I’m Floating for 30 Days Straight — Here’s What I’m Measuring
The 30-Day Float Experiment
My name is Mark, and I run Float Boston.
The other day I posted a blog on what “could” happen if one was to float every day for a month. Hypothetical, but science backed. It perked by curiosity as to what would really happen.
This is a personal experiment to understand what floating every day for 30 days actually does for the nervous system, stress response, sleep, and overall recovery — using both daily wearable data and before-and-after lab testing.
I’ll float once per day for 30 consecutive days and share what happens in real time — the good, the neutral, and anything unexpected. You’ll find that information as well as the data from my Oura ring and Superpower at the end of this page and it will be updated daily starting on the first day end ending when I get my final blood test results.
A little about how I treat my body and mind before we begin, I feel this is important; I already get enough sleep, but my sleep scores are all over the place. I use to work out quite a lot, but since taking over Float I have been limited to walks in the park. I do not meditate, and I try to float weekly but December to now was rough and I think I only got 3 sessions in. My Oura Ring and Apple Watch tell me that I need to relax more, and yet they also tell me to work out more. Finally, In December I went from 5-8 caffeinated beverages per day down to 1.
My first blood draw is on February 9th, and that’s when this experiment begins.
If you want to do your own float challenge, we’re offering it for $650 ($21/float) and you can use our link to get $50 off the bio-marker testing at Superpower. There is a limit of 10 active challenges at a time to keep the tanks open for regular clients. If you complete the 30 floats in 30 days you’ll get your choice of $50 floats for one year, or a 2 float/month membership for $75. Post challenge testimonial videos are worth a $100 gift certificate too! Click here to join!
How I’m Measuring This
Daily Tracking (Oura Ring)
I’m using my Oura ring to track how my body responds day by day:
Sleep score
Heart rate variability (HRV) trend
Resting heart rate
Daytime stress minutes vs calm/restored minutes
Sleeping heart rate (range)
I’ll share short daily updates and weekly summaries focused on trends, not daily noise.
Biological Testing (Superpower)
To see what’s actually changing under the hood, I’m running comprehensive bloodwork through Superpower before and after the 30 days.
Testing schedule:
Baseline labs: Day 0 (before starting daily floats)
Post labs: Day 29–31 (after completing the challenge)
Both draws will be done under similar conditions (time of day, fasting state) to keep the comparison clean.
From the full panel, I’ll focus publicly on markers related to:
Inflammation
Stress biology
Metabolic health
Cardiovascular risk
Energy and nutrient status
Superpower tests 100 different markers, but these were the most important in terms of the experiment. If I see any odd-ball changes in other markers that I did not anticipate, I’ll post those as well.
Superpower was kind enough to not only sponsor this experiment, but also give everyone in the Float Boson community $50 off if they wanted to test their own bio-markers. You can use the link below to get to their page.
Why I’m Sharing This
Most wellness claims live in anecdotes.
This is about pairing how I feel with what my body is doing biologically.
The goal isn’t to prove floating fixes everything — it’s to see what actually moves when the practice is done consistently.
30 Days of Floating — Before & After
This is a comparison of where I started and where I ended after floating daily for 30 days.
Oura reflects day-to-day physiological patterns.
Lab testing reflects biological changes beneath the surface.
This shows what changed, what didn’t, and what surprised me.
One note before we go into the data. My Oura ring always showed me HRV trend, but truth be told I never knew what it was, or why it was important. I won’t go into the details, this article does a great job talking about why it’s important, but in layman’s terms, higher numbers are better. While everyone’s healthy readings can vary from 20-200 my last calendar year was 18 (ouch!).
Before (Baseline)
Oura (14-day average)
- Readiness Score: 72
Sleep score: 79
HRV trend: 18
Resting heart rate: 64
Daytime stress/recovery minutes: 76/114
- Sleeping Heart Rate: 68-89
Lab Testing (Superpower)
Lab test results will be posted when available, usually 10 days from the blood draw.
