An athlete has to be ready 24/7 and push themselves to the fullest limit. It doesn’t matter if you’re a runner who wants to improve their speed or a weightlifter who lift heavy weights; the goal is ultimately improving performance.

But often, pushing oneself to the limit can leave negative consequences. It can cause muscle strain and even anxiety to achieve success. According to a study by American College students, 39.2% of female and 34.7% of male athletes suffer from burnout. In all sports, there’s a huge risk of injuries and mental health issues.

So is there any solution to this?

Yes. Floating can help athletes in a lot of ways. It not only improves mental and physical health but also improves performance of athlete.

Let’s discuss how floatation can help athletes and why they should opt for it.

Is Float Therapy Important for Athletes?

Suppose there’s an important athletic event coming right ahead. Athletes start training even months before the event. Why?

So they can give their best performance. However, during this time, their body can become tired due to intense training sessions. It negatively impacts their performance.

That’s why Floatation is used. Float Therapy is a practice through which individuals can eliminate physical and mental stress. It’s an effective solution for treating sore muscles, inflammation, and stress.

Mental clarity goes up.

Stress level comes down.

Due to the sensory deprivation environment, the treatment leaves immense therapeutic effects on athletes. It won’t be wrong to say that float therapy can improve athlete performance. But how does float therapy make it possible?

It’s possible because of elevated body functions.

Physical Benefits of Float Therapy for Athletes

Floatation is widely used and recommended because of its physical benefits. Here are some of the physical benefits of float therapy for athletes.

Relaxes Muscle and Contributes In Recovery

Your muscle relaxes when you do float therapy. You can suffer from muscle soreness if you’re an athlete who engages in rigorous training. However, with float therapy, athletes can quickly recover from stiffness.

When an athlete floats in the sensory tank, the water’s buoyancy contributes to removing gravitational pressure. It allows athletes to relax muscles completely.

Eliminates Muscle Pain

Injuries, muscle pain, and tension are common in sports. To reduce it, athletes try different techniques.

But there is one immensely powerful technique. It is floatation. Floatation eliminates all the built-up stress and tiredness from physical activities because it allows the body to become weightless and has limited external stimulation. It reduces pain perception, especially for those who suffer from chronic musculoskeletal conditions like back pain.

Increased Blood Flow and Oxygenation

Float therapy is also helpful in increasing blood flow and oxygenation. It supports healing after exercise or injury.

How?

Because in the isolation tank, there is a combination of decreased gravitational pressure on the person. Moreover, external stimulation is also extremely little. With this procedure, your sore and tired muscles will start feeling better and re-energized.

Reduces Inflammation

Injuries become common when an athlete excessively does intense workouts without any precautions. It contributes to pain in the ankles, knees, and shoulders.

Due to reduced gravity, your body becomes weightless in the isolation tank. The fluids move throughout your body, because of which inflammation reduces.

The primary reason for that is less negative pressure on the surrounding tissues of joints. It leads to a reduction in swelling and healing.

That’s why float therapy is effective for inflammatory pain treatment.

Better Range Of Motion

If you do floatation, you’ll experience a better range of motion.

Why?

Because it lowers tension and enhances relaxation in joints and muscles. Athletes who play games such as football, soccer, or basketball, which require a quick change of direction, can use this therapy because ankle injuries and sprains are quite common in these sports.

Mental Benefits of Float Therapy for Athletes

The benefits of floatation are not limited to physical well-being only. It has a lot of mental advantages as well. Here are some of them.

Reduces Stress Level

Being an athlete is not easy; it’s a game of nerves, and controlling them can be difficult. Athletes are usually under a lot of stress. They have to meet everyone’s expectations, achieve their goals, and perform their level best.

But with float therapy, they can reduce stress levels.

When you undergo float therapy, your mind starts to relax. What happens next?

It reduces the production of cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that is released by our body due to stress. Here’s how this process goes.

Float Therapy → Relaxes your body → Inhibits production of cortisol → less anxiety level.

Production of Endorphins

You might have heard of feel-good chemicals. What are these chemicals?

These chemicals are endorphins, diminishing any sensations of discomfort and pain in the body. They assist in improving a person’s mood.

