterns of belief to be able to discover her true identity through Tapping.

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Amy Lloyd was brought up in a “very restrictive environment” by a fundamentalist Baptist family. Even after several years into her dysfunctional marriage, she was taught to never question any of it.

So when she finally had enough and left her abusive husband, she lost everything - custody of her children, her extended family, her community...

Amy knew deep inside that she didn’t want to be angry and she didn’t want to be a victim.

But after her divorce, when she began dating again, she would continue to follow the same pattern of building her life around the man. And when the relationship would end, she’d be back to square one.

Amy recognized that she needed to change this pattern because she didn’t want to jeopardize her life or put it on hold until she met the right person.

She wanted to fix it - she just didn’t know how.

During the turbulent period that followed, a friend gave Amy the book, “The Tapping Solution.” (Thank goodness for our friends, right?)

“At first, I thought, what is this voodoo thing?” But when she tapped for the first time, she noticed a change.

“It allowed me to breathe when I couldn’t. It took my anxiety down when the room was closing in on me.”

Amy left another relationship a short time later, which spurred more searching.

She was living with friends and doing some freelance work, but she couldn’t fully reconnect to life.

“My dad had given me his old car, my computer was way out of date… Just recently I took it into the Apple store and the sales rep called all his colleagues over and they were marveling at it, like a dinosaur.”

Amy was just keeping her head above the water. I think most of us can relate at some point in our lives or another. It’s just an awful feeling.

She had been on the Tapping Solution mailing list since her first encounter with the book, but really didn’t pay much attention to the emails she’d be receiving, until she saw one mentioning the Financial Success Program.

“Making money was a big issue for me. I had learned in my family that poverty is spiritual, that I needed a man to protect me, and that I can’t have money without that.”

With this realization, she knew something had to change, so she purchased the seven-week program.

As Amy immersed herself in the course, things began to surface. She discovered patterns and associations she had never understood before.

“When you do Tapping, you go into the subconscious and it brings things out. Part of me had just not been aware of much, especially what happened in my childhood, my family roots and siblings - all very deep. I was able to pull these crazy things up, understand them, grieve them, and then let them go. It’s changed my life.”

After completing the program, Amy found a part-time job as an office manager, which provided her with a base salary.

A singer, Amy also began working on some music, which was possible because of having the job. She bought a new computer, a car, and brought her life up to speed.

She also stopped dating. “If somebody comes along, I’ll go out, but I’m not pursuing that which is very different for me. For once, it’s not my primary focus. All of that is transformation.”

Amy credits not only Tapping for her positive changes, but also the community she found through The Tapping Solution’s Facebook page.

“Cathy, the woman who manages the Facebook page, is such a wonderful resource, so encouraging, and the Ortners provide such a great service. I’ve also been so grateful for the other people on the website. Everybody encourages each other.”

Amy says the course is the best investment she’s ever made.

“What I’ve been able to move through in just one year, is more growth than I experienced in my first 51.”

Now Amy uses Tapping every day. At the moment, she is working on anger. “Because I didn’t want to be an angry person, I went to the opposite extreme: very passive. Recently I realized that in order for me to stand in my voice and truly be me, I need to be able to tap into my anger. So, I use Tapping.”

Amy can connect with all levels of her anger with Tapping, allowing the feelings to surface and resolve themselves through expression. Tapping is the tool that helps her do that in a safe way.

What advice does Amy suggest for people considering Tapping?

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“This is your life. It’s hard to go though those hard things. But we have the ability to go through and heal, and be changed. Tapping is such a great thing: it’s easy, it’s not expensive, there are no pills and no side effects. It takes you deeper and helps you live better. We can change the world, we can change ourselves. It’s so worth it.”

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I couldn’t have said it better myself. 😊

Thanks so much for sharing your story, Amy!

Until next time,

Keep Tapping!

Nick Ortner

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Do you have some strong family beliefs that may be hindering your personal growth? Please share below.

The blog post Tapping Case Study – Attachment, Identity, and Spiritual Beliefs is courtesy of: The Tapping Solution

Chocolate Covered Hope – EFT Tapping for Food Cravings

Break free from your food cravings! Study shows just how strongly emotional eating is connected to your weight.

