Sport Psychology Tactics - How Sensory Deprivation Tanks Improve Mental Performance For Athletes
About the Author
Ben Foodman is a licensed psychotherapist & performance specialist. He owns his private practice located in Charlotte North Carolina where he specializes in working with athletes to help them overcome mental blocks (the yips), PTSD, ADD / ADHD and achieve flow states through the techniques of Brainspotting & Neurofeedback. If you are interested in services, use the link here! Enjoy the article below!
Introduction: Athletes, Recovery & Sensory Deprivation Tanks
Athletes, coaches & sport psychologists are constantly searching for new, innovative ways to help athletes speed up their recovery in order to both increase their performance outcomes & stay active. For instance, many experts within sport science are turning to interventions such as psychedelic psychotherapy, cryo-therapy, neurofeedback, brainspotting and many other cutting-edge approaches.
One approach that has actually been around for some time, but is now gaining newfound momentum within the sport performance space is the Sensory Deprivation Tank. For this Training Report I want to review what sensory deprivation tanks are, how athletes benefit from a psychological performance perspective, and how athletes should incorporate sensory deprivation tanks into their mental training. Let’s begin by exploring what sensory deprivation tanks are!
Part I. What Are Sensory Deprivation Tanks?
Sensory deprivation tanks (also known as float tanks), are specially designed spaces meant to reduce as much external stimuli as possible. These tanks hold 10 inches of water that are super saturated with roughly 850 pounds of Epsom salts. This allows the athlete’s body to float effortlessly and minimizes the forces of gravity. The water and the air is warmed to the surface of the skin temperature, so that way the athlete that is using the float tank will not be able to distinguish between where the body ends and where the water begins. There is also no light and the tank is sound insulated. So why would athletes benefit from using this?
Research seems to suggest that saltwater flotation provides many different benefits such as the following: helps increase relaxation responses, helps aid in the process of physical recovery, and also provides an optimal environment for enhanced meditation experiences. While these potential benefits undoubtedly make saltwater flotation tempting for athletes to incorporate into their routine, the brain science behind this intervention is just as fascinating and important for athletes & sport psychologists to understand.
Part II. The Brain Science Behind Float Tanks
Athletes are constantly undergoing repetitive stress tests due to the nature of sports performance. These repeated stress tests can have a negative cumulative effect on athletes and potentially leave their autonomic nervous system in a state of hypervigilance. Many athletes will experience what sport psychologists refer to as sympathetic states (high anxiety) or dorsal vagal states (flight, freeze responses). The constant, negative somatic sensory experiences can become overwhelming and place an added stressor on an athlete’s daily processing.
Float tanks appear to create a strong parasympathetic nervous system response which allows the athlete’s body and mind to relax. Because sensory information processing is deprived, the brain is potentially given the opportunity to reduce its’ processing workload and focus on other things. During this period, it seems to be the case that athletes also end up producing brainwave frequencies of alpha and theta, which are associated with meditative states. For instance, theta states can potentially help athletes improve memory recovery, creativity, and other psychological benefits. So if athletes were to use sensory deprivation tanks, how should they incorporate them into their mental training regimen?
Part III. How Athletes Should Use Saltwater Flotation To Enhance Sport Performance
Float tanks provide athletes with the opportunity to enhance their mental training. From my perspective as both a user of float tanks and someone who frequently refers athletes to this resource, I believe there are several approaches athletes should take when using float tanks: use salt-water floating to enhance recovery and creativity. How can athletes use float tanks to increase recovery? First, there is research that seems to suggest that the Epsom salt in float tanks can aid in physical recovery in the following ways: lower blood pressure, reduce stress, reduce inflammation, and help with transporting glucose to the muscle tissue. Athletes using float tanks trying to achieve these goals should also do everything in their power to aid the recovery process by either incorporating diaphragmatic deep breathing, meditation or imagery and visualization during saltwater flotation.
Finally, after athletes have spent a considerable amount of time speeding up their recovery, they should try to focus on enhancing their creativity in the float tank. Again, because sensory information processing is significantly reduced athletes will be able to utilize mindfulness and meditation exercises to experience ‘staying the moment’ at an increased intensity, while simultaneously achieving increased moments of intrinsic clarity. This could help athletes increase the quality of their imagery routines in order to improve their mental training performance. Regardless of where an athlete is on their performance journey, it’s never too late to try something new like sensory deprivation tanks. Go ahead and see if saltwater flotation is the right tool for you!
Note To Reader:
If you are an athlete reading this segment of the TRAINING REPORT, hopefully this content was helpful! I put the Training Report together because I felt like many of the discussions on issues such as the Yips/mental blocks, strength training & other subject matter on athlete performance concepts were really missing the mark on these ideas (e.g. how trauma is the direct cause of the Yips). If you are interested in learning more, make sure to subscribe below for when I put out new content on issues related to sport psychology & athlete performance! Also, if you are looking to work with a mental performance specialist, you are in the right place! USE THIS LINK to reach out to me to see if my services are the right fit for your goals!
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