Float tank
Sensory reduction in a flotation tank.
Recovery practices
Research records
Historical source snapshot. Not freshly verified, not a recommendation. Study findings, community accounts and app defaults are not interchangeable.
Publication suitability · 2026-10-15: Historical reference only; not a clinical verification. Clinical, regulatory, efficacy, safety and dose claims are not independently established by this review.
Float tank
Sensory reduction in a flotation tank.
Evidence category: Systematic review. This describes the source category, not approval or certainty.
Regulatory statement in source: Not separately recorded; do not infer approval from the evidence category.
Flotation-REST means floating in warm salt water with very little sensory input. A systematic review of the flotation literature reports relaxation and reductions in anxiety and pain across many small studies. A scoping review of eight studies with 401 participants in chronic pain found consistent short-term improvements in pain, anxiety and depression. A randomised trial in 99 patients with chronic pain found no lasting benefit over an indistinguishable placebo, with similar short-term gains in both groups. The evidence is small in scale and weakly controlled.
Benefits reported in the imported source
- Reviews report short-term relaxation and lower anxiety and pain across many small studies
Risks and limits
- A randomised trial in chronic pain found no lasting benefit over an indistinguishable placebo
- The short-term gains appeared just as much in the placebo group
- The evidence is small in scale and weakly controlled
Source bottom line: Floating brings short-term relaxation, but a controlled trial found a placebo float worked just as well.
Uncertainty: Small trials, mostly on anxiety and stress. Not a well-replicated literature.
Study protocols — reports, not instructions
99 patients with chronic pain disorder, mean age 51.7, 81% women
- Reported regimen
- five flotation-REST sessions of 60 to 90 minutes, each separated by 4 days, against an indistinguishable placebo float and a wait-list control
- Duration
- five sessions, with follow-up at 1, 12 and 24 weeks after the last one
- Reported outcome
- No difference between groups in pain intensity at any follow-up; short-term gains in pain, anxiety and relaxation were matched in the placebo group.
- Source
- Flotation Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy for Chronic Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial (Loose et al. 2021)
Claim provenance
evidence.json#/catalog:recovery:float-tank/protocols/0
Community and practice descriptions
Accounts of a practice are not evidence of safety or effectiveness. Words such as “standard”, “safe” or “recommended” describe the source account, not verified consensus or this wiki’s advice. Commercial and self-published citations are retained for traceability, not vendor endorsement or independent clinical corroboration.
Unverified imported account — The Benefits of Float Therapy - Cleveland Clinic
An imported authored paraphrase, not a quotation or a recommended protocol.
Review: unverified historical account. The imported wording is preserved for attribution; its full clinical, dosing, efficacy or consensus claims have not been independently established. Described practice context only; no clinical benefit or safety outcome is inferred.
Imported wording: A Cleveland Clinic guide describes float therapy in a dark, quiet tank with a shallow pool of salt-saturated water.
Historical research outcome: verified-description · 2026-10-06
An attributed practice description was verified without importing the source's benefit claims, recommendations or assumptions about prevalence.
- https://health.clevelandclinic.org/float-therapy-benefits: verified-description — Independently read the live source and checked this limited, attributed description: A Cleveland Clinic guide describes float therapy in a dark, quiet tank with a shallow pool of salt-saturated water.
Pharmacokinetic context
No half-life recorded in this source snapshot. No value has been inferred.
Source references
- A systematic review of flotation-restricted environmental stimulation therapy (REST) (Lashgari et al. 2025)
- A Scoping Review of Flotation-REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy) for Chronic Pain and Associated Comorbidities (Stuart et al. 2026)
- Flotation Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy for Chronic Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial (Loose et al. 2021)
- PubMed: flotation REST (availability check 2026-10-15: possible access barrier; not independently inspected; HTTP 200)
Snapshot provenance
Source ID: catalog:recovery:float-tank. Commit: adc7684614f9439b41d91a3312b62e7982c7e20e. Review state: historical-not-reverified. Authored links are retained separately from the canonical evidence links in the public data. App templates/defaults and rejected drafts are archived, not deployed.
Related entries and components
None listed.