Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or tapping is a simple energy psychology technique which can help ease pain, anxiety and cravings. And according to a 2021 study published in the journal Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, EFT tapping can also help ease PMS, including symptoms such as fatigue, nervousness, changes in sleep patterns, and even physical swelling.
Tapping to ease PMS
If you haven't heard of tapping before, no it is not tap dancing! It is a really simple technique which has been scientifically proven to reduce our cortisol levels. (1) It has also been studied for its effects on anxiety, depression, PTSD, phobias, stress reduction, pain reduction, weight loss and cravings, burnout and more. For a full list of scientific research on tapping check out researcher Dr. Dawson Church's library of research on eftuniverse.com.
New research published in 2021 also shows that tapping can be helpful for treating PMS. (2) The study, published in the journal Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, was a randomised clinical trial of 50 nursing students who all scored 111 or higher on a medical PMS measurement scale called the Premenstrual Syndrome Scale (PMSS). All 50 nursing students practised tapping to ease their PMS symptoms for a few minutes a day. The study concluded that there was a statistically significant improvement in the nurses' PMS symptoms. They reported improvements in depression and fatigue, as well as improved sleep and reduced swelling and bloating.
Research, and tons of clinical practice also back up tapping for reducing anxiety (3) easing pain (4) and even for minimising food cravings (5), all common PMS and period related problems. This puts forward a really great case for trying tapping in your premenstrual days as well as during your period. In fact, I do it nearly every day and I find it so helpful! If you are already tapping, please let me know in the comments!
Learn how to tap
The tapping process is really simple. You can follow along in the video above as well if that is easier for you. First of all, it is important to rate your PMS or whatever symptom you are tapping about, from 1-10 and write it down. This gives you the opportunity to measure how much better you feel.
Start by tapping your fingers on the outside of your palm, we call it the karate chop point. You start by affirming a set-up statement, for example, "Even though I have this awful PMS, I love and accept myself completely." You can say the set-up statement three times, with some variation if you want. If you find it hard to say, "I love and accept myself" you can start with something like, "I allow myself to relax" or, "I am ready to let go". Then we tap through the points while talking to ourselves about how we are feeling.
We start with negative rounds, where we speak honestly about the pain, frustration or whatever discomfort we want to clear. When we speak this out loud while tapping on the various meridian points, it sends a signal to our brain that it is safe to relax despite the way we are feeling. Eventually, after a few rounds of tapping on the negative, you can start doing positive rounds where you tap on how you want to feel, or maybe even how good you are feeling now!
The tapping points are as follows. Simply take two fingers and tap gently and continuously. You can tap on just one side, or on both.
- Eyebrow point: just where your eyebrow starts
- Side of the eye: right on the bony bit at the front of your temple
- Under the eye: on the bone again
- Under the nose: just between the nose and the upper lip
- Chin: the little indentation part below the lip
- Collar bone: it's about two fingers distance below the collar bone
- Under the arm: right about where your bra strap would be
- Top of the head: right in the middle of your crown. And yes, this one makes you look like a monkey!
Sample tapping for PMS
So, let's give this a try together. If you want to tap along with me you can say the following statements out loud while tapping with two fingers on the corresponding points.
Side of the hand: Even though my PMS is driving me insane, I love and approve of myself. Even though this PMS is so hard to deal with sometimes, I allow myself to relax. Even though I am really suffering with PMS, and it is really impacting my life each month, I love and accept myself completely.
- Eyebrow point: This PMS is driving me insane
- Side of the eye: I feel so much anxiety one minute
- Under the eye: And the next minute I am so angry
- Under the nose: This PMS is the worst
- Chin: I cannot wait for my period to come
- Collar bone: This anxiety in my chest
- Under the arm: The anger bubbling up
- Top of the head: This PMS is the worst.
You can tap through these points as many times as you need, letting out all of your feelings that are related to your PMS and describing any symptoms, how they are presenting themselves, and where. Don't get too caught up in the words if you're finding it difficult to know what to say; you can even make noises to represent the feeling or just tap through the points while thinking about how you feel.
When you start to feel a bit better, when the number you rated at the start has reduced somewhat, you can do some positive rounds, For example:
- Eyebrow point: I am starting to feel a bit calmer
- Side of the eye: Maybe it doesn't have to be this difficult each month
- Under the eye: Maybe there is a better way
- Under the nose: I am open to solutions presenting themselves to me, to help me balance my hormones and ease this PMS
- Chin: I feel hopeful
- Collar bone: Maybe I don't have to feel like this each month
- Under the arm: Maybe this tapping can help. In fact, I think this tapping is helping!
- Top of the head: I am hopeful and it feels good to feel calm.
At the end revisit your symptoms and measure them again to see if your score has reduced and by how much. You can continue tapping whenever you need to help the number get lower and lower.
Tapping resources:
There are many great books and online resources where you can learn about tapping. I recommend Jessica and Nick Ortner from The Tapping Solution, Brad Yates from Tap with Brad and Dawson Church from EFT Universe. But if you type tapping for X – just name your ailment or issue – into Google or YouTube, you will find an abundance of tapping meditations to follow along with if you are new to tapping.