High-sensitivity CRP: 6.4 mg/L
Cortisol: 10.3 ug/dl
Ferritin-to-Albumin Ratio: 52.22
Biological Age: 44.9
SuperPower Score – 86
- Inflammation Score: B
After Day 30
Oura (14-day average)
Sleep score: ___
HRV trend: ___
Resting heart rate: ___
Daytime stress minutes: ___
- Sleeping Heart Rate: ___
Lab Testing (Superpower)
Lab test results will be posted when available, usually 10 days from the blood draw.
High-sensitivity CRP:
Cortisol:
Ferritin-to-Albumin Ratio:
Biological Age:
SuperPower Score
- Inflammation Score:
Notes on Superpower Testing (pre challenge).
The results show that while most of my health markers are strong, inflammation is elevated. My Superpower score, which is an overall snapshot scored me at an 86, but I was never a B student so it’s disappointing, and my inflammation score overall was meh, another B. My hs-CRP is 6.4 mg/L, where optimal is under 1.0. That places me in a higher inflammation range, which can be influenced by chronic stress, poor sleep, recovery load, or even a recent minor illness. My Ferritin-to-Albumin ratio is 52.22, with an optimal range of 10–20. Because ferritin rises with inflammation, this elevated ratio further suggests my body is carrying a meaningful inflammatory burden. So although my cortisol levels are low, inflammation is telling a different story. My biological age (44.9) is essentially aligned with my actual age (44), meaning I’m not aging faster than expected — but I’m not gaining ground either. I was hoping it would tell me I was 20 again. No such luck. I didn’t post it here because I’m not sure how floating would help it, but my heart health was not the greatest either. Too many burgers and beer I assume.
What Changed & What Didn't
To come after the experiment.
Daily & Weekly Recaps
Day One - Feb 9, 2026
Float duration: 45 min
Time of day: Early Afternoon
Notes:
First day of the challenge. I had my blood drawn for the biomarkers, and couldn’t drink alcohol the night before or eat excessivly which is disappointing because it was the Super Bowl. What I do for science. I had some great ideas come to me in the tank but they dissipated before I got out. Only managed to get 45 minutes in due to work.
Readiness score: 83
Resting Heart Rate: 61
HRV trend: 36
Sleep Score: 77
Sleeping Heart Rate: 69-87
Stress Minutes: 0
Calm Minutes: 45
Day Two - Feb 10, 2026
Float duration: 90 min
Time of day: Early Afternoon
Notes:
Slept late last night, I cut caffeine and alcohol by a significant margin back in November and it’s affected my sleeping patterns. While I used to to go sleep by 10 every night, since the purge it’s been more sporadic but I am waking up much easier. I felt very rested this morning.
Readiness score: 85
Resting Heart Rate: 62
HRV trend: 23
Sleep Score: 77
Sleeping Heart Rate: 62-83
Stress Minutes: 210
Calm Minutes: 90
Day Three - Feb 11, 2026
Float duration: 60 min
Time of day: Noon
Notes:
Probably the best float I have ever had was today’s. Hard to explain but I could see the aura from my body during this float, and everything was calm. Curious what that does to my scores tomorrow. I’m writing this 2 hours after the float and I still have this overwhelming sensation of calm. I’ve had quite a few things not go the direction I wanted and it doesn’t matter.
Readiness score: 73
Resting Heart Rate: 69
HRV trend: 20
Sleep Score: 75
Sleeping Heart Rate: 69-87
Stress Minutes: 75 Min
Calm Minutes: 120 Min
Day Four - Feb 12, 2026
Float duration: 45 min
Time of day: Afternoon
Notes:
I posted a video on social media on this – One non-quantifiable thing that happened over the last 4 days, I haven’t felt the need for background noise. Usually I need podcasts in the car, tv in the background, or something to quiet my inner monologue but yesterday into this morning I did’t. I also feel like the world is slowing down around me, which is an odd sensation.
Readiness score: 81
Resting Heart Rate: 65
HRV trend: 21
Sleep Score: 74
Sleeping Heart Rate: 65-81
Stress Minutes: 60
Calm Minutes: 45
Day Five - Feb 13, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: 7am
Notes:
In the video I posted yesterday Bill Alatalo commented that early morning floats are best, so I tested that with a 7am float. He was absolutely correct, and I cannot suggest highly enough to do one early float in your life. If I get enough interest I will absolutely add early morning floats once a week.
