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Can Float Therapy Be Used as Preventative Medicine for Improved Quality of Life?

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Does spending time in a float spa help overall wellness? Here’s what the science says.

Is floating the preventative healthcare solution we’ve been overlooking for too long? Researchers have known for quite some time that floating in a sensory deprivation tank offers benefits for inducing deep relaxation. The positive health effects for patients suffering from muscle tension, pains, and similar symptoms are also documented. Plenty of studies also link floating to clearer thinking, relief for general anxiety disorder (GAD), and improved cardiovascular health. However, a lack of concrete studies on floating’s benefits for “total” mind and body support has caused many practitioners to stop just short of recommending it to patients seeking relief from various conditions. A trial published in 2014 is helping to change all of that.

In this study, 65 participants were randomized to either a control group or the float group. The participants selected for the float group participated in a seven-week flotation program consisting of 12 float sessions. Participants were then given questionnaires measuring psychological and physiological variables, including stress levels, energy levels, depression, anxiety, optimism, pain, sleep quality, mindfulness, and degrees of altered consciousness.

The results are pretty incredible. Participants in the float group reported significant decreases in stress, anxiety, depression, and pain. However, they didn’t just experience relief from symptoms. Floating participants also reported significant improvements in optimism and sleep quality. Both of these factors can contribute significantly to improved quality of life. However, the study uncovered that the benefits of floating go even deeper.

Researchers in this study found what they described as a significant correlation between mindfulness in daily life and the degree of altered states of consciousness achieved during a float session. Participants who reported that they obtained higher degrees of altered states of consciousness while in the tank also reported that they experienced increased mindfulness in daily life. This link between floating and mindfulness supports previously published work stating that floating in a sensory deprivation tank helps to increase originality, imagination, and intuition to help enhance personal creativity. Why is increasing mindfulness through floating so important for quality of life? According to the American Psychological Association, mindfulness can provide a variety of benefits for health and wellness that can include the following:

  • Stress reduction.
  • Reduced rumination.
  • Improved working memory.
  • Improved focus.
  • Less emotional reactivity.
  • Increased cognitive flexibility.
  • Relationship satisfaction.

Is Float Therapy A Life Hack for Wellness?

It can be easy to assume that floating is a “life hack” for living a more vibrant life. After all, these improvements can lead to a more productive life that allows you to tap into your creativity and potential using your fully activated mind and body. The truth is that floating is a life hack for many people. Doctors and researchers see a floating water tank as a potentially fantastic tool for preventative healthcare because it helps take the body from the stressed, reactive, and fight-or-flight state to a calm, balanced state.

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Looking for Natural, Short-Term Relief of Depression Symptoms?

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Here’s how floating can help.

Can floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) provide insulation against depression? There’s a reason why so many people turn to the tank for a mental reset. In fact, some researchers are confident that floating tamps down anxiety in the brain in a way that rivals some prescription drugs and meditation. The likely explanation for why floating does what other forms of “relaxation” can’t is that floating with sensory deprivation turns off the part of the brain called the amygdala that houses our fight-or-flight stress response.

According to a 2018 study, just one hour of flotation-REST was able to reduce depression levels substantially. In addition, a one-hour session also helped to decrease anxiety levels, muscle tension, pain, and negative affect. Participants also saw improvements in happiness, serenity, relaxation, and overall well-being. This research has caused many mental health practitioners to consider floatation-REST a viable option for short-term relief of depression.

As many people suffering from depression know, anxiety and stress often accompany depression symptoms. That’s why this 2018 study involving 50 participants with a cross-spectrum of anxiety and stress-related disorders is so interesting. Researchers conducting this study discovered that floatation REST appears to be a “promising technique for transiently reducing the suffering of those with anxiety and depression.” While this particular study focused on the short-term mental health benefits of floating, other studies show that it can help over the long term, as well.

A study from 2014 found that floatation therapy was powerful enough to help restore the quality of life for people suffering from pain, anxiety, stress, and depression. What’s more, many patients involved in the study were not new to alternative therapies for depression. In fact, participants who had tried yoga, massage, and physiotherapy reported never being “so successfully relieved” from pain, tension, and stress using any other treatment.

Final Thoughts

There’s still so much to be revealed about depression and floating. It’s too soon to say that floating alone can be used to fully treat depression in all people. However, the people who have already experienced the results feel that they have discovered a way to reduce depression by working with the brain instead of fighting against it.

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The Effect of Floating on Cortisol Levels

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Lower levels of cortisol equal lower stress levels. Here’s the Science Behind Why.

Cortisol is a killer. Cortisol is produced by the adrenal glands. It is a “stress hormone” that works with the brain to control mood, motivation, and fear. While the purpose of cortisol is to drive us into a state of alertness when there’s a threat of danger, the body’s biological “alarm system” can quickly sabotage our health.

Cortisol isn’t the villain when it’s operating normally in our bodies. In fact, proper cortisol levels help us to properly use carbohydrates, stifle inflammation, regulate blood pressure, control the sleep-wake cycle, and provide boosts of energy when we need to handle stressful situations. However, a person with normal cortisol function will always “come down” to a balanced state after the source of stress is gone. This isn’t the case for someone with elevated cortisol levels.

