The Lynda Steele Show: floating the holiday stress off in sensory deprivation
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Vancouver, BC, Canada / News Talk 980 CKNW | Vancouver’s News. Vancouver’s Talk
Lynda Steele
December 23, 2015 08:45 pm
Between the last minute shopping, the travel, and the intense family time there’s no doubt the holidays are a season packed with stress.
No doubt, many of us were feeling it as we packed into malls and shops today for what’s considered the busiest shopping day of the year.
Everyone has their way of dealing with it, from hitting the gym to hitting the holiday baking – but have you ever thought of floating it off?
Mike Zaremba is the co-founder of the Float House, a Vancouver business that offers sensory deprivation tanks.
He says the concept of floating, popular in the ’80s has made a big come back – sparked, surprisingly, by a viral podcast from Joe Rogan.
He says something about the experience has touched a nerve in today’s fast-paced world.
“People are stressed. People are really feeling the pressure of our contemporary society, and they are looking for methods to deal with that stress, and floating is definitely one of them.”
The idea is simple – climb into a tank of high saline liquid, which lets you bob like a cork, and minimize external sensory inputs.
“Light, sound, tactile sensations, temperature variations. The whole point is to reduce stimuli into your nervous system, and this really gives your nervous system a break.”
Zaremba says shutting out all the noise works to calm the body down by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, the part that’s about rest and recovery.
And he says it’s had proven results, with studies finding regular floats have worked to reduce both blood pressure and stress hormones like cortisol.
“Your body talks to you. And when it’s stressed out it’s giving you these signals. And if you ignore it, it’s going to get louder and louder.”
Listen: Lynda Steele talks stress and floating with Mike Zaremba
via: CKNW
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A February 2018 study published in the PLOS Journal found that a mere one-hour float led to signifiant reductions in anxiety, stress, muscle tension, pain and
