The Science Behind Floating
- Luke Grossmith
- Nov 28
- 2 min read
We wanted to share a couple of resources on the studies that have been completed in floatation therapy. Whilst we have huge quantities of anecdotal evidence from floaters that we have met over the years, below is some 'official' evidence of how floating could benefit you.
There are a limited number of studies, however, the conclusions have been pretty promising so far.
The link below is for the following paper - Lashgari, E., Chen, E., Gregory, J. et al. A systematic review of flotation-restricted environmental stimulation therapy (REST). BMC Complement Med Ther 25, 230 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-025-04973-0. This paper presents a review of the studies that have so far been conducted in floatation therapy.
If you don't want to delve in fully, here are a few of the key takeaways;
'Pain (11 studies): Flotation-REST can effectively reduce pain stemming from a variety of conditions, including chronic tension headaches, stress-induced muscle tension, and whiplash associated disorder.
Athletic performance (8 studies): Flotation-REST may improve certain components (e.g., accuracy, precision) of athletic performance, especially when coupled with guided imagery tasks, as well as enhance performance recovery.
Physiology (8 studies): Flotation-REST was generally found to have various physiological effects indicative of decreased sympathetic arousal, such as reduced blood pressure, slowed breathing rate, and decreased cortisol levels.
Stress (6 studies): Flotation-REST was found to reduce levels of stress in both clinical and non-clinical participant samples.
Consciousness (6 studies): Altered states of consciousness are frequently induced by flotation-REST, with participants reporting experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations, distorted time perception, out-of-body experiences, and personally profound and transformative visions.
Psychology (7 studies): Flotation-REST was shown to induce positive effects on various psychological outcomes among both healthy and non-healthy participants, including improved mood, reduced anxiety, and decreased depression.
Creativity (5 studies): In general, flotation-REST was found to enhance certain facets of creativity, including originality, divergent thinking, and aspects of technical musical ability, such as improvisation and composition.
Clinical anxiety (4 studies): Specifically focusing on participants with a diverse range of anxiety-related disorders, flotation-REST demonstrated significant anxiolytic effects, underscoring its targeted therapeutic potential in clinical settings.
Sleep (2 studies): Flotation-REST was found to have limited potential as a treatment for sleep-related disorders (e.g., insomnia). Two studies found evidence of flotation-REST improving sleep latency, but one of these studies found that this improvement only reached significant levels three months after treatment completion, while the other study found that only half of the participants experienced improvement.
Smoking cessation (2 studies): Compared to other, more established therapeutic interventions for smoking cessation, flotation-REST is not particularly effective in helping individuals reduce their smoking habits.
Others (4 studies): The remaining studies explored components of flotation-REST protocol (2 studies), sought to investigate hypotheses about flotation-REST (1 study), or examined miscellaneous effects of flotation-REST (1 study).'
This link directs you to a website which lists a number of the studies referenced in the paper above with downloadable PDFs which you can read for yourself on the topics that interest you the most:
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