What is Floatation Therapy: Effects & Benefits
Floatation therapy has spiked in popularity over the past few years, and for a good reason, it's an excellent recovery method that eases both mind and body.
Originating in the 1950s by American neuroscientist Dr John C. Lilly. He developed what we now know as the sensory deprivation tank in the 1970s. His goal was to test how sensory deprivation impacts the human brain.
While technology has advanced significantly, the premise and design remain the same. Users rest in a floatation tank (otherwise known as an isolation tank or sensory deprivation tank). The tank itself is dark, sound-proof and filled with a high concentration of Epsom salts. The salts change the water's density and create buoyancy, thus giving the name float.
During a float, the internal temperature is kept to the same temperature as our outer skin layer. This, alongside the buoyancy, is often described as a no-gravity experience.
What do Epsom salts do?
Incorporating Epsom salts into floatation tanks is vital to what makes floatation therapy impactful and beneficial. Epsom salt is a compound of magnesium and sulfate in rock form - not too dissimilar to salt; however, Epsom salt isn't meant for consumption.
Once dissolved in water, our bodies can absorb the magnesium and sulfate into our bodies. Through this absorption, we can help alleviate stress and anxiety, relax our muscles, and relieve pain.
What does flotation therapy do?
Floatation therapy is designed to remove most sensory input, including sound, light, weight/gravity, and touch. As you float within the isolated pod, your brain is encouraged to enter a relaxed state, similar to meditation. While you drift into a relaxed state, your body continues to absorb the minerals through the Epsom salts, helping you relieve stress and aid your aches.
Among these points are countless noted benefits of flotation therapy and supporting studies. Like many recovery therapies, what you experience may differ wildly from another user; understanding how you react and the benefits to your well-being may only be visible once you have experienced the therapy.
The benefits of floatation therapy
Research has shown numerous psychological and physical benefits of sensory deprivation tanks, including impacting anxiety disorders, pain and general fatigue. Similarly, our members have experienced various mental and physical benefits while using our in-house dream pod float tank.
Here are some of the benefits you can expect to see while experiencing floatation therapy.
1. Does Floatation therapy lower stress?
One of the leading benefits of floatation therapy is its ability to reduce stress levels. The floatation tank achieves this in two separate ways:
Via Epsom salts
Via the mental relaxation from sensory deprivation
Epsom salt is a compound containing high-grade magnesium sulfate. Magnesium inhibits the Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) - the primary hormone that boosts the production of cortisol, the stress hormone.
Floatation REST has many studies highlighting its impact on reducing stress levels (lower cortisol levels) and blood pressure. One study even saw a significant effect on the well-being of six people on the brink of full-time sick leave due to intense burn-out syndrome from life-related stress.
In continuation, the mental relaxation and brain restoration that floatation provides can equally reduce stress levels through the feeling of euphoria, pain reduction, headache and muscle pain recovery and more. The impact these areas have on a user is entirely subjective. However, lessening pain/source of stress will affect a user's overall cortisol level.
Many of our members have noted how their worries washed over them after their time in our dream pod. Similarly, deep relaxation can profoundly affect our mental and cognitive ability, potentially opening the path for the user to clear their mental blocks during use.
While a reduction in stress levels may not seem as big of a benefit on the surface, remembering that stress is one of the leading causes of death, including one of the primary causes of a range of mental disorders, puts into perspective how impactful it can be for any user.
2. Can floatation therapy help with anxiety?
It's challenging to avoid the stimulants of modern life. Whether you're an athlete, business person, parent, or otherwise, you're likely bombarded with social media, conflict and news scares, busy workloads and stressful days. Our senses are overloaded daily, which can contribute to various anxiety disorders.
Similarly, a consistently high stress level can cause any of these disorders.
Floatation REST has always been an interesting case since its initial conception. The idea of depriving one's senses may be seen as counter-intuitive to combat anxiety. However, it has been found that an hour in floatation therapy can significantly reduce anxiety and simultaneously boost our mood - as seen in the results of this 2018 study.
Sensory Isolation was also seen to decrease stress levels, depression and anxiety symptoms while improving optimism and sleep quality in this study. Interestingly, another study found that a group of clinically anxious individuals experienced "robust relaxation" that was "anxiolytic" in nature - further pointing towards Floatation therapy as a potential aid for anxiety symptoms.
3. How does floatation therapy help with Brain restoration?
On average, the human brain processes the equivalent of 11 million bits of information per second. The outside surface of the brain is responsible for our sensory activity; it takes in visual, audio, smell, tactile and body space information and transmits it to the nerves to create a response.
When you're in a floatation tank, there's not a single photon of light entering the brain, nor any sound, and as the body lies in water heated to skin temperature, there is no tactile sensation being processed either. The high density of Epsom salts in the float tank causes the body to float effortlessly, and the impact of gravity is no longer present.
In addition, The tail of the brain connects with the spinal cord, which spends every moment of the day calibrating the body to deal with gravity.
This means that brain function is temporarily suspended while in the tank, a rare pause that is highly beneficial. In our daily lives, the brain is constantly processing sensory input, so when in an environment of sensory deprivation, the brain gets a chance to stop all those processes continuously working in the background.
This provides a fantastic opportunity for the brain to rest and restore what is effectively an intervention for the entire nervous system.
Similarly, research shows that lowering stress, anxiety and fatigue and increasing vigour can positively impact one's creativity.
