Looking for something specific?
Search our nearly 100 blog posts.































References
Barnes, M. A., Carson, M. J., & Nair, M. G. (2015). Non-traditional cytokines: How catecholamines and adipokines influence macrophages in immunity, metabolism and the central nervous system. Cytokine, 72(2), 210–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Bluthe, R. M., Pawlowski, M., Suarez, S., Parnet, P., Pittman, Q., Kelley, K. W., & Dantzer, R. (1994). Synergy Between Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha and Interleukin-1 in the Induction of Sickness Behavior in Mice. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 19(2), 197–207.
Bluthé, R. M., Beaudu, C., Kelley, K. W., & Dantzer, R. (1995). Differential effects of IL-1ra on sickness behavior and weight loss induced by IL-1 in rats. Brain Research, 677(1), 171–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-
Bluthe´, R.-M., Dantzer, R., & Kelley, K. W. (1992). Effects of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist on the behavioral effects of lipopolysaccharide in rat. Brain Research, 573(2), 318–320. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-
Capuron, L., Hauser, P., Hinze-Selch, D., Miller, A. H., & Neveu, P. J. (2002). Treatment of cytokine-induced depression. Brain Behavior and Immunity, 16(5), 575–580. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0889-
Carpenter, L. L., Shattuck, T. T., Tyrka, A. R., Geracioti, T. D., & Price, L. H. (2011). Effect of childhood physical abuse on cortisol stress response. Psychopharmacology, 214(1), 367–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/
Cohen, S., Janicki-Deverts, D., Doyle, W. J., Miller, G. E., Frank, E., Rabin, B. S., & Turner, R. B. (2012). Chronic stress, glucocorticoid receptor resistance, inflammation, and disease risk. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(16), 5995–5999. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.
Dantzer, R., Bluthé, R. M., Gheusi, G., Cremona, S., Layé, S., Parnet, P., & Kelley, K. W. (1998). Molecular basis of sickness behavior. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 856, 132–138. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Dantzer, R., Bluthe, R. M., & Kelley, K. W. (1991). Androgen-dependent vasopressinergic neurotransmission attenuates interleukin-1-induced sickness behavior. Brain Research, 557(1–2), 115–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-
Dantzer, R., Wollman, E. E., & Yirmiya, R. (Eds.). (1999). Cytokines, Stess, and Depression. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers.
Davis, K. C., & Raizen, D. M. (2017). A mechanism for sickness sleep: lessons from invertebrates. Journal of Physiology, 595(16), 5415–5424. https://doi.org/10.1113/
Dong, J., Li, J., Cui, L., Wang, Y., Lin, J., Qu, Y., & Wang, H. (2018). Cortisol modulates inflammatory responses in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells via the NF-ΚB and MAPK pathways. BMC Veterinary Research, 14(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/
Dunn, A. J. (2000). Cytokine Activation of the HPA Axis. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 917(1), 608–617. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.
Fischer, S., Strawbridge, R., Vives, A. H., & Cleare, A. J. (2017). Cortisol as a predictor of psychological therapy response in depressive disorders: Systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 210(2), 105–109. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.
Flierl, M. A., Rittirsch, D., Huber-Lang, M., Sarma, J. V., & Ward, P. A. (2008). Catecholamines-crafty weapons in the inflammatory arsenal of immune/inflammatory cells or opening pandora’s box? Molecular Medicine (Cambridge, Mass.), 14(3–4), 195–204. https://doi.org/10.2119/2007-
Foley, P., & Kirschbaum, C. (2010). Human hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to acute psychosocial stress in laboratory settings. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35(1), 91–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Irwin, M. R., & Miller, A. H. (2007). Depressive disorders and immunity: 20 years of progress and discovery. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 21(4), 374–383.
Juster, R. P., McEwen, B. S., & Lupien, S. J. (2010). Allostatic load biomarkers of chronic stress and impact on health and cognition. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35(1), 2–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Maier, S. F., & Watkins, L. R. (1998). Cytokines for psychologists – Implications of bidirectional immune-to-brain communication for understanding behaviour, mood and cognition. Physiol. Rev., 105(1), 83–107.
Miller, A. H., Pariante, C. M., & Pearce, B. D. (1999). Effects of Cytokines on Glucocorticoid Receptor Expression And Function. Cytokines, Stress, and Depression, 461, 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-
Miller, A. H., & Raison, C. L. (2016). The role of inflammation in depression: from evolutionary imperative to modern treatment target. Nature Reviews Immunology, 16(1), 22–34. https://doi.org/10.1038/nri.
Miller, G. E., Chen, E., & Zhou, E. S. (2007). If it goes up, must it come down? Chronic stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-
Miller, G. E., Cohen, S., & Ritchey, A. K. (2002). Chronic psychological stress and the regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines: A glucocorticoid-resistance model. Health Psychology, 21(6), 531–541.
Osburg, B., Peiser, C., Dömling, D., Schomburg, L., Ko, Y. T., Voigt, K., & Bickel, U. (2002). Effect of endotoxin on expression of TNF receptors and transport of TNF-alpha at the blood-brain barrier of the rat. American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism, 283(5), E899–E908. https://doi.org/10.1152/
Pace, T. W. W., & Miller, A. H. (2009). Cytokines and glucocorticoid receptor signaling: Relevance to major depression. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1179, 86–105. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.
Pan, W., Stone, K. P., Hsuchou, H., Manda, V. K., Zhang, Y., & Kastin, A. J. (2011). Cytokine signaling modulates blood-brain barrier function. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 17(33), 3729–3740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Phelps, C., & Korneva, E. (Eds.). (2008). Cytokine Receptors in the Brain. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1567-
Powers, S. I., Laurent, H. K., Gunlicks-Stoessel, M., Balaban, S., & Bent, E. (2016). Depression and anxiety predict sex-specific cortisol responses to interpersonal stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 69, 172–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Ramer-Quinn, D. S., Baker, R. A., & Sanders, V. M. (1997). Activated T helper 1 and T helper 2 cells differentially express the beta-2-adrenergic receptor: a mechanism for selective modulation of T helper 1 cell cytokine production. Journal of Immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950), 159(10), 4857–4867. Retrieved from http://www.jimmunol.org/
Schoenborn, J. R., & Wilson, C. B. (2007). Regulation of Interferon-γ During Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses. Advances in Immunology, 96(07), 41–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-
Segerstrom, S. C., & Miller, G. E. (2004). Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta- Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry. Psychological Bulletin, 130(4), 601–630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Sehic, E., & Blatteis, C. M. (1996). Blockade of lipopolysaccharide-induced fever by subdiaphragmatic vagotomy in guinea pigs, 726, 160–166.
Shariq, A. S., Brietzke, E., Rosenblat, J. D., Barendra, V., Pan, Z., & McIntyre, R. S. (2018). Targeting cytokines in reduction of depressive symptoms: A comprehensive review. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 83(October 2017), 86–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Shonkoff, J. P., Garner, A. S., Siegel, B. S., Dobbins, M. I., Earls, M. F., Garner, A. S., … Wood, D. L. (2012). The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress. Pediatrics, 129(1), e232–e246. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.
Skelly, D. T., Hennessy, E., Dansereau, M. A., & Cunningham, C. (2013). A Systematic Analysis of the Peripheral and CNS Effects of Systemic LPS, IL-1Β, TNF-α and IL-6 Challenges in C57BL/6 Mice. PLoS ONE, 8(7), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1371/
Sofroniew, M. V. (2015). Astrocyte barriers to neurotoxic inflammation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(5), 249–263. https://doi.org/10.1038/
Varatharaj, A., & Galea, I. (2016). The blood-brain barrier in systemic inflammation. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 60, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.
Wichmann, S., Kirschbaum, C., Böhme, C., & Petrowski, K. (2017). Cortisol stress response in post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, and major depressive disorder patients. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 83(January), 135–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Xaio, H., Banks, W. A., Niehoff, M. L., & Morley, J. E. (2001). Effect of LPS on the permeability of the blood-brain barrier to insulin. Brain Research, 896(1–2), 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-
Zadka, Ł., Dzięgiel, P., Kulus, M., & Olajossy, M. (2017). Clinical Phenotype of Depression Affects Interleukin-6 Synthesis. Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research, 37(6), 231–245. https://doi.org/10.1089/jir.
Zhou, J., Yan, J., Liang, H., & Jiang, J. (2014). Epinephrine Enhances the Response of Macrophages under LPS Stimulation. BioMed Research International, 2014, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/

