The Yin, The Yang, and You!

I have a simple question. How do you start your day?

I will share that my life is very stressful as is yours. I could think about all the stressful things and worry about them, or I could focus on everything I’m grateful for even in the face of stress.

Regardless, of my level of stress, I always start my day by taking a few moments and focusing on things that I am grateful for and reading positive quotes or inspirational quotes. This is a great way to start the day. It’s simple, and it puts me in the right frame of mind to be my best and prevent stressful thinking.

Unfortunately, stress has become so overwhelmingly commonplace that it is deemed as normal. It's cliché to talk about stress. It’s there as consistently as your face in the mirror, and often nothing is done to remedy it because who really has the time for that?

Yikes!

Our bodies by design are programmed to have a stress response – it is one of our best survival instincts and in layman’s terms is called the flight or fight response and can be beneficial as well. However, it has become a daily routine to almost abuse oneself regularly, triggering a fight or flight reaction, all day every day. This biological protective mechanism is hormonal, neurological, and powerful!

There is a price to pay for constant stress response, and the symptoms can vary based on the individual. But one thing is for sure – it can make you sick. The list of stress provoked symptoms are endless, and some of the common ones are:

• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Pain, spasms, or nerve pain
• TMJ disorders
• Headaches
• Weak immunity
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• High Blood Pressure
• Erectile Dysfunction

Think about how many medications are prescribed for these conditions. In addition, an excessive stress response is not just caused by mental or emotional triggers; it is also caused by nutritional, chemical, structural, and mechanical imbalances. So add them all up, think about your day, your responsibilities, your time, your career, your life, your financial concerns, your diet, your lifestyle, your relationships, and whatever else is on your mind and now by reading this, you are stressed.

It’s the life we live.

Our lifestyles are stressful. I always tell my patients that the four basics to maintain health are:

• Air (quality, depth of the breath, movement of ribs and muscles with each breath)
• Water (quality, quantity)
• Food (we could spend weeks talking about this)
• Sleep (quality, depth, quantity)

If you neglect any one of those four on a consistent basis, you are inducing more stress into an already stressed system. So what to do? Do something every day – EVERY DAY! to buffer the stress response. I often see self-destructive behaviors such as abuse of medications, alcohol, poor dietary choices, and intense exercise (which can be very stressful) used to deal with stress which just perpetuates a further decline in one’s health.

I agree that the concept of stress is exhausting and the path to mitigate it is at times impossible. How much better do you feel while on vacation? I would assume noticeably better. There are a lot of healthy ways to buffer the stress response – deep breathing, exercise, taking a day off, avoiding the internet and news, getting a good night’s sleep, spending time with friends, laughter, meditation, getting outside, etc.

Floatation As A Stress Reliever

One of the most profound methods that I have seen and personally experienced to reduce stress is floatation therapy. Floatation or R.E.S.T. therapy stands for reduced environmental stimulus therapy.

While it sounds mysterious, it is actually quite simple. All you have to do is lie down in a pool of water and float. That’s it. The environment of the float room and cabin is what is unique and provides the experience.

A float room by design is about removing stimuli. The room is light and soundproof, the water is maintained at 96 degrees, you are naked (bathing suit optional), and the water is saturated with 1,250 pounds of Epsom salts. The key here is the buoyancy and the temperature. While floating your brain is no longer getting the same feedback from your body, and all other stimuli and sensations are minimized. It is this unique environment that creates the float experience by inducing a relaxation response and a change in your brain waves similar to going through sleep cycles.

Floatation therapy provides more than just relaxation. It’s difficult to explain a sensation, experience or feeling. Floatation needs to be experienced to understand the effects.

A recent 2018 peer-reviewed study conducted by Jordan Feinstein of the Laureate Institute for Brain Research showed over a 90% success rate in symptomatic relief of anxiety and depression post floatation.

A quote from the study showed that “participants reported significant reductions in stress, muscle tension, pain, depression and negative affect, accompanied by a significant improvement in mood characterized by increases in serenity, relaxation, happiness, and overall well-being.”

Wow! Sign me up.

Finally, I would like to ask “how do you end your day?” I do the same thing as when I start the day. I don’t look at the Internet or my phone, I think about what I’m grateful for, I read something positive or inspiring – lately I have been reading Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, and hopefully, I’ve had at least one float session per week.

Of course, floatation therapy is not the only way to relax, but it sure feels like it. The next time you feel stressed out think positive, don’t neglect air, water, food or sleep and go float. You can thank me later.

About the Author

Dr. Josh Kantor D.C. owns and manages Chill Space, a leading Wellness Spa in NYC. To learn more about scheduling a cryosauna session please visit his website at ChillSpaceNYC.com.

Additional References

• Should You Try Flotation Therapy? - USNews
• Beneficial Effects of Treatment with Sensory Isolation in Flotation-Tank as a Preventive Health-care Intervention - NCBI