Living in the 21st century can often feel like
being constantly poked with a thousand blunt sticks. The minor (and major)
stresses we face every day – noisey neighbours, traffic congestion, the
constant stream of pings and vibrations from the small rectangular
ball-and-chains we carry around in our pockets – can really where a person
down. You may be familiar with the sensation of coming home exhausted at the end
of the day in spite of the fact that, physically, all you have done is sit in a
chair and stare at a screen. That is because the thousands of little prods your
brain gets actually where down its ability to function. Worse, the
instinctive stress response our bodies produce when we, for example, get a new
project with a tight timeline handed down to us by a manager can lead to high
blood pressure, impaired cognitive function and a host of other physical
effects that are generally bad news.
It is no wonder then, that new-agey trends like yoga and
meditation have surged in popularity over the past decade. We are driven to
find ways to escape the sensory overload that is just a normal part of life for
so many of us. However, few interventions embody the crystal-healing,
aura-cleansing, cringe-inducing pursuit of stress-escapism in the way that the
practice of sensory deprivation does.
Any hardcore Simpsons fan ia familiar with the basic concept
of sensory deprivation. You lay in a dark, soundproof space, tucked away from
any distraction, and experience the novel sensation of nothingness. However,
since Homer took his wild ride in a whale egg back in 1999, the
practice – and business – has expanded dramatically in North America.
The kind of sensory deprivation you can pay to experience in
between lattes takes two main forms: chamber therapy – where the participant
lays on a soft, comfortable, dry platform in a dark soundproof room; and
floatation therapy – where the participant lays in a space filled with
salt-infused, skin-temperature water. The latter is the far more popular variant,
and the one we will focus on here.
So what can laying in a tank of water with a thousand pounds
of salt dissolved into it for an hour do for you? The benefits listed on the website of the float
house in my own neighbourhood range from the plausible: relaxation,
meditation, stress relief; to the intriguing: enhanced healing and pain
management; to the dubious and downright perplexing: increased immune function,
“super-learning” and deautomization (?).
The trouble with vetting these supposed benefits is that the
science around the idea at the heart of floatation – restricted environmental
stimulation therapy (REST)* – is sparse. Most studies rely on small sample
sizes and limited timeframes. However there are a few generally agreed upon
benefits including relaxation, meditation, restoration, and consolidation of
new information or physical skills. Much like sleeping, float sessions have
been linked to improved retention of new information (if you do your floating after your studying) and better
performance on tasks requiring practice and coordination (like basketball and jazz saxophone).
In a world where tension is the norm, these benefits –
along with the opportunity and implicit permission to relax for an hour – seem
reason enough to be open to a dip in brine. However, researchers
are quick to point out that these benefits don’t go far beyond those you would
experience from relaxing in a dark room and listening to soothing music. That
approach may save you the $50 - $100 bucks most float houses charge, but would
rob you of an interesting “what I did this weekend” story.
Researchers also caution that a person’s experience in
sensory deprivation is highly depended on their expectations.
In overwhelmingly negative contexts (ex. prison and war) isolation can be used
as a form of torture. The positive effects of floatation, therefore, may be as
much a product of walking into a spa with friendly employees and being told
you’ll soon experience the soothing sensation of deautomization as it is an
actual outcome of the therapy.
The cool aspects of sensory deprivation are the wacky
responses your brain produces when deprived of input. We often forget that our
brains are basically machines that use stimuli to produce perspective and an
image of the world. When you remove light and sound from the equation, hallucinations
become very common. They range from seeing points of light and vague shapes to
hearing music.
Ultimately, the best approach to take in the face of
relaxation options like floatation therapy is best summarized by psychologist
Neal Miller and restated by one of the most prominent researchers in the field
of REST, Dr. Peter Suedfeld: Be courageous in what we try, cautious in what we
claim.
