Health care

Separating Fact from Fiction: Is floatation therapy good for you?

There amount of noise being made by proponents of floatation therapy in Melbourne has certainly caught the attention of everyone, especially after some of these ‘noises’ so to speak, started emerging from the medical communities. Although initially it was all fair and square when athletes swore by this treatment that they performed better after floatation therapy which naturally  triggered the interest of the medical community who started focusing on the impact that this treatment had on the brain.

It was not until beauticians, gynaecologists, oncologists, dermatologists and the usual long list of psychologist started recommending floatation therapy did the buzz about the therapy catch the attention of businesses that saw it as a business opportunity that allowed them to penetrate the health industry which was otherwise impenetrable.

Despite the fact that these business start-ups hadn’t the faintest idea on whether these things actually worked, they were driven to take the chance from a business perspective and jumped head first into it, but luckily for them, the water was deep enough and the floatation therapy business bloomed.

Now, let’s take a step back and think about this, if floatation therapy did not work, would these businesses have survived for almost a decade now? What’s more? Most have opened up branches not just in the State of Victoria, but also other state across Down Under.

Now that the fact of these businesses flourishing as people regularly undergo floatation therapy in Melbourne may not be enough for some of us as proof that the therapy actually works, let’s look at this phenomenon from a scientific perspective. What actually happens when we immerse ourselves into a chamber that is filled with 2 or 3 feet of water that is saturated with Epsom salt? Here is the list of things that happen to us that have been clinically proven for those who simply cannot accept hearsay.

The high salinity of the water keeps us afloat, we do not sink (drown) which basically eliminates the effect of gravity on our bodies for the duration that we are in these chambers.

The high magnesium content in Epsom salt seeps through our skin and into our system leaving us to ask the question of whether this is a good thing – The answer to that is – it is a very good thing because Magnesium deficiency among not just Australians, but the global populace is actually pretty high due to poor diets.

The brain goes into a ‘resting mode’ as the usual elements that keeps our brain busy 24/7 are no longer present (these elements are our sensory system such as smell, sight, temperature. sound and of course the force of gravity).

Although the above would be sufficient in most instances to satisfy the knowledge hungry minds out there, the benefits of floatation therapy does not simply stop there according to medical professionals from various areas of medical expertise who have added the treatment as an optional treatment along with regular prescriptions.

So, is floatation therapy good for us, it looks like it most certainly is with the only difference being that it is just a little more mysterious than the usual over the counter prescriptions.