PORTLAND, Ore. — A growing number of people are turning to float therapy to ease pain, sleep better and calm anxiety, InvestigateTV reported in a story published by Arizona’s Family.
Float therapy means lying in a tub filled with nearly a thousand pounds of magnesium dissolved in skin-temperature water. The solution is so dense that the body cannot sink, according to the report. Sessions usually last an hour or more, and floaters can turn off the lights and block out sound.
The report said studies show float therapy can improve sleep and reduce pain.
Nia Linbravo, who referees women’s basketball four to five nights a week, tried floating after a herniated disk and trouble sleeping. She said it has also helped her manage depression and anxiety. “I talked to my doctor about doing this … and they were saying it would be helpful for me, and it has been,” she said.
“I think it’s the weightlessness and the feeling of the water supporting me, and I’m literally just letting go,” Linbravo said.
Dana Highfill, a massage therapist for 17 years who runs Float North in Northeast Portland, said most clients come in looking for relief. “You’re laying there fully supported, your joints open up, and it helps reduce inflammation,” she said.
She said the reduced stimulation helps people move from “fight or flight” to “a rest and repair state.”
For people worried about feeling closed in, Highfill said a single tank is eight feet long and four feet wide with a seven-foot ceiling. The water is about 10 inches deep. Anyone with health concerns should talk with a doctor first, as Linbravo did.
Sources: Arizona’s Family/InvestigateTV. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Karntheking / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
