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/
The Most Ambitious Float On Project Yet
We have a new endeavor that we’ve been working on in private for awhile now, and we think that it’s going to make a big splash in our salty little industry. After many years of testing behind closed doors, we’re finally ready to take the plunge and release our secret project to you, the floatation community.
You might want to sit down for this one….
The Start-a-Center Giveaway Returns!
Everyone knows that, when it comes to gifts, it’s much more fun to give than to receive. With this year’s Start-a-Center Giveaway, however, I’m not so sure anymore. With over $13,000 in Float Tank Solutions products going to one lucky duck (plus $4,000 worth of goodies from other float industry homies), we humbly suggest that we may have finally tipped the scales in favor of the recipient.
If you’re Charlie, this Giveaway is the Golden Ticket, which I guess makes the Construction Package a Wonka bar and the Ninja Fans are the Fizzy Lifting Drink. So, what do you have to do for a chance at all the Everlasting Gobstoppers?
It’s been three years since our last Giveaway, and we thought that it was long overdue for another one. So, what’s the dealio? The Giveaway is a chance to give a big ol’ boost to a deserving Float-Center-To-Be. This time around, we’re taking things to a whole new level, with over three times the value of products and services being given away. To you. For free.
Dear Everyone: Please reconsider building your own tanks
Look, we get it. Really. Float tanks are expensive – especially for what can seem, from the outside, like a glorified bathtub with spa parts attached. It doesn’t take long to go from, “Why is this so expensive?” to “I’ll bet I could save money by making my own tank!” After you start mulling it over, you get excited. You could be offering something no one else does right now… because it’d be your own creation! How hard can it possibly be?
As experts in only thinking about half of the consequences of our actions (at best), we’d like to say, “Incredibly hard, actually!”
Location Checklist – The Search for Your Float Center’s Home
In honor of our newly minted, fresh off the press, prize winning Construction Packet, we are releasing one of its more succinct components, the Location Checklist, as a free resource. Don’t let the fact that it’s only one page fool you – this set of questions breaks down the major site and location considerations for your center.
Financing Your Center With Bank Loans
If you are looking to open a center, at some point, you have to face the reality that you’re going to need to spend, and thus track down, a good chunk of money. There are many ways to fund a float center – personal capital, family and friends, sending travel funds to the exiled Liberian prince that you met on the internet and using the forthcoming reward money, etc. This post, however, will focus on financing using bank loans.
A Peek Into Our Construction Packet: Planning Your Space – Square Footage and Number of Float Rooms
For anyone opening a float center, one of the earliest questions they’ll have to tackle is, “How big should my space be?” This can be one of the most difficult queries to answer, because it hinges on many variables.
Will you be offering other services? What types of tanks are you getting? What other rooms will your space need? If you’re planning on installing a float tank water slide, that’ll take up extra space, too. I know it’s unreasonable, but Jake really wants someone to do it.
All of these questions aren’t even factoring in thinking about profit margins. It quickly becomes a daunting task that can feel overwhelming.
How to Launch a Successful Kickstarter Campaign
At Float Tank Solutions, our main goal is simple.
We want to provide access to floating for as many people as possible. That’s why, this week, we are opening up our blog to our friend, Shane Stott. Shane, an avid float ambassador, life coach, and founder of Zen Float Co., will walk us through the essentials of running a Kickstarter campaign, with a highlight on his current efforts to raise money through Kickstarter for a documentary on floating.
4,937 Things to Know About Buying a Used Float Tank
You’re thinking about buying a used float tank. Whether this is for a new center, an addition to an existing operation, or a purchase for your home, this is a big decision.
We’ve compiled together some of the major questions and considerations to entertain before making a purchase. While you do have the opportunity to save some money and snag a good deal, there can be hidden costs and unknowns to weigh against those savings.
Offering Overnight Floats
Almost three years ago, we discussed the merits of running overnight floats from an employee’s perspective, focusing on the opportunities of this unique experience as well as its challenges. We’d like to take a deeper dive into this issue because, while the majority of floaters come through our tanks during “normal” business hours, overnight floats form an important part of not only Float On’s identity, but also its business structure and broader culture.
How to Talk About Floating
You step into the elevator and shuffle to the side to make room for the kind-eyed, old woman with the miniature poodle.
“Good morning,” you say with a smile.
“Good morning,” she beams back, her gaze resting briefly on your water bottle with the logo from your float center’s annual party.
After a brief pause, she asks, “What is Float-a-Palooza?”
You take a breath, smile, and launch into your literal elevator pitch.
So, what do you say?
Don't Miss a Thing!
Get new blog posts emailed to you.
Browse by Topic
