Ihre Suche

Sprache

Ergebnisse 2 Einträge

  • Background: In Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy), an individual lies on the surface of highly saline water in a dark and silent environment. Prior research on Floatation-REST highlighted its benefits for both physical and mental health in healthy individuals as well as in people with anxiety and stress-related disorders. Methods: A qualitative-empirical approach was employed engaging ten healthy participants, who each completed a 60-minute float session followed by a focused interview on the perception of silence, darkness, and gravity. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis and MAXQDA software. Results: Silence was largely perceived as pleasant, evoking feelings of security, relaxation, and trust. Silence deepened the awareness of thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. Darkness similarly facilitated enhanced introspection and mental-process awareness. Regarding gravity, sensations of weightlessness and the dissolution of body boundaries were associated with mental relaxation, security, and a feeling of lightness. Discussion: Floatation-REST is being employed in studies to induce altered states of consciousness (ASC), as well as in therapeutic contexts to treat mental disorders. Similar to our study, future work could selectively focus on exploring the impact of the three major aspects of the floatation experience we assessed on ASC and therapeutic success.

  • Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) minimizes stimulation of the nervous system by immersing subjects in an environment without sound or light while they effortlessly float in thermoneutral water supersaturated with Epsom salt. Here we investigated the relationship between altered states of consciousness (ASC) and its association with the affective changes induced by Floatation-REST. Using a within-subject crossover design, 50 healthy subjects were randomized to 60 min of Floatation-REST or 60 min of Bed-REST (an active control condition that entailed lying supine on a warm waterbed in a dark and quiet room). Following Floatation-REST, subjects felt significantly more relaxed, less anxious, and less tired than after Bed-REST. Floatation-REST also induced significantly more pronounced ASC characterized by the dissolution of body boundaries and the distortion of subjective time. The loss of body boundaries mediated the loss of anxiety, revealing a novel mechanism by which Floatation-REST exerts its anxiolytic effect.

Last update from database: 19.12.25, 08:32 (UTC)