And I mentioned yesterday the non-quantifiable’s happening during this float challenge, and they seem to be getting stronger. Traffic is becoming less annoying, my task list isn’t stressing me out, and life is moving at an absurdly slow pace almost like I’m on an island somewhere.
Readiness score: 80
Resting Heart Rate: 66
HRV trend: 13
Sleep Score: 86
Sleeping Heart Rate: 66-99
Stress Minutes: 30
Calm Minutes: 255
Day Six - Feb 14, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: 7am
Notes:
Another 7am float and this one was more magnificent than the last, but first a data check.
My HRV has taken a dive but I think it’s because I started walking more (it’s not freezing anymore) and I have been using the power plate in the morning as a work out. Could also be alcohol consumption. I’m not worried about it but I’m curious to see if it improves with more workouts. Yesterday my calm minutes peaked, I went back and it’s the highest it has been all year, 4 hours and 15 minutes which is 2.5x more than my average. Sleep score took a dive, but I woke up at 4am and could not get back to sleep, so that could be why.
I want to dissect this float because it was one of the best to date. I spent the first 1/4 problem solving, and not just your run of the mill problem solving. My brain was creating 3D images of my problems, then putting them together almost like a giant puzzle and I think that I solved one of the most annoying problems I’ve had running Float Boston in that fist 15 minutes. Then there was purple. At first it was in the corner of my eye, darting away before I could get a good look, then shapes manifested, faces, and things I could not recognize. When I looked at my body, it was also encapsulated in a purple hue. When my float finished I hopped in the massage chair and sat in the quiet darkness for 20 minutes processing what I saw. It was perfect.
Readiness score: 77
Resting Heart Rate: 69
HRV trend: 21
Sleep Score: 76
Sleeping Heart Rate: 69-85
Stress Minutes: 0
Calm Minutes: 120
Week One Update - Feb 15, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: 8am
Notes:
Seven days of floating every day — and the numbers moved more than I expected. My HRV is up 25% and my Readiness score jumped 13%. Readiness (from my Oura data) is essentially a measure of how prepared my body is to take on the day — how well I recovered, how balanced my nervous system is, and whether I’m operating from a place of stress or resilience. A 13% increase means my body is handling the load better. I’m not just sleeping — I’m recovering. And the HRV jump is the bigger signal. Heart Rate Variability reflects how adaptable your nervous system is. Higher HRV means your body can shift out of fight-or-flight and into recovery mode more easily. A 25% increase in one week is significant. It suggests less underlying stress and better regulation — not just mentally, but biologically.
One other thing to note, my stressed minutes dropped from 76 minutes a day to 52 minutes. I had 2 days with zero stress and another with just 30 minutes. This is huge, because at least to me it shows that my daily floats are having a large impact on how my body is handing stressful moments.
What’s wild is that nothing in my life slowed down this week. I’m still running a business. Still working out. Still dealing with normal pressures. The difference isn’t that stress disappeared — it’s that my body seems to be responding to it differently. I feel steadier. Clearer. Less reactive. Floating isn’t just making me relaxed; it’s increasing my capacity. And if week one looks like this, I’m very curious what week four will show.
These are daily numbers:
Readiness score: 87
Resting Heart Rate: 63
HRV trend: 23
Sleep Score: 87
Sleeping Heart Rate: 63-89
Stress Minutes: 15
Calm Minutes: 90
Day Eight - Feb 16, 2026
Float duration: 90 Min
Time of day: 7am
Notes:
No notes today. See you all tomorrow!
Readiness score: 84
Resting Heart Rate: 62
HRV trend: 22
Sleep Score: 82
Sleeping Heart Rate: 62-83
Stress Minutes: 135
Calm Minutes: 15
Day Nine - Feb 17, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: 7am
Notes:
An interesting note on yesterday’s data. I had the second highest number of stressed minutes in this experiment and those minutes are almost the exact amount of time I spent playing my old PS4.
If you’re on my email chain I went into detail on what I call Floaters High and I want to go over it and again here. If you read the email, this is just a refresher.
