With everybody so busy and consumed by technology these days, it is extremely rare that we actually get some true alone time. And by alone time, I don’t mean sitting on your couch scrolling through your Facebook feed. I mean really isolating yourself from the world and giving both your body and probably more importantly, your mind, a chance to get away from it all. Here 4 key benefits that have been well documented by using a sensory deprivation tank like our float pod:
1. Stress Reduction. Don’t worry that you will be preoccupied with the stresses in your life while you are in the float pod. I can tell you from experience that when you’re in there, those stresses simply vanish. Oh, they will still be there when you come out, but here’s something interesting. Recent research shows that the way sensory deprivation reduces stress is by reducing the activity of the amygdala (the part of the brain governing the “fight-or-flight” response). And a study at the Float Clinic and Research Center at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma found that the reduced activity of the amygdala persists after the float session is over, meaning once you’ve floated, life continues to be less stressful even after you’ve showered away the epson salts.
2. Pain Management. If you have chronic pain, it is far less noticeable when you’re in the float pod. You’re floating, so you’re relaxed, with no gravity and no pressure points, a situation that tends to reduce pain. That reduction in pain, then, makes the pain a smaller part of your awareness, which further reduces its intensity, which makes it even smaller, and so on, in a sort of cascading effect. Floating is so effective at reducing pain that it is being considered as a treatment for fibromyalgia, which I wrote about here.
3. Anxiety Control. As I noted in this posting, a 2007 analysis found that sensory deprivation float reduces both blood pressure and the presence of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood. Not only does floating relax you, the studies have shown that those physiological signs of stress reduction continue after the session is over. No wonder regular floaters report lower levels of anxiety.
4. Better Sleep. According to the American Sleep Association, a study by the Mental Health Foundation “found that people that didn’t get enough sleep were four times as likely to suffer from lack of concentration, have relationship problems and 3 times more likely to be depressed and 2.6 times more likely to commit suicide.” As I reported in this post, a recent research project found people who floated began to fall asleep more quickly at bedtime, and the speed with which they fell asleep continued to increase even 12 weeks after the floating sessions. Floating doesn’t just help you sleep on the day you do it, it enhances your ability to fall asleep over the long term.
There are four different ways floating can improve your health. See for yourself. Book a floating session at Peak Recovery & Health Center.
