 |
|
|
 Health & Beauty | April 2005 
Stress Relief Just a Float Away
 Kelly Garrett - The Herald Mexico
As a relaxation agent, water leads the league. What other compound calms rattled humans in more ways?
Evaporated, it gives us steam baths. Heated, hot tubs. Pumped, jacuzzis. Boiled, herbal teas. Carbonated, scotch and sodas.
We find peace staring at waves breaking on the beach. Or sailing over a calm bay. Or soaking in a bathtub. Or admiring oddly colored fish swimming nowhere under the gurgle of their tank filter.
But for the deepest relaxation possible, the best thing you can do with water is float on it.
A flood of scientific studies over the last several decades have found that simply floating face up in still water has a significant calming effect on the mind and body. That calming effect, the research shows, brings therapeutic benefits.
Indeed, specialists have exploited "flotation therapy" to treat such conditions as hypertension, chronic pain, migraine headaches, addiction and perhaps even a number of neuroses and psychosomatic ailments. Some psychotherapists believe that the profound state of relaxation a floater experiences creates ideal conditions for "guided" therapies.
Most of these benefits have been known since at least the 1980s, after researchers had spent considerable time looking at floating under very special conditions. While the weightless feeling that floating brings is in itself relaxing, true flotation therapy takes place in a temperature-controlled flotation tank that eliminates sound and light.
This sensory deprivation is the key to reaching the deepest level of relaxation. You lie there seemingly suspended in the cosmos, your muscles un-tensed, your mind free of the usual clutter from outside stimuli, your pulse and breathing eased. Even brain-wave patterns have been recorded as slowing during long-term floating.
Psychologists and neurophysiologists have a name for this Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy, with the convenient acronym of REST. It's this virtually stress-free state that can help treat patients suffering from conditions related to the central nervous and cardiovascular systems.
Preventative Therapy
The latest research, however, confirms that floating also brings preventive benefits to those of us who are healthy and want to stay that way. The biggest plus is stress reduction. "The usual level of stimulation encountered in modern society is too much for some individuals to handle ... so maladaptive reactions to the situation occur, " says Peicheng Hu, a Beijing psychologist, in a recent issue of the Chinese Medical Journal. "If the individual is taken out of that environment and put into a less demanding one, these reactions could be avoided, reduced or eliminated."
Floating in a stimulus-free environment is an excellent way to do that, Dr. Hu says. And related to stress reduction is floating's proven ability to sharpen mental skills. "Flotation therapy is not only a good technique for relaxation and the treatment of several diseases," he says. "It also helps students or anybody else who wants to learn."
There's one more benefit that delights many floaters. "It has been observed in clinics that flotation therapy can improve emotional states," Dr. Hu says. In other words, floating helps you beat the blues.
Investigators attribute flotation therapy's mood-elevation benefits to the effect of the REST state on your body's endocrine system. Not only is the release of stress hormones such as adrenalin or epinephrine reduced, but the flow of endorphins sometimes called the body's natural opiates gets turned up. Not surprisingly, you feel great.
Lower-Cost Alternatives
A recent twist in flotation research is the finding that even "casual" floats that is, floating on your own outside the controlled environment of a flotation tank works as a stress-reducer. This is especially welcome news in Mexico, where daily stress can be high and floatable water can be found at resorts, spas, hotels, balnearios and public baths.
What's more, the calming benefits are there even with floats considerably shorter than the usual hour-long tank sessions. "Floating in open water for as short as 15 minutes could provide benefits similar to any relaxation exercise," says Thomas Fine, Ph.D., a professor at the Medical College of Ohio who has published several studies on flotation therapy. "It could be at least second best to floating in a nice commercial flotation tank."
Still, floating in a pool or on a lake has its drawbacks. The water is usually far cooler than the recommended temperature, which should be as close to your body temperature as possible. The sun's UV rays are a problem. Splashing kids and chatty grown-ups are a distraction.
You also might find it hard to "let go" to reach the most beneficial relaxation state, since your survival instinct won't let you forget you can go under. Some flotation experts suggest wearing wrist and ankle floating devices to limit that problem, or even floating on a half-deflated raft. It's also recommended that you recruit a friend to linger nearby and keep an eye on you, so you can relax without worry.
Veteran floaters, however, swear by professional float tanks. Dr. Fine and other experts urge you to try one at least once. Not only will you get a deeper relaxation experience, but you'll also get a feel for the condition you want to simulate as you float in pools or hot tubs.
The tanks themselves have come a long way since the "altered states" experiments in the 1950s and 1960s. They're sleek, compact (but bigger than you are) and hygienic. Besides the advantage of virtual sensory deprivation (no light or sound once you shut the door) they're also filled with heavily salted water at a perfect temperature and only about 30 centimeters deep. Flotation is almost automatic (because of the salt) and you couldn't drown if you tried.
Though you don't hear about flotation tanks as much as other spa-type health amenities, they do exist in Mexico, especially in Mexico City and other sizeable cities. The tanks themselves are called cabinas de flotación , and you'll find them at some spas, hotels and special float centers called flotarios .
Expect to pay somewhere around 350 pesos an hour. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us