I noticed when I float I go through the same mental hurdles each time. The first part of the float every passing thought I could have had comes to me; Did I lock the door, should I change my LinkedIn, why do they keep making Jurassic Park movies, that cute dog I saw yesterday, and so, so much more. My mind goes a million miles a second, and it generally takes over the first 1/4 to 1/3 of my float. During this time I also stretch, wiggle a little, and go between eyes open and eyes closed.
Sometimes the floaters high hits me slow. I’ll feel myself drifting into oblivion, but most of the time it hits me like a sack of bricks. One moment I’ll be wondering what I want for dinner, the next nothing; but no matter how it hits me, this next part where a lot of people may get out of the tank. They’re done, they got what they needed, but for the savvy floater that’s just the beginning.
When the darkness hits, my mind instantly quiets. All the voices, thoughts and ideas are gone, and it’s so quiet my knee popping echos across the tank. It’s like someone flipped a switch in my mind. The first part of my float always feels like it’s on slow-mo, time could not go any slower when my mind is rattling with useless chatter, and this second part of the float time has no meaning. On today’s float when the alarm went off signifying that it was time to leave a selfish part of me wanted to stay. To double the time, triple it even because I had hit my floaters high late and I wanted to experience more of what it had to offer.
With my floats what comes after the floaters high varies. Sometimes I am able to see my problems in 3D, deconstruct them and put them back together again, thus solving them. Other times I’ll see colors, lights, stars, shapes and so much more floating in front of my eyes, and my favorite is when I see auras surrounding my body (usually purple, sometimes blue). I’m sure that there is so much more I could see if I allowed it to happen, and I’m excited with with how week two treats me in this challenge.
If anyone wants to talk about getting to the floaters high, or anything about this experiment, reach out to mark@floatboston.com
Readiness score: 77
Resting Heart Rate: 59
HRV trend: 24
Sleep Score: 76
Sleeping Heart Rate: 59-83
Stress Minutes: 90
Calm Minutes: 75
Day Ten - Feb 18, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: Late Afternoon
Notes:
I wouldn’t read too much into my stress minutes today, I was playing cards against humanity with teenagers and the combination of yelling and explaining cards probably added to my perceived stress. The funny thing is the stressed time was almost exactly in line with how long we played.
Late afternoon float today, and one interesting thing I’m noticing is the lights, colors, shapes, etc that I see in the tank is happening outside of the tank for a good 10 minutes after the float. I haven’t yelled at a Masshole driver in a few days, and I’m reading more and watching TV less. HRV was one of the highest it’s been since I started, and my resting heart rate has been slowing dropping throughout this challenge.
Readiness score: 84
Resting Heart Rate: 61
HRV trend: 33
Sleep Score: 77
Sleeping Heart Rate: 61-72
Stress Minutes: 150
Calm Minutes: 150
Day Eleven - Feb 19, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: Early Morning
Notes:
Only one thing to report…I was “calm” for over 4 hours yesterday, which is well over my average and yet I was here at Float for over 12 hours.
Readiness score: 84
Resting Heart Rate: 62
HRV trend: 22
Sleep Score: 82
Sleeping Heart Rate: 62-84
Stress Minutes: 75
Calm Minutes: 270
Day Twelve - Feb 20, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: Early Morning
Notes:
My sleep score was one of the worst I have had in ages, even pre-experiment. Floating after a bad nights sleep was absolutely perfect. Although I did not nap inside the tank, when I came out I felt completely rejuvenated. Everyone knows floating helps with insomnia, but maybe it also helps restore you after a bad nights sleep too?
Readiness score: 74
Resting Heart Rate: 61
HRV trend: 25
Sleep Score: 66
Sleeping Heart Rate: 63-82
Stress Minutes: 15
Calm Minutes: 225
Day Thirteen - Feb 21, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: Early Morning
Notes:
Yesterday I had a new floater describe something to me that we all feel when floating, but I had never put any thought into. When you’re in a deep float, you can’t tell where your body ends and the water begins. So on today’s float I focused on that and it was a wild experience. We all know that it’s hard to tell when you’re still, but to think about it and focus on it took me on a whole new direction floating and instead of the lights, colors, and visions this time I had the sensation of floating in the vastness of space. A completely unique float.