4. Does floatation therapy aid recovery speed and performance?
Being able to recover effectively is a crucial part of being an athlete. Without this, an athlete's performance may decline, and they may be unable to perform when it matters the most. Floatation, as a recovery method, has been studied for this exact purpose, with studies showing that Floatation REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique) significantly affects blood lactate, with a decrease after a 1-hour floatation session.
Similarly, floatation has also been shown to reduce perceived muscle soreness in athletes and enhance performance readiness after exercise.
Floating also promotes Vasodilation, which facilitates blood flow to each part and system in your body, including the brain. As blood flow increases around the body, all major organs, including the brain, receive more oxygen, triggering optimised functionality. This is why the risk and symptoms of many diseases, such as congestive heart failure and hypertension, are alleviated.
For this reason, we always suggest members use the hyperbaric oxygen chamber before a float, as this optimises the O2 carrying and distribution element to all organs.
Does floatation therapy help with sleep?
When considering the state of rest and restorative processes, sleep is fantastic at creating an environment to stimulate the repair stage in cognitive function. Essentially, the brain can switch off and rest each night when we sleep.
Most of the time, we're sleeping in surroundings where the world around us doesn't entirely switch off, and there will be external stimulation in our environment, such as light and noise, that disrupts our sleep, meaning we don't get the deep restoration our mind and body need.
Similarly, sleep disorders such as insomnia can significantly impact our ability to perform at our best and get the sleep we need to stay focused each day. Stress plays a vital role in sleep quality, with high stress levels often causing disorders such as insomnia.
Studies show that floatation REST benefits sleep, with studies explicitly focused on its impact on insomnia, showing that floatation as a recovery method can significantly improve the sleep quality of people with insomnia.
One hour spent in a float tank is estimated to equal eight hours of sleep. This, plus the added benefits to stress levels and other areas, shows how impactful a floatation session can be.
How often should you do floatation therapy?
Contrary to how floatation therapy may seem from an outside perspective, users may find their first experience surreal. The feeling of weightlessness, in combination with sensory deprivation, can produce a weird feeling for some.
Users can benefit from floatation therapy with repeat use. How often depends on your availability or desire to experience the effects again. In terms of benefits, users who use the tank 2 - 3 times a week are more likely to retain the benefits they've experienced during their sessions. However, that isn't to say you wouldn't benefit from using the tank more frequently, especially if you are active or an athlete looking for therapy that can aid you mentally and physically.
It may take two or three sessions for you to achieve maximum relaxation. Trying a new therapy, especially one that deprives you of your senses, can come with anxiety, as you're not sure what will happen.
Once you have been in the tank three times, you should get a better idea of the benefits you personally see and how impactful the therapy is for you. This will help you determine how frequently you wish to enter the tank.
Should you shower after a float?
A shower is required both before and after you experience a float.
Pre-float: A shower ensures you cleanse your natural body oils, make-up and products from your hair and body before entering. Entering with these would create an oily substance on top of the water. Similarly, avoid using conditioner on your hair, which will make an oily layer on the water's surface.
Post-float: A shower after the float experience allows you to remove the salt residue from your body. This can cause irritation or rashes if left on after your float.
What to wear in a float tank
Due to the nature and purpose of the Epsom salts in the float tank, it's recommended to experience floatation therapy while nude. Clothing can create a sensation through touch within the tank, damping the experience.
If you are uncomfortable with this, you can enter float tanks with a swimsuit, etc. If this is more comfortable, we recommend doing so with fitted swimwear, not loosely tied ones.
Can you fall asleep during a float?
It can be easy to imagine that falling asleep in a float tank is a real possibility, given how relaxing the experience is. However, you will likely stay awake during your hour-long session in float. In most cases, you will experience a heightened level of relaxation, almost like you "aren't there".
Users can also feel a state of hypnagogia - a state where you're on the border of sleep. This state can come with hallucinations, often visual in the form of shapes, and it can be hard to differentiate between being awake or not. This is still perfectly safe.
While falling asleep and rocking over might be a worry, it is very challenging to turn over in the float tank due to the increased density of the water and the feeling of weightlessness. You need to have firm footing to push yourself to move your body's total weight.
Additionally, because you are experiencing weightlessness, the sensation of wanting to turn around isn't there, which helps prevent you from trying to turn over in the first place.
What shouldn't you do before a float?
Preparing for a float is a reasonably straightforward procedure. Yet, there are a few things to remember if you have a floatation session booked.
Avoid taking caffeine or alcohol: stimulants can profoundly affect our brains, and we each handle them differently. While under the effects of caffeine or alcohol, you may feel an increase in adrenaline, which can prevent your mind from thoroughly relaxing. Similarly, depending on your current state, you may feel uneasy during your float, which can lead to fainting or vomiting.
Don't shave before your float: The Epsom salt within the tank can cause intense irritation on shaved areas, creating a poor experience and discomfort throughout.
Don't enter with open wounds: Open wounds not only compromise the cleanliness of the floatation tank but, similarly to shaving, can cause significant irritation when in contact with the Epsom salt. Sometimes, doing so can worsen the wound and create more problems.
Curious about floatation therapy?
Floatation therapy has been proven to aid in many areas while providing a unique experience. Sense deprivation is difficult to imagine and can be impactful once experienced. Floatation helps athletes bounce back quicker from intense training and aids life athletes in every facet of their mental well-being.
Research continues to be published yearly, adding further credibility to the therapy and its influence on recovery.
Are you interested in Floatation therapy?
Free yourself from all sensations of gravity, temperature, touch, sight and sound, which account for 90% of neuromuscular activity.
Get in touch with the team today to learn more.
