Floating Effective For Stress And Pain, Research Suggests

[Guest guest]

Floating Effective For Stress And Pain, Research Suggests\

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071105120604.htm

Relaxation in large, sound- and light-proof tanks with high-salt

water­floating­is an effective way to alleviate long-term stress-

related pain. This has been shown by Sven-Åke Bood, who recently

completed his doctorate in psychology, with a dissertation from

Karlstad University in Sweden.

The dissertation confirms what earlier studies have indicated: sleep

was improved, patients felt more optimistic, and the content of the

vitalizing hormone prolactin increased. Anxiety, stress, depression,

and perception of pain declined. Those who took part in the research

project all had some form of stress-related pain, and after only

twelve treatments in the floating tank, their condition improved.

" Through relaxing in floating tanks, people with long-term

fibromyalgia, for instance, or depression and anxiety felt

substantially better after only twelve treatments. Relaxing in a

weightless state in the silent, warm floating tank activates the

body's own system for recuperation and healing. The stress hormone

decreases, as does blood pressure. The findings confirm and

reinforce our earlier studies on the effects of relaxing in a

floating tank, " says Sven-Åke Bood.

Many people experience improvement

His dissertation comprises four studies that all involve the

treatment of pain and stress-related disorders with the aid of a

floating tank. A control group that was not treated in a floating

tank experienced no improvement in their health. After a period of

treatment lasting a total of seven weeks, 22 percent of the

participants in the floating group were entirely free of pain, and

56 experienced a clear improvement. Nineteen percent felt no change

and 3 percent felt worse. And the effect persists after the

treatment is completed. The research project has been under way for

four years and has included 140 individuals, all with some form of

diagnosis involving stress-related long-term pain.

Several types of pain can be affected

" The treatment method can be used for several groups, such as people

with whiplash injuries, fibromyalgia, depression, and long-term

stress-related pain. We can also see that a combination of treatment

in a floating tank and traditional therapy can be effective. We are

now moving on in our research and will be monitoring blood

circulation in the capillaries, the oxygen uptake of the blood, and

how the body's reflexes are affected, " says Sven-Åke Bood.