Readiness score: 79
Resting Heart Rate: 61
HRV trend: 25
Sleep Score: 86
Sleeping Heart Rate: 63-82
Stress Minutes: 15
Calm Minutes: 315
Week 2 Update - February 22, 2026
Float duration: 75 Min
Time of day: 9pm
Notes:
Float update. My first late evening float. Normally I’m here so long that I can’t wait to take my socks off at home but with the potential blizzard I’m here all night. Night floats have a completely different vibe. I felt so relaxed it was insane.
2 Week update!
As an average my sleep score didn’t improve from the previous week, but my readiness score, HRV and rest minutes all hit new highs. I’ll focus on rest/restorative minutes here because it was the most significant change. According to my Oura ring, restorative time is recorded when my ring detects that my hrv is up and when my body and mind is recharging. Sleeping doesn’t count, but does floating?
What I find interesting about this is I’ve been in the shop more this week than I have in the previous few months and not the easy desk work. Tons of cleaning, maintenance, learning more on marketing, ad creation, etc. So I’ve worked a lot more, but my restorative minutes have also gone up by a lot. My average before this challenge was 114 minutes per day, and last week I was up to 163, a 43% increase and I had 3 days over 200 minutes.
Right now if you were to ask me, does floating help and is it measurable? 100% it does.
Readiness score: 79
Resting Heart Rate: 61
HRV trend: 31
Sleep Score: 74
Sleeping Heart Rate: 61-80
Stress Minutes: 75
Calm Minutes: 60
Day 15 - February 23, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: 9 pm
Notes:
Decided not to try driving after the last client last night, so I slept here and someone scored an 89 on my sleep score, but I woke up and my back was killing me, I guess I’m too old for sleepovers. I’m writing this around 1pm EST and my HRV is the worst it’s been during this experiment. Hoping the float later this afternoon helps, but it’s sitting at a 16 at the time of writing.
Last minute note. After my float my back felt great.
Readiness score: 76
Resting Heart Rate: 68
HRV trend: 16
Sleep Score: 89
Sleeping Heart Rate: 68-86
Stress Minutes:
Calm Minutes:
Day 16 - February 23, 2026
Float duration: 30 Min
Time of day: 8am
Notes:
Really short float today because in the middle of the float I panicked that I had forgotten something key that is vital for operations. Then when I got out I realized it was due next week, oh well. Yesterday’s HRV was high, and sleep score last night was very low, but I was doing a lot of backbreaking cleaning and maintenance while also sleeping on a makeshift couch so attributing it to those reasons. Even with a low sleep and readiness score I feel mostly normal today, we’ll see what happens throughout the rest of the day.
Readiness score: 71
Resting Heart Rate: 66
HRV trend: 19
Sleep Score: 68
Sleeping Heart Rate: 66-88
Stress Minutes: 105
Calm Minutes: 0
Day 17 - February 24, 2026
Float duration: TBD
Time of day:
Notes:
Some of the things my Oura ring is tracking seems to be reversing. My HRV the last few days has been back under 20, my heart rate has been up 10% and poor sleep scores. I’m not sick (knock on wood), but I have been doing a lot of detail work around Float and I’m wondering if it could be contributing. My sleep heart rate was the most elevated since I started tracking it, and on the app it is asking me if I’m okay due to what I mentioned plus elevated body temperature.
I’ll keep an eye on this as I continue this adventure, but today I am definitely feeling unrested.
Readiness score: 76
Resting Heart Rate: 66
HRV trend: 19
Sleep Score: 70
Sleeping Heart Rate: 64-94
Stress Minutes: 105
Calm Minutes: 0
Day 18 - February 25, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: 10pm
Notes:
Very long day and my data shows it. Sleep and readiness scores were both off today. Flying to Seattle tomorrow and going to float at 4am before the flight and see what happens. 13 days left!!!
Readiness score: 76
Resting Heart Rate: 64
HRV trend: 17
Sleep Score: 70
Sleeping Heart Rate: 64-94
Stress Minutes: 15
Calm Minutes: 45
Day 19 - February 26, 2026
Float duration: 60 Min
Time of day: 4am
Notes:
If you saw my video on Meta then you know. I failed the 30 day challenge yesterday. There was an issue with our ads and my sales crashed this week, and it took me the entire day to fix it (and it is back and running!). By 11pm I had not moved from my desk except to check in floaters and i had 2 choices, eat or float. I chose food.
