By Christine Wheeler, MA

Are you tired of your sleep disorder? Unable to fall asleep easily? Waking up during the night? It's like having permanent jet lag ... but without the holiday. After a sleepless night, there goes your effectiveness at work ... at school ... or at home with the kids.

If you're taking sleep medication, it can leave you feeling groggy the next day. In fact, many sleeping pills need you to commit to at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep after you take them. Now that's a commitment.

There are more than 100 kinds of sleep disturbances. But whatever the reason for yours, the fact is that you are not getting enough good solid sleep. And you feel it the next day ... you have trouble paying attention ... you feel emotional ... you need a nap ... and people keep saying you look tired. 

Did you ever think that unresolved emotional issues could be at the root of your sleep disturbance? It's an interesting concept -- we've all had nights where we worried ourselves awake. And research does indicate that stress, anxiety and depression, can put you at risk for a sleep disorder. So what do you do about it?

Rather than taking sleeping pills or mood-altering drugs, try the drug-free solution -- Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). Anybody can learn the basics of EFT. This do-it-yourself technique is like acupuncture, but without needles. You relax your body's energy system ... resolve your worry and upset emotions ... and finally get a good night's sleep. 

While EFT doesn't claim 100-percent cures for all abnormal sleeping behaviors, it does provide relief about 80 percent of the time by getting at the root of the problem -- unresolved emotions. I don't know of any other sleep aid that does this.

While a complete description of EFT is beyond the scope of this article, you can learn all the basics from the free EFT Get Started Package on the EFT Web site. This includes a free download of the 79-page EFT Manual. Those wishing to save time and dive right in can get the affordable five-star training DVDs.

I want to give you a couple of quick stories from the EFT Web site ... just to show you the versatility of this easy-to-do technique.

Case #1: EFT eliminates need for 91-year-old lady to use
5 ounces of vodka every night to fall asleep.

(You can read the entire case on the EFT Web site)

In the first example, Rona (whose name has been changed to protect privacy), who is 91 years old, used alcohol every night for 35 years to help her insomnia. When she finally learned EFT, she was drinking 5 ounces of vodka every night.

If she woke up in the night, she would take another ounce so she could get back to sleep.  Rona had tried everything to get an alcohol-free sleep and nothing worked.

Rona worked with Gloria Arenson, psychotherapist and EFT practitioner, and they did EFT together for about 45 minutes. Rona addressed her fear of giving up the alcohol, and some emotional issues regarding her husband's illness and subsequent death.

Rona felt relaxed after their session and reported that she went home and had a nap. For the first time in 35 years, she fell asleep that night without the aid of alcohol. 

Case #2: Frequent traveler and EFT practitioner
eliminates jet lag with an easy EFT formula.

(You can read the entire case on the EFT Web site)

Here's another example. Now jet lag is a form of sleep disorder that can really ground you for a couple of days. Whether you are less than alert during a business meeting, or sleeping through part of your well-earned holiday, jet lag is a drag.

Willem Lammers, a clinical psychologist in Switzerland, came up with an EFT formula for jet lag that has been helping travelers reclaim lost time and energy. You simply do EFT for about 10 minutes every two hours during a flight to drastically reduce -- and even eliminate -- jet lag symptoms.

Willem did EFT during a long flight, and even with a nine-hour time lag, he felt no symptoms of jet lag except that he was awake for one hour during the first night.

EFT newsletter reader Lynne Young took Willem's suggestion and used EFT during a flight from Georgia to Alaska -- a four-hour time difference. Lynne tapped for 10 minutes every two hours and reported, "I had no sleeplessness, no irritability, no tiredness, no nausea in Alaska at all." 

She used the same technique when traveling back to Georgia. Her travel companions took the next day off work to recuperate from jet lag. Lynne was up bright and early with no ill effects at all.

No matter what kind of sleep disorder is keeping you awake nights and droopy during the day, EFT is a solution that is likely to help. It even helps shift workers as they change between day shift and night shift.

More on EFT

Please note that in addition to eliminating sleep disorders, EFT has been a consistently effective healing tool for hundreds of other physical, mental and emotional ailments. For more information, you can explore the EFT Web site and its numerous success stories regarding fears, phobias, emotional traumas and physical ailments. 

Please consult qualified health professionals before putting EFT into practice for yourself or others.