Why People Like To Float On a Regular Basis

People float for a variety of reasons, from simple stress relief to advanced habit cessation treatments.  The many benefits of floatation depend on the needs of the individual client.  On the simplest level, clients derive a benefit from the basic act of floating in the Epsom salt solution.

Epsom Salt Benefits

Epsom salts, containing both magnesium and sulfates, has been traditionally used as a component of bath salts.  Soaking in Epsom salts is one of the most effective means of making the magnesium the body needs readily available.  Researchers and physicians report that raising magnesium levels may:

• Improve heart and circulatory health, reducing irregular heartbeats, preventing hardening of the arteries, reducing blood clots and lowering blood pressure;
• Improve the body's ability to use insulin, reducing the incidence or severity of diabetes;
• Flush toxins and heavy metals from the cells, easing muscle pain and helping the body to eliminate harmful substances;
• Improve nerve function by regulating electrolytes. Also, calcium is the main conductor for electrical current in the body, and magnesium is necessary to maintain proper calcium levels in the blood;
• Relieve stress.  Excess adrenaline and stress are believed to drain magnesium, a natural stress reliever, from the body.  Magnesium is necessary for the body to bind adequate amounts of serotonin, a mood-elevating chemical within the brain that creates a feeling of well being and relaxation; and
• Reduce cerebral palsy in newborns.  An infusion of Epsom salt has been shown to cut the rate of cerebral palsy in half when given just before delivery to pregnant women at high risk for preterm birth.  

While increasing magnesium levels, Epsom salt also delivers sulfates, which are extremely difficult to get through food but which readily absorb through the skin. Medical research indicates sulfates are needed for the formation of brain tissue, joint proteins and the mucin proteins that line the walls of the digestive tract. Sulfates also stimulate the pancreas to generate digestive enzymes and help to detoxify the body's residue of medicines and environmental contaminants.

The Relaxation Response

"Humans have always been under stress. There's always been famine, pestilence, interpersonal problems. But what's different about modern-day life is the sheer amount of information and number of circumstances to which we have to adjust.”

Herbert Benson, MD - Director Emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital

As Benson says, humans have always faced stresses that triggered fight-or-flight responses in the body.  But the sources of stress in the modern world are more varied and pervasive.  Advances in mobile communications and online information have led Americans to spend more time working and less time unwinding.  The global economy ships jobs overseas, increases the volatility of stock markets, and creates uncertain retirement prospects.  Any of these modern situations can drive up stress levels. And because the stress is constant, the body tends to hold onto high levels of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. The result can be high blood pressure and increased heart rate. The immune system and digestive system can be damaged. It can also suppress or alter reproductive and growth systems.

Dr. Robert Sapolsky, a renowned Stanford neurobiologist, explained the dangers of stress in his book Why Zebra’s Don’t Get Ulcers. Zebras are busy eating grass until a lion starts chasing them. Then the Zebras go crazy, running all over the place, until the lion kills one.  After the kill the other zebras relax and go back to grazing while the lion feeds right next to them.  The problem for humans is they don’t discharge their stress by running like crazy or relaxing after a stressful event. Instead, humans obsess over the stress in their life, leading to a build up of a hormone called cortisol.  Besides causing or contributing to over 95% of all illness, chronic exposure to cortisol also shrinks the brain. Specifically, Dr. Sapolsky has shown that cortisol damages brain cells in the hippocampus, one of the brain’s memory centers.  In addition, prolonged exposure to stress can contribute to hypertension, heart disease, stroke, obesity, insomnia, and depression.

Humans can’t avoid stress, so they must learn to discharge its effects every day. The first step to reduce stress is to turn off the modern world and give the mind and body a chance to recharge and replenish.  The next step is to counter the effects of past and current stress levels.  According to Dr. Benson, the relaxation response is the physiological counterpart to the stress response.

AquaNidra triggers Benson’s "relaxation response."  The response is totally automatic and operates simultaneously at all levels of the personality.  In the zero-gravity AquaNidra environment, muscles can relax fully. Residual muscle tension (often unconsciously locked into the body) discharges completely.  With a reduced workload on the heart and cardiovascular system, blood pressure and heart rate are lowered to healthy levels.  Blood vessels and capillaries dilate, improving the flow of nutrients and oxygen to every single cell in the body, promoting healthy tissue growth.  During deep relaxation, the level of T-cells in the bloodstream is boosted, strengthening the immune system.

On a biological level, deep neuromuscular relaxation changes the type of hormones secreted by the brain and endocrine system.  AquaNidra cleanses harmful stress hormones from the bloodstream.  It also releases large amounts of endorphins into the bloodstream, giving immediate relief from chronic pain and fatigue.  These subtle changes in body chemistry have a profoundly beneficial impact on an individual's emotional balance. Negative emotions like anxiety and fear are replaced by positive feelings of empowerment, confidence, and well-being.  The stresses of modern life and their effects on the body are flushed from the system.

