How did that happen? Ear infection, weird pressure change, or? Really curious about this because a floatation tank would be the last thing that I would think would cause tinnitus.
Yes, I am also curious. It would be terrible to experience this wonderful, relaxing sensation--only to emerge with louder tinnitus!
Last year,
Slate magazine published an interesting article on flotation and sensory deprivation. The technique has been studied for over sixty years and has many advocates. The article provides a brief history into the origins of flotation. Though unsure if this quietude benefits people with tinnitus, I know it must be enjoyable for those without it. Of course, if anyone on the forum tries flotation, please let us know!
Here are some excerpts from the article:
For what must have been the first 15 minutes, I [Seth Stevenson] wondered what I was doing there.
...
Then a transformation began. If you've ever taken psychedelic mushrooms (and come on, who hasn't?) you might recall a certain feeling that arises as the drugs take hold. "Something is happening, something is happening," your body says to your brain, with mild urgency. I got a feeling akin to that while floating. My brain went a little haywire. When the storm passed, I found myself in a new and unfamiliar state of mind.
...
It's the meditative, relaxing qualities of floating—even non-hallucinogen-enhanced floating....
The water and air in the float chamber are skin temperature, the darkness is identical with eyes open or closed, and there is no sound—thus there is no external input. In turn, my brain decelerated until its output also slowed, and then stopped. I was suspended in a place with no space, or time, or purpose. Once in a while, some quotidian thought would begin to surface at the edges—did I respond to that email?—and then bounce around in the lonely void of my skull for a moment or two. But it would soon melt away as my brain realized it didn't care. Back to the void.
...
For the first time in my waking life, I had zero thoughts. It was a mental quietude I'd never known existed.
Below is a recent clinical trial on sensory deprivation utilizing a flotation tank. And the abstract includes a link for the full free text.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2014 Oct 25;14(1):417. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-14-417.
Beneficial effects of treatment with sensory isolation in flotation-tank as a preventive health-care intervention - a randomized controlled pilot trial.
Kjellgren A1,
Westman J.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Sensory isolation in a flotation tank is a method known for inducing deep relaxation and subsequent positive health effects for patients suffering from e.g. stress or muscle tensions pains. Very few studies have investigated this method as a preventive health-care intervention. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects in healthy participants after receiving a series of flotation tank treatment.
METHODS:
Sixty-five participants (14 men and 51 women) who were all part of a cooperative-health project initiated by their individual companies, were randomized to either a wait-list control group or a flotation tank treatment group where they participated in a seven weeks flotation program with a total of twelve flotation sessions. Questionnaires measuring psychological and physiological variables such as stress and energy, depression and anxiety, optimism, pain, stress, sleep quality, mindfulness, and degree of altered states of consciousness were used. Data were analysed by two-way mixed MANOVA and repeated measures ANOVA.
RESULTS:
Stress, depression, anxiety, and worst pain were significantly decreased whereas optimism and sleep quality significantly increased for the flotation-REST group. No significant results for the control group were seen. There was also a significant correlation between mindfulness in daily life and degree of altered states of consciousness during the relaxation in the flotation tank.
CONCLUSIONS:
It was concluded that flotation-REST has beneficial effects on relatively healthy participants.
TRIAL REGISTRATION:
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12613000483752.
References:
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