Have you ever had a food craving?

Perhaps, like many, you feel a daily pull toward the top food craved in the United States - chocolate!

Although there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a sweet treat now and then, the cravings that are attached to the food can be deadly.

Most people know that obesity is associated with numerous health problems, including heart disease, cancer, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these illnesses are, in fact, “…some of the leading causes of preventable deaths.” However, in spite of most of these being preventable, the CDC calculates that 36% of Americans are clinically obese.

One study (Withrow & Alter, 2010) even found obesity costs to represent between 0.7% and 2.8% of a country’s entire health care budget!

So, with all of the risks and costs associated with a preventable disease, why does the U.S. have an obesity epidemic on its hands?

 

Can Tapping Tame Cravings?

One theory is that cravings are responsible for the eating that creates excess weight. And unlike other treatments for obesity, food cravings and how to curb them have not been studied very often.

Because EFT has now accumulated so much evidence as an effective treatment for other issues involving the brain, researchers of one clinical study wanted to explore whether Tapping could interrupt the neurological “script” involved with food cravings.

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A Little Neuroscience

The amygdala is the part of the brain that is activated by negative emotions.

Researchers theorize that a craving is a neural connection in the amygdala that could be broken with EFT.

For example, if a person is scared about an upcoming meeting, she may eat chocolate to calm herself. The individual will continue following that pattern because the association has been established in the brain, and a neural pathway is created.

When EFT practitioners combine positive cognitive messages with tapping on acupressure points, the pathway disconnects, severing the association between stress and eating chocolate.

Once it’s replaced by a new pathway (i.e. “I can smell or see chocolate and have no desire to eat it.”), the craving is dissolved.

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In the original study, researchers recruited 96 obese participants in the community, ages 18-60, whose Body Mass Index (BMI) and food cravings were at a high level.

Leaving out pregnant women, people with diabetes, those being treated for a psychiatric disorder, those taking psychotropic medication, or individuals already taking medication for obesity, they divided the group in two - one half receiving EFT treatments and the control group receiving nothing.

At the start of the study, participants were asked to fill out several different questionnaires that measured their eating and health behaviors, along with their physical attributes like height, weight, and BMI.

The EFT Group was divided into smaller groups of 15 people, each receiving four 2-hour EFT treatment sessions over a four-week period of time. Researchers also gave the participants homework so that they would continue Tapping in between treatment sessions.

Each participant was asked to pick one food that they craved the most to tap on - one they felt was most problematic in their eating. Most participants picked chocolate. :)

The questionnaires for both the EFT and Control groups were taken before treatment, just after treatment, at six months after treatment, and then, with this study, 12 months after treatment.

 

The Results

Here's the interesting part...

Between initial treatment and the six month follow-up, participants reported a significant positive changes in their “power over food,” psychological distress, food cravings, and restraint.

Interestingly, though, weight loss and Body Mass Index didn’t change between pretreatment and the six month mark.

BUT, both weight and BMI did change significantly between the six month and the 12th month mark.

What does this mean? When the stress and emotional triggers that are causing the food cravings are removed using EFT Tapping, the body will automatically return to a state of balanced health over time.

My sister Jessica and I see it consistently happen with women who go through her Weight Loss & Body Confidence Program.

 

Simple, Fast, Effective, and Inexpensive: EFT as a Treatment for Obesity

Healthcare is on most Americans’ minds these days and certainly conditions that can be treated quickly, cheaply, and with no unwanted side effects are the pot of gold for anybody interested in public health.

Although further research needs to be done, since this study was the first to treat obesity with EFT, it’s something that all primary care doctors could easily learn about.

Teaching EFT Tapping to their patients struggling with weight control could very well buy them many years of healthy living.

Until next time,

Keep Tapping!

Nick Ortner

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Did this study offer you any insight? Can you connect overeating or food cravings to your emotional state? Comment below!

The following blog post Chocolate Covered Hope – EFT Tapping for Food Cravings is available on: The Tapping Solution