Can You Relieve Anxiety Just by Tapping Your Fingers?

November 17th, 2023

By Dr. Joseph Mercola

Contributing writer for Wake Up World

In the U.S., 19.1% of adults struggle with anxiety, the most common mental illness.1 This may include feelings of persistent and excessive worry about health, family, money or other concerns, or a strong, irrational phobia to a specific situation or object, such as fear of driving or flying.

No matter what form it takes on, anxiety can make it difficult to function and carry out your daily routine. It also takes a toll on your well-being, leading to physical symptoms, such as irregular heartbeat, sleep disturbances2 and behavioral changes. Despite its prevalence, only 36.9% of people with anxiety receive treatment.3

Fortunately, there’s a simple tool you can try right in your own home that may relieve anxiety symptoms in a few minutes, just by tapping with your fingers.

Tapping Reduces Anxiety in Just 10 Minutes

Researchers with Corpus Christi Independent School District in Texas conducted a study involving 22 students with anxiety related to a specific phobia.4 The students were randomly assigned to either diaphragmatic breathing or Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) as a first treatment, conducted for five two-minute rounds, for a total of 10 minutes per treatment.

EFT is a psychological acupressure technique based on the same energy meridians used in acupuncture. However, instead of stimulating the pathways with needles, EFT uses tapping with your fingertips along with voicing positive affirmations.

In the study, EFT significantly reduced phobia-related anxiety and behavior, both when used as an initial treatment or following diaphragmatic breathing. The findings suggest “EFT is not merely a placebo,” the team said, but “worthy of additional research for the treatment of specific phobias. Furthermore, statistically significant effects were found with a small sample indicating a robust treatment effect.”5

Techniques used in other phobia treatments, namely imaginal exposure, cognitive restructuring and relaxation, are also elements of EFT, which may explain its effectiveness.6 However, EFT may also boost mental health by rebalancing the flow of energy in the body. The study, published in the journal Explore, states:

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