Desperation for Insomnia Relief: What Really Killed Michael Jackson

I remember the day I found out about Michael Jackson’s death. It was June 27, 2009, two days after it happened. He was flying home from a one-week crash course where he hadn’t had access to news of any kind. What I remember most as I watched the story unfold on airport television is not the grief at losing this talented artist long before my time, or the anger at his doctor for irresponsibly providing a deadly combination of drugs, but compassion. and understanding towards the King. of pop.

At the time, Michael Jackson and I shared an illness: We had both spent decades struggling to fall asleep at night. Despite unlimited funding for health care, Michael could not find a cure because conventional medicine does not have healthy answers for insomnia. The usual course of treatment, pharmaceuticals, got out of hand. Michael died of an overdose of propofol combined with other sedatives. Propofol is a powerful anesthetic that is administered intravenously in hospitals to induce and maintain anesthesia during surgery. It is not designed or approved for individual home use. However, Michael’s personal physician had been giving him the drug regularly so that he could fall asleep at night.

I had just spent a week with an average of only 2-3 hours of sleep each night, which was a typical, even expected reaction for me, every time I spent time away from home learning something new. I was exhausted and sore from my week of inadequate sleep. When I learned the details of Michael’s death, I fully understood why someone would be so desperate to turn to such powerful drugs to induce sleep.

I once had my own 4-year period on sleeping pills, which ended only when they stopped working. The rebound insomnia was one of the worst I had ever experienced and it took me almost a year to stabilize. Another option would have been to continue taking increasingly powerful drugs until something as strong and dangerous as Propofol was found. I imagine this is how Michael ended up needing such a strong drug to do what our bodies were supposed to do naturally every night. I had turned to one side and he to the other, but I still understood very well the desperation of needing more sleep than anything and just not being able to get it.

Finally, a couple of years after Michael’s death, I found what I had been looking for for almost thirty years, something that reliably and naturally helps me sleep every night. That something is EFT, which stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques and is better known as “tapping.” While it may seem silly at first to tap on various points on your body while saying certain phrases out loud, I can assure you that it is the best long-term remedy for insomnia that I know of. Chronic insomnia is generally caused by the body’s response to stress, and EFT is a technique that naturally calms and soothes the nervous system. Here’s how it compares head-to-head with sleeping pills:

• Unlike sleeping pills, which override or suppress stress responses in the body using chemicals, EFT naturally calms the body from within, allowing the nervous system to return to a state of homeostasis, the state where deep stages occur. of the dream.

• The best that sleeping pills can do is temporarily mask the symptoms, completely ignoring the causes. EFT, on the other hand, effectively relieves both symptoms and causes.

• While sleeping pills alter body chemistry and can often have unpleasant or dangerous side effects and / or withdrawal symptoms, EFT removes blockages from the entire system and supports overall health.

• Best of all, while sleeping pills create a psychological dependence on something outside of you, EFT promotes self-understanding and true empowerment. You are no longer a victim of your body and you can deal with whatever comes your way.

• As a bonus, once you have mastered the technique, you can use it anywhere, anytime. This is especially good for insomniacs who tend to need more help at odd hours in the morning, when it is not appropriate to call anyone else. I know I often longed to call my various therapists in the middle of the night and it was such a powerful change to help myself.

Another thing that Michael Jackson and I had in common was nightly music rehearsals. These are tough on insomniacs because they are uplifting in and of themselves and because the music tends to stay in your head long after rehearsal is over. For years I thought to myself at 2:00 a.m. M., “If only I had an off button!” Finally, I do. Meditation and other relaxation techniques never seemed to work because I couldn’t clear my mind of this music long enough to relax. Tapping on the frustration of this endless loop of music, however, works like a charm. One or two rounds and it’s silenced. I can’t help but think that Michael could have benefited from this too.

Who can say if EFT could have saved Michael Jackson’s life. Each person has their own path. However, if you have a hard time sleeping regularly, I highly recommend that you look into EFT. You have nothing to lose, except maybe your insomnia!