Medical Uses for Floatation Therapy
Author Colin Stanwell-Smith C.Eng
director Floataway
What is Floatation therapy?
One
or more sessions of floatation, usually for sixty minutes, in a purpose
built float tank containing Epsom salt solution at 35.4 degrees
Celsius. The solution’s relative density is 1.25 making it impossible
not to float, usually supine (except for pregnant women see below). The
temperature is correct for maintaining body temperature without
muscular action and there is no postural requirement either, so a
profound state of relaxation is achieved within 15 to 20 minutes.
Endorphins are released encouraging a feeling of well being. Blood flow
in capillaries and soft tissue is maximised. Muscles in spasm tend to
release. Because there is no contact pressure it is possible to float
for many hours without any impulse to turn, even in deep sleep.
Floatation has been academically studied extensively since about 1975,
particularly in America, and currently in Sweden, (see below).
The Benefits
Apart
from general relaxation, floatation therapy has been shown both
anectotally and in controlled studies to reduce or eliminate acute
pain. The pain relief can be permanent after one session. The reduction
of chronic pain lasts for several hours and a reduced need for
analgesia. Other benefits include lessening of oedema, increased range
of movement in skeletal joints and lower percieved levels of stress. It
also appears to help in anger management and PMT, reduce feelings of
fatigue and insomnia, lower blood pressure and assist in weight control
(in conjunction with talking cures/psychotherapy).
New information about the benefits of magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts) click here
Floating in pregnancy
Mid
term pregnant women often find considerable relief from pain and
stiffness, particularly while floating prone, with elbows on the floor
of the tank and chin cupped in hands. In this position the fetus is
fully floating and the mother’s back and pelvic girdle are released
from load.
Contra-indications
In general mental illness
including clinical depression is a contra-indication because the
effects of floating are unpredictable in these cases. Obviously
patients with open wounds or incontinence are unsuitable candidates.
Patients with severe hypertension may experience such drastic reduction
in blood pressure as to faint but when this is controlled by a drug
regime, there is little risk. Similarly there is little risk for
controlled epileptic patients, but it is recommended to have a suitable
helper present during the float session.
Further information can be found on www.floataway.com and www.floatationfederation.com.
The following is reproduced from notes by the Swedish Research Council 05.11.2003
Relaxation in a flotation tank brings peace and quiet, increased well-being, and reduced pain
A
new dissertation shows that relaxation in a flotation tank can serve as
an alternative form of treatment to reduce stress or relieve persistent
pain, and it has no side-effects whatsoever.
In times like
these, we are surrounded by stress and troubled by burn-out. Stress
seems to retain its place as the greatest enemy to good health,
well-being, and self-esteem. A major international field of research is
now focusing on neurogenesis, that is, the generation of new nerve
cells. This is against the background of our losing an estimated
several thousand nerve cells per day. It has been known for the last
few years that the formation of new nerve cells is constant. The latest
findings about neurogenesis indicate that stress blocks the new
formation of nerve cells and that relaxation, regular exercise, and an
interesting environment increase and optimize the capacity for this. In
most studies that have appeared, increased neurogenesis has been
related to enhanced creative and intellectual performance.
To
lie on your back and float in a tank filled with salt water induces
extremely deep and pleasurable relaxation. It is dark and quiet in the
tank, which enables maximum relaxation and well-being. To sink into
deep relaxation, 45 minutes is a suitable length of time in the tank.
Patients
with chronic muscle flexing pains in their neck who have been regularly
treated with flotation-tank relaxation for three weeks experience a
reduction in pain. After this treatment they also feel much happier and
have less anxiety, alongside finding it easier to get to sleep at
night. Blood samples taken before and after this period of treatment
indicate that the count of stress-related hormones (MHPG) has declined.
These studies have been carried out at the Human Performance
Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Karlstad University.
People
in pain are not the only ones who can benefit from floating in a tank.
Anyone looking for an environment that can help reduce stress or lend a
moment of pleasant relaxation will find this technique helpful. It has
been shown that after treatment in the flotation tank, subjects
experience greater creativity: the number of new and original thoughts
increases after a session in the tank. It has also been experienced as
beneficial to spend some time by oneself in peace and quiet, perhaps to
think thoughts or experience feelings that are crowded out of stressful
everyday consciousness. Many people experience that they attain a
pleasant state between dreaming and waking or a state of daydreaming
and fantasy.