When a person is floating, the brain releases these chemicals. It’s released in response to weightlessness and lack of external stimulation.

An increase in endorphins makes an athlete strong and firmer in the decision because the endorphins serve as a protective layer against discomfort generally experienced during training or competitions.

A person gets a positive overview of life with consistent float therapy sessions.

Improves Concentration & Clarity

In any game, clarity and concentration are extremely important. Suppose you compete, but your thoughts are all over the place. You can’t focus on the target and will probably keep messing up.

Why does that happen?

It’s because you’re distracted. With float therapy, you can concentrate on the things that matter the most: your performance. You can cut the noise and remove all the distractions from your mind.

When you’re fully focused, then, even during high-pressure circumstances, you can make the right decision.

Lowered Anxiety Levels

Struggling with anxiety is common for athletes. There’s a huge amount of pressure on them, which can make anxiety levels spike.

Many athletes use float therapy to reduce their anxiety levels. How is it possible?

Because they disconnect from outside surroundings and focus on relaxing themselves.

If you take float therapy sessions consistently, you can become well-equipped to deal with stressful situations. Since the sensory input is less, anxiety is reduced.

Increases Focus

Having focus is the biggest win for an athlete. It helps them gain mental clarity and act quickly in making rational split-second decisions during the game.

In a float therapy session, your brain waves gradually slow down. It allows you to shift your focus to the most important things.

Once you focus on this level, you can show peak performance during training and competitions.

How Float Therapy Can Improve Athletic Performance

Now comes the biggest question: how is float therapy helpful in improving athletic performance?

Here are two major ways floatation helps athletes in their performance.

Improve Sleep Quality

Floatation is a natural treatment to attain deep relaxation. It promotes a better sleep pattern.

According to studies, floating improves the production of specific waves in the brain. These brain waves are directly linked with deep sleep. So because of floatation, insomnia symptoms also decrease.

Quick Recovery Time

After training, recovery can take days and even weeks. However, with float therapy, recovery time is reduced.

In float therapy, your body will float in magnesium-enriched water. It is heated at skin temperature so you don’t burn or suffer from itching. It allows the relaxation of your body, muscles, joints, and bones.

It reduces the amount of lactic acid buildup and leads to less inflammation. All this collectively contributes to faster healing.

Athletes Who Use Floatation

You’ll be surprised that many famous athletes already use floatation. It has immense benefits, from pre-game visualization to recovery after the game. Many sports centers are making floatation therapies a must-have for athletes. Everyone uses this treatment, from runners to golfers, tennis players to MMA fighters, swimmers to Olympians. Some of them even have their isolation tanks. Here are five famous athletes who are using floatation therapy.

Steph Curry

He is a six-time NBA All-Star. MVP is a huge fan of floating and even highlighted its significance on ESPN. You can also find a video of him discussing the importance of float therapy and how he uses it to train his mind.

Tom Brady

He is strong and a famous six-time Super Bowl Champion. New England Patriots quarterbacks even have their float therapy tanks

Michael Phelps

Micheal is a global sensation famous as the most decorated Olympic athlete ever. He uses many techniques to improve his performance, such as visualization and floatation therapy. He has a sensory deprivation tank for meditation, relaxing, and enhancing focus.

Wayne Rooney

He is the third highest-paid soccer player at Manchester United. He has a Floatation tank at home and spends more than 10 hours weekly in it. As it helps him relax and recover quickly from all the injuries.

Phillips Idowu

In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he won the Silver Medal. He is a British Triple Jumper and, in 2008, ranked number 1 globally. He used float therapy to become physically and mentally healthy.

Conclusion

Now that you know the physical and mental advantages of floating it, it is clear why you should use it. Because it involves three crucial elements of a person, i.e., mind, body, and soul, it helps relax your muscles so you can focus on improving your game. It also enhances your mind and clarity.

As an athlete, you should always look for ways to optimize your performance and reduce your stress levels. Floatation is of great help in this regard and stands out as a promising tool.

You should also look for the long-term benefits of float therapy. It significantly enhances athletic recovery and plays a major role in making you a better athlete.

If you’re an athlete who wants to experience floating sessions that’ll relax you and improve your performance, then Love Spa has something for you. Reach out to us to book a float therapy session.