Did you know an estimated 90 percent of your brain’s workload is spent trying to process stimuli around you, including basic things like light, sound, and even the pull of gravity?
But if you could escape all of that for a little while…
That’s the idea behind float spa therapy, a practice that has existed in some form since the 1950s but is gaining prominence in recent years as more people seek to prioritize their mental-emotional health.
Reducing the Connection Between Body and Mind
Formally known as restricted environmental stimulation therapy (or REST for short), float spa therapy gives patients a chance to remove themselves from all stimulus and float in heavily salted water to induce a meditative, dreamlike state known as theta, in which your brain’s deepest mental processes happen. Benefits are both physical and mental: reduced stress, alleviated pain, better blood flow, improved sleep, and increased production of the feel-good hormone dopamine and endorphins.
“The relaxation of the body transforms into relaxing the mind,” explains Denise Pearson, owner of Paradise Float Spa in Annapolis, who has been administering this form of therapy for five years.
When a person undergoes float spa therapy, Pearson says, they reduce the connection between emotion and memory. This lets them evaluate their experiences without emotion attached to them, thus helping them with their anxiety.
Pearson also sees float spa therapy as helpful for people who suffer sensory overload, such as a patient with Asperger’s syndrome. “For them to be able to take a break from sensory overload and not have to deal with sensory overload is a pleasure,” she says.
Another group of people who benefit from float spa therapy are professional athletes, who will not only see improved muscle recovery, Pearson says, but also sharper mental focus.
Physical + Mental Benefits
Inside a float spa therapy tank, there’s no light or sound. The water is heated to body temperature and mixed with so much Epsom salt that a person is able to float without any effort—the sensation is similar to floating on air.
When the brain enters a relaxed state, many of the mental benefits end up leading to physical benefits. For example, the therapy helps manage conditions associated with high stress, such as hypertension and ulcers. The improved blood flow from this relaxed state of being has even been shown to help repair damaged muscle tissue and improve recovery for people dealing with injuries or chronic pain.
Pearson says a patient’s first float is usually a “discovery float,” or a chance for them to get used to the sensation. It takes a few floats before a patient can truly enter a meditative state.
Looking to the Future
Having more therapeutic options, particularly ones supported by clinical trials, such as float spa therapy, is becoming increasingly important, Pearson says. A growing awareness of mental health and traumatic world events mean more people are struggling with anxiety and PTSD. “It’s a good way to address those things,” she says. “I think after COVID, the number of anxiety disorders is skyrocketing.”
Some people may be so used to anxiety that they don’t even recognize it. “If you’re always on edge, that could be your normal,” Pearson says. “People will say, ‘I thought I was relaxed before I came in.’ Sometimes you don’t even recognize it.”
