Hot Water Therapy for the Treatment of Menopause-related Hot Flashes

Summary

The purpose of this research is to determine whether hot water therapy (i.e. taking prolonged hot baths on multiple consecutive days) decreases hot flash symptoms and improves mood in women who are undergoing or who have underwent menopause. It is hypothesized that women who undergo hot water therapy will have reduced hot flash symptoms and improved mood.

Initial tracking period: Women who volunteer to participate in this study will be asked to track the frequency and intensity of their hot flash and other menopause-related symptoms for an initial two week period. Afterwards, they will start their heat therapy program.

Physiological assessments: On days 1, 7, and 13 of the heat therapy sessions, the participants will enter a climate controlled room to have their thermoregulatory responses assessed. This will consist of slowly walking on a motorized treadmill in 99.5°F (37.5°C) and 30% relative humidity conditions, for 30 min, after which the humidity in the climate chamber will be progressively increased until their core temperature begins to increase (\~2 hour total time). Before and/or during these trials, core temperature, heart rate, whole-body sweat losses, thermal comfort, local sweat rate, and skin blood flow will be measured, and a 6 ml (\~1 tsp) blood sample will be taken, to assess how the participants respond to the heat stress. These sessions should take less than 3 hours to complete.

Hot water therapy sessions: Upon enrolling in the study, the participants will be assigned to one of two groups: water bathing at 105°F or 97°F in the lab. On days 2-6 and 8-12 of the therapy sessions, the participants will immerse themselves to a water level at the shoulders for \~30 min, followed by immersion to the hip level for \~60 min (total immersion time of 90 min).

Post-intervention tracking period: after completing the heat therapy sessions, the participants will be asked to continue to take baths at home once every 4 days for 1 month. During this time, the participants will be asked to record the intensity and frequency of their hot flashes daily and other menopause-related symptoms weekly. At the end of this month the participants will be given a final exit survey, in order for them to provide the researchers information about their experience participating in the study.

Conditions

• Menopause
• Menopause Related Conditions
• Menopause Syndrome

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Hot water therapy

On days 2-6 and 8-12 of the therapy sessions, the participants will immerse themselves up to the shoulder in 105°F water for \~30 min, followed by immersion to the hip level for \~60 min (total immersion time of 90 min).

BEHAVIORAL

Warm water immersion

On days 2-6 and 8-12 of the therapy sessions, the participants will immerse themselves up to the shoulder in 97°F water for \~30 min, followed by immersion to the hip level for \~60 min (total immersion time of 90 min).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• East Carolina University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nathan Morris, PhD · University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

40 Years

Max Age

80 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-01-01

Primary Completion

2025-11-19

Completion

2025-11-19

Countries

• United States

Study Locations