Sleep Issues

It's becoming increasingly apparent that we, as a society, have a sleeping problem, and it is having a major impact on our health, productivity and lives.  The sleep-health connection is an issue that Russell A. Sanna, Ph.D., Executive Director of Harvard Medical School's Division of Sleep Medicine, understands well. According to Sanna, "Medical studies conducted over the past 25 years are clearly showing us that, along with nutrition and exercise, good sleep health is vital to our overall well-being and optimal daily performance, both intellectually and physically."  According to a Spafinder study released on April 20, 2007, 80% of people surveyed have trouble sleeping, citing stress as the #1 reason; 52% use sleeping pills; and 65% describe themselves as sleep deprived.  Some other sleep related statistics:

• 50 to 70 million Americans experience chronic sleep disorders, and millions more are sleep-deprived, according to the report by the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.  Other countries are showing similar trends.
• Global sales for sleeping pills will top $5 billion in the next several years. Drug companies spent $300 million marketing sleeping pills last year.
• The number of adults aged 20-44 using sleeping pills doubled from 2000 to 2004 according to Medco Health Solutions, a managed-care company.
• Lack of sleep has been linked with reduced ability to concentrate, trouble learning, decreased attention to detail, and increased risk of motor vehicle accidents. More recent studies have tied chronic partial sleep deprivation to medical problems, including obesity, diabetes and hypertension.

Exercise, good nutrition and stress management have long been the domain of spa programs. Now healthy sleep is being added to the curriculum, inspired by the emerging field of sleep medicine, which has revealed that sleep has a profound effect on appearance, weight, and well-being—and

• According to an article on CNN in March 1997, those who sleep fewer than six hours a night don’t live as long as those who sleep seven hours or more.”

• Lack of sleep has a cumulative negative effect, if it happens regularly -- causing depression, anxiety and stress.

• According to Dr. Mark Liponis, Medical Director of Canyon Ranch Health Resorts, “When we lose sleep. . . our brain hormones become imbalanced, leading to higher cortisol (one of our stress hormones), and lower growth hormone (a healing and repair hormone.”   Over time the stress of sleep deprivation eats away at our brain function.
• Rats that are continually deprived of sleep die within two to five weeks, generally due to their severely weakened immune system.

Healthful sleep has been empirically proven to be the single most important factor in predicting longevity.

But how do people struggling with the competing demands of modern society find the additional time to decompress each night so they can get a healthy amount of sleep?  The answer may not lie in “sleep” at all but in finding a truly efficient way for the mind and body to REST. REST (or Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique) is the scientific basis of floatation.  Scientific research has shown that floating for one hour is the equivalent of two to four hours of deep, restful sleep. And done regularly, floating helps reset the body’s circadian rhythms and enables deep, restful sleep without pills.  Science has also shown that the practice of Yoga Nidra for as long as 30 minutes can provide the equivalent benefit of several hours of sleep.  AquaNidra, combining the two, offers great benefits to a sleep deprived world.

Athletic Training & Peak Performance

Modern sports science has been one of the more heavily researched areas of floatation REST. Floating maximizes the benefits of all types of training, exercise, and work-outs. Although exercise stimulates muscle growth, the actual growth occurs during relaxation, some 30 to 40 hours after exercise.  The deep relaxation of floating improves blood circulation, and accelerates the growth and regeneration of muscle tissue.  Floatation REST is also a proven method of accelerating the removal of lactic acid from the muscles, a toxin that causes cramps and pain during and after exercise or heavy training.

In sports medicine, floatation tanks are routinely used for accelerating recovery from heavy training and rehabilitation from sports injuries.  In sports psychology, floatation helps athletes use the mental stress of competition positively as a step towards entering the zone of peak performance.  In-tank visualization or mental rehearsal techniques are also used to produce dramatic improvements in athletes' confidence and motor skills.

Habit Cessation

Floating induces a whole-brain theta state similar to the type of brainwave activity produced by Zen monks in deep satori.  In this receptive mind-state, simple auto-suggestion and visualization techniques become powerfully effective in enhancing an individual’s motivation, confidence, and motor skills.  In the float room negative emotions and unwanted habits melt away, along with the physical tensions that usually accompany them.  Based on smoking, alcohol consumption, and weight-control studies at the National Institute of Mental Health, some leading researchers regard REST as the only self-management technique with proven success in tackling habit-cessation problems.

•  “Research evidence indicates that REST consistently has beneficial effects on medical, psychological, and behavioral health outcomes, particularly when used in conjunction with other therapies.”
• REST has been shown to achieve long term abstinence rates for smoking of 25% when used alone, and 50% when used in conjunction with behavior modification.  By contrast, the numbers for the nicotine patch are 5% and 20%, respectively.
• In three studies of REST as a treatment for obesity, REST was followed by slow continuous weight loss over the 6 month follow up period.
• A Washington State University study (1990) found that, for heavy drinkers, after exposure to REST, the average daily consumption of alcohol continued to drop over 6 months of follow-up.
• A University of Arizona study examined REST as a complementary relapse prevention technique with substance abusers enrolled in traditional outpatient substance abuse treatment programs. At the end of four years of follow-up 43% remain continuously sober and drug free. None of the control group did so for eight months of follow-up.

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