Sales In a Float Tank Center
When we first started Float On, already being regular floaters ourselves and being very familiar with the warm embrace of the post-flow afterglow, we figured that selling things to our float customers after they got out would be the easiest thing in the world. We were...

2013 Start-a-Center Giveaway Winners Announced!
Look, this wasn't easy. When we launched this, we didn't expect nearly as many submissions as we ended up getting, and certainly not as many that were so compelling. All in all, there were over 140 participants and after reading through all of them, floating on it,...

‘Post-Float Environment and Interaction’
I don't have a lot to offer on this subject, as it has been a long time since I have operated a float center.... But, 'back in the day', it was rather simple: it was really up to the customer/floater how they wanted to be treated, post-float. Some customers wanted...

Lightening the Load Through Meaningful “Post Float” Conversation
The post float environment is as important as the environment in the float room because people are still in slower brain wave states after a float, and they generally seek time to sit down, relax, and process what happened during their float. Probably the best way to...

February Topic: Post-Float Environment and Interaction
The second month of our industry blog has arrived. The topic for February is 'Post-Float Environment and Interaction.' We'll be putting up the first post tomorrow, and you'll hear my take on things a little way through the month. I wanted to take a moment, however, to...

Start-a-Center Giveaway 2013
While we wait for the next month of blog posts to roll in, I wanted to announce a thank you promotion we're putting out. We've had over 500 items downloaded from our site since we started just a couple months ago, which means the industry is growing. The feedback...

An Autobiography of Floataway
I was always interested in making things and taking things apart. So after A levels in Physics, Chemistry and Maths, I chose Mechanical Engineering at Bristol University, UK, My first floating experience was in an inflatable toy boat before I could swim, and it was...

An Introduction from Sweden
Anu Enok Looking back, I realize that I’ve been a ”seeker” most of my life. I have always ”wanted to know what to find around the next corner”, which means I have tried a lot of things. I have been mixing jobs and studies. I have studied different stuff like market...

A Little Past
In the late 1960's, I was a systems computer programmer. At one point, I was in a department with just two other people. If I went down to the cafeteria with one of them, I would talk. But if I went down with both of them, I was too shy, and I would be silent. In...

Much Ado About Nothing
Today, I’d like to talk to you about nothing. But first I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Ashkahn, and I’m one of the co-founders of Float On. I’ve spent the last 2 years of my life entirely devoted to these magical boxes we’ve all discovered, and...