This morning I woke up before my flight to visit my sister and floated at 4am and oh my god. That was the BEST float so far. I am not sure if it’s because I missed a day, because I only slept 4 hours, or because I was overly stressed but I came out feeling absolutely perfect.
However the lack of sleep and stress caused every metric to drop to not only the lowest point this challenge, but the lowest point all year. I suffered at every level from readiness to hrv, heart rate and sleep score. Not sure how the time zone change will affect these the next few days, but we’ll find out together.
Readiness score: 57
Resting Heart Rate: 79
HRV trend: 10
Sleep Score: 61
Sleeping Heart Rate: 79-90
Stress Minutes: 255
Calm Minutes: 0
Day 20 - February 27, 2026
Float duration: 60 min
Time of day: 3pm
Notes:
WOW. Yesterday’s stress to restored was terrible. 4 hours and 15 minutes stressed and 0 recovery. Was it waking up at 4am? Was it the 6 hour delayed flight? The time change or maybe my 3 hour walk? Or maybe all of them.
No matter what it was, I recovered perfectly. My sleep score was high, recovery score even higher, and my HRV doubled yesterday to today. That is not normal. Can I attribute that to the 30 day float challenge? Maybe. But the bounce back feels amazing.
I have been hyper focused all morning and my energy has returned to full. It is going to be a great day.
Readiness score: 85
Resting Heart Rate: 61
HRV trend: 32
Sleep Score: 83
Sleeping Heart Rate: 60-92
Stress Minutes: 245
Calm Minutes: 15
Day 21 - February 28, 2026
Float duration: 60 min
Time of day: 830am
Notes:
Yesterday’s stress or calm minutes was one of the worst since the start of this experiment. However, I am on a mini vacation and unlike the normal human who rests on vacation, I do no such thing. I walk. And walk. And walk. I burnt close to 2k calories yesterday just walking, and walked for about 5 hours, which funny enough is almost exactly how many stressed minutes I had.
In the Boston winter I have been like a bear, mostly hibernating. Then to come out and start walking this much is probably putting strain on my body which is being recorded by my heath tracker. My sleep score was good, HRV slightly low but good, and I feel well rested.
Readiness score: 67
Resting Heart Rate: 70
HRV trend: 17
Sleep Score: 80
Sleeping Heart Rate: 70-87
Stress Minutes: 90
Calm Minutes: 30
Week 3 Update - March 1, 2026
Float duration: 60 min
Time of day: 830am
Notes:
Yesterday I walked enough to have an active calorie burn of over 4000, I put in 29k steps, walking for a total 12 miles which I’m sure it putting additional stresses on this experiment. But this is a good thing, if I had 4 out of 4 weeks just sitting in my chair at work, this experiment would be flawed. Today’s the last day of the savage walking and it’s back to normal tomorrow. We’ll see how a weeks worth of floating helps overexerting your body.
That’s also my weekly update. I spent the first 2 weeks mostly sedentary with an average active burn of 490 calories, and while here in Seattle its almost tripled to 1333. While this negatively affected my readiness score and HRV this is is a great test to see how my body comes back next week when things go back to normal.
What does floating do for recovery? We’ll find next week
Readiness score: 64
Resting Heart Rate: 70
HRV trend: 12
Sleep Score: 78
Sleeping Heart Rate: 72-94
Stress Minutes: 255
Calm Minute: 0
Day 22 - March 2nd 2026
Float duration: 60 min
Time of day: 5pm
Notes:
This was the last day of craziness before my body can start recovering. Yesterday I walked 8 miles, found a self pour wine bar (dangerous territory), had a red eye, slept 4 hours then dismantled a float tank, which is a 4 person job. My body is screaming for a recovery day, and tomorrow it starts.
We will really see how fast I can recover with floating because looking at my scores, my body is not happy.
Readiness score: 61
Resting Heart Rate: 69
HRV trend: 19
Sleep Score: 48
Sleeping Heart Rate: 69-101
Stress Minutes:
Calm Minute:
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