Float Tanks Provide An 'Adult Timeout' And Ease Stress

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — St. Pete Salt Works Float Center is a place where you can get naked and relax in a tank of water.

Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) occurs when you float inside a salt water tub with 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt in 200 gallons of water, according to St. Pete Salt Works. Don't worry if you can't swim. The water is dense enough with salt that the water will hold you up.

Mike Anderson opened Salt Works about three years ago after experiencing what he said was life-changing benefits from float tank therapy. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Anderson worked for 15 years making maps for the military. This gave him opportunities to listen to podcasts since he was isolated in a small cubicle.

"I found a podcast, Joe Rogan, and he had long-form conversations with people, and he talked about floating a lot," Anderson told a Patch journalist. "He had one at his house, and one at his podcast studio that he'd offer people to float in before he interviewed them."

Anderson's deep curiosity about the benefits of float tanks led him to try out a float tank after he and his wife moved to Melbourne with their then-18-month-old baby. He had heard about the reduction of stress floating helped with; he had been laid off his map-making job and had started a new job, and stress was high — especially with a baby. A float center was located near his new job, and the owner allowed him to try it for free several times. He was hooked after the first float session.

"It was my drive home after my third float when we were still in Melbourne, and I realized I was processing my environment differently," he said. "I wasn't as scared, and I was able to more slowly see my surroundings. Everything was brighter and easier to process."

"I could deal with things better. And I noticed my improvement in reactions to my family."

Anderson and his wife's love for St. Petersburg brought them back to the city, where they opened their float center. He explained that it's a space where you can remove the world for an hour and have an adult timeout. Some benefits from Floatation-REST, according to clinicalfloation.com, include reductions in:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Major depression
• Social anxiety and other anxiety disorders
• Insomnia
• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic pain
• Panic disorder
• Stress

The center works with the Tampa Bay Rays and Rowdies for sports recovery. Anderson has a partnership with Wounded Warrior Project and is working the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide therapy to veterans with service-connected disabilities.

How Does A Session Exactly Work, And Is The Tank Clean?

There are multiple tanks at the center. You are in a room by yourself; this is not a group activity like community acupuncture. A stand-up shower is located outside each tank that you are required to use before and after each tank session. You will enter the tank naked and float on your back. The water is 93.5 degrees. Music is provided as you relax during the one-hour session. Salt Works does not have a dark pod that some float centers have. Dim light that can be a color of your choosing is provided. Earplugs are offered to keep water out of your ears, or you can request a floating pillow.

The float environment systematically minimizes external sensory input to the nervous system including signals from visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, thermal, tactile, vestibular, gravitational and proprioceptive channels, clinicalfloation.com reported.

The tanks are regulated by the health department, and it is considered an indoor pool. This requires the tank water to be cleaned with bromine, a chemical similar to chlorine in the way it kills bacteria and contaminants. An hour of filtration follows every one-hour float session with an added ultraviolet sanitizing light and pool filters.

For more information about St. Pete Salt Works Float Center, 517 Dr. MLK Jr. St. N., visit its website.