EFT for Sleep
WHAT’S THE ISSUE: Sleep is a gift. It’s a gift for our health and well-being, and it’s important for being able to function and think clearly – or even just to have a good day! Not sleeping for a few nights in a row can negatively affect our mood and emotions, it can make us grumpy and short-tempered, and it can certainly impact performance in school or at work. So it won’t come as a surprise if I told you that as an academic coach, it’s rare for me to come across a school or university level student who is under-performing academically AND has good sleep habits. They are often surprised to learn the neuroscience – and in turn, I am often surprised to learn that none of their teachers or lecturers taught them about the impact of sleep deprivation on their brain’s ability to learn and process new information. The fMRI brain scans proving this are all freely available online. You’d think this would be a high priority for ANYONE educating students who wants their to see their students success, right? Go figure. In addition to working with students, I also do sleep coaching sessions using Emotional Freedom Techniques for adults of all ages who want to improve their sleep for health reasons. EFT for sleep is an investment in your health, productivity, and relationships; insomnia does no good to anyone.
Simple EFT for sleep meditation
In this article I share two self-help exerices I recommend to my clients to practice as ‘homework’ (own work) in between sessions as we work on helping them change their sleep habits and stop their insomnia in it’s tracks. First up is a simple demonstration of one of the exercises that is based on a technique in EFT called Touch and Breathe. It involves gently touching the 8 key accupressure points that are linked to the Primo Vascular System (a biological sytem in our body previously known as the ‘meridians’ system).
3-Step EFT for Sleep Meditation
Perhaps the most popular application of EFT for sleep is my 3-step process that I describe in this YouTube short. The reason why it works so well is because it allows for any adrenaline and cortisol to be quickly addressed with the first round of tapping, while gradualling bringing down the gears to allow you to fall asleep without being woken up by movement.
Sleep Coaching using EFT Tapping
If after trying these self-help exercises you still have trouble falling sleeping or staying asleep, chances what you are experiencing is more complex than something that can just be deal with through self-help strategies.
Here are some of the most common reasons teens and adults have come to me for Therapeutic Coaching using EFT for sleep that required 1:1 support to help them sort their sleep out:
- Unacknowledged grief and loss (e.g. loss of a family member or beloved pet, going through a painful break up / heartbreak / divorce, loss of a dream of getting into a particular university due to failing to achieve the grades needed in their final exams).
- Performance anxiety and fear of failure (e.g. about an important exam, presentation, interview, assignment, research/coursework, an inspection at work).
- Academic performance issues (e.g. bad grades due to motivation issues, ineffective study habits, a dependency on tutors causing a decline in the child’s agency and accountability as needed for long-term academic progress and self-esteem, a history of test/exam failures causing test anxiety).
- Work-related stress (e.g. long hours, high workload, no breaks during the working day, having to sit through pointless meetings that are a waste of time, stress caused by management style / lack of professionalism / racism or sexism at work, stress caused by workplace harassment / having to constantly deal with difficult people and aggressive behaviour).
- Poor digital hygene (e.g. scrolling for hours every day on social media or right before going to bed, gaming for hours or right before going to bed, watching NetFlix or YouTube videos right before going to bed).
- Now having knowledge of how the brain works causing them to believe that ‘sleep doesn’t matter’, and therefore to not make sleep a high priority.
- EFT for sleep coaching as a preventative intervention to protect their mental health. I’ve had young adults in their 20s come to me with insomnia. They came to after seeing a licensed psychiatrist/psychologist who can diagnose mental illnesses as they were worried they may be developing a mental illness. They were told that while they are not currently depressed, they were at risk of become clinically depressed if they didn’t sort their sleep out.
If you are going through something similar and would like my assistance, you can book an initial consultation, online or in-person, and we can take it from there.
ABOUT Eleni Vardaki
Eleni Vardaki offers EFT Practitioner services to help you gain insights into your sleep habits, de-stress, and identify negative thoughts that may be blocking your ability to have a good night’s sleep. Her fees are €70 for a one-hour tapping session, with a 4-session saver option available. Telehealth sessions available in English, Greek, and French.