When we are under extreme stress, our cortisol levels can stay elevated. This puts us at risk for:

  • Anxiety.
  • Depression.
  • Headaches.
  • Heart disease.
  • Memory issues.
  • Concentration/focus issues.
  • Digestive issues.
  • Sleep issues.
  • Weight gain.
  • Increased blood cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and blood pressure.

“Elevated cortisol levels following acute stress may facilitate the consolidation of fear-based emotional memories and condition a sensitized physiologic stress response,” according to a study on chronic stress, cortisol dysfunction, and pain.

When cortisol levels are exhausted, widespread pain and inflammation often manifest due to adrenal fatigue. What’s more, high cortisol levels that are triggered from a stressful event can trap a person in a cycle of constant stress and exhaustion.

Floating and Cortisol Levels: How Time in the Tank Can Dilute the Cortisol Response

Many studies have confirmed the link between flotation-REST (restricted environmental stimulation technique) and mood improvements. However, it appears that there’s also a direct link between flotation-REST therapy and cortisol regulation. The most comprehensive study conducted on flotation-REST and cortisol levels to date found that repeated brief REST-assisted relaxation produces a relaxation state associated with specific decreases in pituitary-adrenal axis activity. In addition, researchers have also found that repeated REST-assisted relaxation is associated with a significant decrease in plasma cortisol.

What does the data mean for people seeking holistic therapies for anxiety, depression, exhaustion, mood issues, and suspected adrenal fatigue? Flotation-REST therapy may be valuable for helping to regulate cortisol levels when they are elevated following stressful events. In addition to improving mood in the short term, flotation-REST therapy may also insulate people from the long-term adverse health effects associated with sustained elevated cortisol levels.

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The Journey In

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Journey into yourself for yourself.

Floating is proven to reduce stress and anxiety and over time helps to cultivate stillness of mind. This power not only lies in the physical properties of the salty solution, but also in the inward reflection process and connection to the breath and life force itself. This transformation process also teaches us how to navigate stressful situations in everyday life.
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Book your next float online: www.tranquilityfloat.ca

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Stress Relief

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Floating Benefits

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Floating is easy, relaxing, and simply magical for calming the stresses of everyday life.

Nothing but you and the support of 1100Ibs of magnesium epsom salt is something truly to be experienced!

Watch as your mind begins to dissolve back into nothingness.

Watch as your body relaxes into calmness.

Let all things go.

This is the nature of the float.

Let all things go.

Surrender your worries, anxieties, and insecurities.

Let joy, peace, and love be your guide.

Be Still & Float On.

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www.tranquilityfloat.ca

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I Open

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Enjoy this moment of opening and receiving

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I open

I open to receive

To receive love

To receive kindness

To receive generosity

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I open

My mind

My heart

My spirit

…

I allow the goodness of life to run through me

To fuel me

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I open

To this moment

To this moment of being

This moment of existing

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I open

I open to all around me

I allow there love in

I open to my friends

I open to my family

I open to my community

I open to life itself.

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www.tranquilityfloat.ca

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I Give

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Enjoy a day of giving, opening and receiving

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I give it all . . .

To the angel at my back

I give my focus to the energy of my spine

I feel myself extending, aligning with this line of life

Connecting with everything

I give all the tension in my body

I give all the tension in my head

I give all the tension in my eyes

Send it back

Feel the angel at my back

I give it all away

I am the God/dess rising

My strength is unbound

To be forever present in my body

Unwavering with all energies surrounding

I am the master of love

I continue to love

Expanding my heart

I am unshakable from this space of presence

I feel my power rising within

Like the infinite space above

The waters of the ocean

The air in my lungs

And the place that we call home

I rest easy in my power

I know my next calling

A call of the soul

I am so grateful for this clarity

I feel the beautiful space within

It is spacious

And it is home

I am home

Within the universe

I allow all to be

I allow others to be as they are

And in doing so

I allow myself to simply be

I am not the critic

I am the lover

The lover of life

The lover of all life

I lay still deep inside

I accept and I love the depth that is me

In a world that does not relish this depth of calm

In a world that does not yet understand this peace

But we are learning

And I am learning to return home to this feeling

To this being

To this focus

To this awareness

I am not resistant

I am not in conflict

With the energies that flow

I allow all

I am all

Ever present awareness

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For more affirmations and meditations by Kayla visit: www.shiftliftlive.com

To book your next float visit: www.tranquilityfloat.ca

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Solitude

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Solitude as a means of healing

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Comforting

Caring

Liberating

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To be alone

To see ones inner workings

To care for ones inner feelings

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Embraced by self

Embraced by all

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One journey’s into solitude

For great solitude

Comes great company

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www.tranquilityfloat.ca

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Destiny

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Enjoy a day of gratitude

Mahalo

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Thank you for this day

Thank you for this life

Thank you for these lessons I am learning

Thank you for bringing light to the dark

Thank you for evolving me

Thank you for carrying me to the life of my dreams

Thank you for where I am going, where I have been, and where I am in this moment

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the fruits, the opportunities, the highs, the lows . . .

Thank you for it all

Because this is destiny

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www.tranquilityfloat.ca

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