Almost everyone who has tried floating in a tank
thinks that it is pleasant and agreeable, and they want to do it again.
Problems associated with the fear of feeling closed in are extremely
slight. For those who might be concerned about this, there is the
possibility of leaving a light on in the tank or of having the door to
the tank remain partly or fully open during the session. The knowledge
that you can get up and leave any time probably also helps create a
feeling of security.
Taken altogether, this raises hopes that
relaxation in a flotation tank can become an alternative form of
treatment to reduce stress or alleviate chronic pain, with the help of
a method that is safe and entirely without side-effects. If the
flotation tank reduces stress, then this must have major consequences
for the rejuvenation of nerve cells in those parts of the brain
(hippocampus) that are primarily associated with health and
intellectual capacity.
Author of dissertation:
Anette Kjellgren
Title of dissertation:
The experience of flotation–REST (Restricted environmental stimulation technique):Consciousness, subjective stress and pain
Doctoral dissertation at Göteborg University 2003
Department of Psychology, Göteborg University, Sweden.
Abstract:
The
purpose of the presented investigations was to study the influence and
effects of altered states of consciousness (ASC) induced through the
flotation tank restricted environmental stimulation technique
(flotation-REST) in a laboratory setting. The results from the present
investigations indicate that flotation-REST may offer a safe and
practical method of inducing altered states of consciousness in a
controlled laboratory setting.
Throughout, flotation-REST was
experienced as a positive event by the participants. In order to
optimize the conditions of flotation-REST, possible differences in the
type of experiences due to different settings (strict/fantasy) applied
in the laboratory were examined; no such differences were obtained. Nor
were experiences in the flotation tank affected by participants'
earlier experiences of altered states of consciousness. Mental
experiences reported from flotation-REST include deep relaxation,
experiences of leaving or losing contact with the body, visual and
auditory pseudo-hallucinations and transpersonal experiences.
Comparisons
between chamber-REST and flotation-REST indicated that the
flotation-REST group experienced a significantly higher degree of ASC
as compared to the chamber-REST group.
The instrument, EDN-scale,
was developed to allow these measures. Investigations of creativity
indicated that flotation-REST induced more originality and impaired
deductive thinking, in comparison to chamber-REST. Chamber-REST induced
more realistic and elaborated thinking compared to flotation-REST.
Comparison of these two conditions indicated that both flotation-REST
and chamber-REST were equally effective in reducing subjectively
experienced stress.
An experimental pain procedure was arranged in
order to study the experience of pain in connection with individuals
experiencing ASC (induced by flotation-REST). A higher level of pain
and stress was obtained in those individuals with high ASC in the
flotation-group compared with those with low ASC (as measured with the
EDN-scale). The individuals presenting high ASC also experienced
duration of experimental pain as shorter compared with low ASC
individuals, within the flotation-REST condition.
Within the
chamber-REST condition, there were no differences between the low ASC
and high ASC individuals. To study the possible pain-alleviating
effects of flotation-REST upon existing, chronic pain, a series of
flotation-REST treatments over a three-week period was carried out. It
was found that the participants most severe perceived pain intensity
was significantly reduced, whereas low perceived pain intensity was not
influenced by the floating technique. Further, the results indicated
that the circulating levels of noradrenaline metabolite MHPG
(3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylethyleneglycol) were reduced significantly
in the experimental group but not in the control group following
treatment, whereas endorphin levels were not affected by flotation.
Flotatation-REST treatment also elevated the participants' optimism and
reduced the degree of anxiety or depression; at nighttime, patients who
underwent flotation fell asleep more easily.
These findings
describe possible alleviations in patients presenting with chronic pain
complaints. Taken together, these studies on the flotation-REST
technique offer a promising avenue of future research on stress
reduction, pain treatment and personal development, hopefully
elucidating regional brain implicit and explicit processes.
Other References
Borrie, Roderick
A and Peter Duedfeld. “REST Therapy in a Weight Reduction Program”
Journal of Behavioural Medicine vol3 1980 pp 147-161
Patel, Chandra
“Reduction of Serum Cholesterol and Blood Pressure in Hypertensive Patients by Behavioural Modification”
Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners vol 26 (1976)
Suedfeld, P and Borrie, R A
“Health and Therapeutic Applications of Chamber and Flotation Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST)"
(1999) 14 545-566 |