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Post Date: Friday, August 2, 2019 |
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Want to float your way to less stress, anxiety, depression,
and pain? Though it sounds too good to be true, science says it’s possible.
Magnesium-saturated water (aka epsom salt), kept at a
temperature that matches your skin’s, keeps you effortlessly buoyant so you
don’t have to worry about staying afloat. With little to touch, taste, smell,
hear, or feel, you’re wrapped in a cocoon of warmth and silence, with only your
thoughts keep you company. Herein lies the magic of floating – it puts you in a
meditative state to better heal what ails you.
1. FLOATING DECREASES ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION AND IMPROVES
SLEEP
Under
stress, your hypothalamus (the almond-sized part of your brain just above your brainstem) signals your
adrenal glands to release the stress hormones adrenaline
and cortisol. Chronic stress leads to an overactive hypothalamus, which can lead to
depression. Floating helps combat depression and anxiety by minimizing
your cortisol production.
2. FLOATING LOWERS STRESS
Floating
combats stress in two main ways. First, the water’s magnesium
inhibits ACTH, a hormone that drives your adrenal glands to release the stress
hormone cortisol. Magnesium also
improves sleep quality, which contributes to feeling less stressed.
3. FLOATING RELIEVES PHYSICAL PAIN
For people with chronic, stress-related muscle pain and
burnout-related depression, floating served as an integral part of pain
treatment plans, in one study. Since floating oxygenates your body by
promoting vasodilation — better blood flow to the brain, organs, and limbs — it
serves to minimize muscular pain and even pain from degenerative disc disease
or herniated disks.
Specifically floating provides significant reductions in
pain, muscle tension, stress, anxiety, and sadness for those who suffer from
fibromyalgia. Floating also increases feelings of relaxation, well-being,
energy, and ease of movement in the same group of people.
4. FLOATING ENHANCES ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
Floating helps you bounce back faster from workouts by
reducing lactic acid in the blood. By floating fee of gravity, lactic acid
passes out of the muscles faster, which reduces overall muscle stiffness and
pain. Floating benefits extend to athletes on the field as well.
5. FLOATING BENEFITS CREATIVITY
Musicians, writers, and creative performers also gain from
floating. A study in the journal Music and Medicine found that floating
improved the technical ability of musicians during jazz improvisation. |
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