Do you feel the stress of the holidays?It’s “a little weird”, but tapping is useful — and it’s easy to do yourself

Almost 20 years ago, a counseling colleague talked about a technique he said could help reduce stress. In just a few years of my clinical career as a young scholar and as a psychologist, I was keen to learn approaches that help relieve stress. But he added these words: “But it’s a little weird.”

Those words prevented me from exploring further for another year, and I still didn’t know what this stress-relieving technique was. Fast forward, the same colleague helped me with a community support group for women with dietary problems. During the session, a young woman had a panic attack. My colleague took her out and calmed her down.

They came back within minutes, and the young woman was certainly calm and calm! I was very surprised. After the session, a colleague said, “I showed her the stress-relieving technique I was talking about.”

I started learning everything about the approach known as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) I studied how to use it In clinical trials for years. It is commonly called “tapping” because it stimulates the acupuncture points on the face and body with gentle two-finger tapping. I have been using tapping myself for over 15 years now.

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What is the evidence of tapping?

Evidence of this simple approach to stress relief is increasing exponentially. research Tapping has now been shown to be beneficial for food cravings, depression, anxiety, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorders.

Even more interesting is tapping Affects the body’s biochemistry Immunity and blood pressure.Only 1 hour tapping Reduces the stress hormone cortisol by 43%..

Even better Follow-up survey Shows the benefits of last tap over time Until 2 years later..

this is suggestion Tapping affects the stress center (amygdala) and memory center (hippocampus) of the brain.both Role in the decision-making process When someone decides if something is a threat.

research We are currently investigating elementary school students who used tapping at school and found that it helps their concentration and concentration. I was very interested in something that helped the kids at school and taught them tapping as well.

So how do you get started?

Tapping is usually done when you want to reduce it. If you feel stressed, it’s the best time to start tapping. There are 5 steps:

step 1. Please rate the stress level from 10. Where 10 is the highest level and zero is completely calm. This is just a way to evaluate your feelings, so you can guess this number.

Step 2. We encourage people to engage in it and shout out their feelings to pay attention to how you feel. Usually you would say, “I’m really stressed now because of ______, but I think this is my feeling.”

It’s important to be specific about why you feel stressed and think about it during the tapping process. To shout this statement, tap the point next to your hand, as shown below. Loudly speaking a problem cannot reinforce it. You are actually honest with yourself at this moment and admit how you feel.

Step 3. Tap the eight cusps shown below with two fingers to express your emotions (not the entire sentence). For example, you might say “stress” while thinking about what makes you feel stressed at that moment.

Step 4. When you have finished tapping the last cusp (top of your head), pause and inhale. Reassess your stress level after that single round.

Step 5. If your rating out of 10 is still high, keep tapping as many rounds as you need until you run out of numbers or notice a shift. You can change your words by tapping and thinking about other feelings. For example, if you start to feel stressed at work, after a few rounds you will find that you are really overwhelmed and want support. You can change the word to reflect this and instead say, “I feel overwhelmed.”

The Fundamental mechanism Tap these cusps to send an activated or deactivated signal to the area of ​​the brain caused by the phrase. Tapping is “Mechanical sensory transmission“.

As a simple self-applicable intervention, tapping is now support Along over 100 Randomized clinical trials (the most accepted form of study). It looks very effective and quick compared to traditional treatments.

So it may look a little strange, but the tapping is equivalent or Comparable to the gold standard approach like that Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The next time you feel stressed, it’s worth a try!

Peta Stapleton is an associate professor of psychology at Bond University.This work first appeared conversation..