FIGURE 1. Concurrent physiological measurement during Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy). In order to collect physiological data during the float session, small non-invasive wireless sensors were attached to the participant. To measure heart rate, breathing rate, and HRV, a Zephyr BioPatch ECG system was attached to the chest with a layer of waterproof Tegaderm. To measure blood pressure, a QardioArm monitor was placed around the upper left arm with a waterproof cast. We also collected electroencephalography (EEG) using a wireless system that was placed on the forehead, in addition to accelerometry using accelerometers attached to each wrist; these data will be part of a separate publication. Of note, participants floated without any clothing on. The same sensors and setup were also used to collect physiological data during the film condition.
FIGURE 2. Cardiovascular effects of Floatation-REST as compared to the film condition. Mean physiological response as broken down by condition (blue = float; orange = film) across all participants for panel (A) heart rate, (B) systolic blood pressure, (C) diastolic blood pressure, (D) absolute very low frequency HRV, (E) normalized low frequency HRV, (F) normalized high frequency HRV, (G) SDNN, (H) RMSSD, and (I) breathing rate. The shaded region represents the standard error of the mean. The x-axis represents time (in minutes) since the start of the float or film. With the exception of blood pressure (which were single point measurements), data are graphed in 5-min bins such that timepoint 0 is the average from 0 to 5 min, and timepoint 75 is the average from 75 to 80 min. Significant differences were found between conditions for all variables except heart rate.
FIGURE 3. Mean change in state anxiety and serenity. Mean change scores from pre- to post-float/film were computed for each group and condition (orange = film; blue = float) for panel (A) state anxiety, and (B) serenity. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean.
FIGURE 4. Significant interactions between blood pressure and change in state anxiety and serenity. Each point represents a single blood pressure measurement for one participant, and each trend line shows the correlation between blood pressure and change in state anxiety and serenity broken down for each condition (orange = film; blue = float). Significant interactions (p < 0.001) were found between (A) state anxiety change and systolic blood pressure, (B) serenity change and systolic blood pressure, (C) state anxiety change and diastolic blood pressure, and (D) serenity change and diastolic blood pressure.
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[https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT03051074], identifier [NCT03051074].
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Flux et al. (2022) studied this question.
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