Can Floatation Tanks Assist In Combating PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome)

Premenstrual syndrome has been regarded as a bane that has been affecting certain groups of women across the globe for as far back as human memory stretches.

The plethora of symptoms under the PMS ‘hood’ could be as mild as loss of appetite or slight discomfort to severe pain and emotional anomalies that lead these women into panic, epilepsy, depression or even increased sex drive and creativity.

This labyrinth of inconsistent symptoms has frustrated not just the women who suffer from it, but also the entire medical faculty charged with treating it. It had reached a point where some doctors have put their arms up and declared that PMS is something that women just have to accept and deal with and that it is nothing more than an element of being a woman.

However, other ‘more dedicated’ physicians are still wrestling the issues created by ‘Aunt Flo’s’ monthly visit to the ground. In some cases, certain medical procedures have been effective for some women, but not so for others, in other cases non-medical procedures seem to have done the trick for some women, but, again not for others.

This mystifying set of results following suit from both medical and non-medical procedures have left most of these dedicated physicians dumbfounded. To add salt to the wound, these doctors have not only been mystified by the onset of PMS symptoms, but even more mystified by the disappearance of the symptoms as ‘Aunt Flo’ bids adieu.

The only fact that they are certain of in all the centuries of studying the subject is the fact that the bizarre Jekyll and Hyde metamorphosis that many women undergo during this time are strongly correlated to hormonal changes or deregulation.

However, there has been one treatment method that seemingly seems to alleviate PMS symptoms is almost every case tested. This was based on the findings by clinical researchers who were looking into hormonal function regulation.

It was proven that flotation normalizes hormonal activity and when floatation tank therapy was performed on women who had a wide range of PMS issues, the severity of PMS symptoms diminished drastically. Researchers hypothesised that the severity of PMS symptoms of women who underwent floatation therapy would diminish compared to women who did not and they were right!

The studies involved three groups of women that had unique PMS symptoms and based on completed checklists based on severity of symptoms at predetermined intervals over eighteen months showed remarkable improvements.

The 3 groups were divided into 2 float groups and 1 control group (non-float group). The first float group were subjected to float tank sessions once during PMS and once during Non-PMS Intervals. The other float group only floated once during a PMS interval.

The final results revealed that group 1 that floated during PMS and non-PMS showed a significant decrease in symptoms. The second group also showed significant improvements, however not as significant as the first group who floated twice. The control group revealed no changes and some of the subjects exhibited an increase in severity of symptoms over the course of 18 months.