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Stress and Menstrual Health

NCT07566260 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 600

Last updated 2026-05-07

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The goal of this experimental study is to determine how stressors that do not directly impact energy state or energy demands (hereafter called "non-energetic stressors") affect reproductive health in pre-menopausal women. It aims to do this by answering the following main questions: Do non-energetic stressors create a stress response? How does the stress response impact sex hormone concentration and thus menstrual dysfunction? If stress caused by non-energetic stressors does impact sex hormone concentration, does it do so primarily at the level of the brain or the level of the ovary? Participants will be enrolled in this study for 6 months. For two of these months, they will undergo a short stress intervention and provide samples to measure hormone concentration and total energy expenditure.

Conditions

  • Menstrual Dysfunction

Interventions

OTHER

Heat stress

Stress-Heat participants will undergo supervised 40-min sessions in a 70-80˚C sauna

OTHER

Sleep stress

Stress-Sleep participants will be asked to sleep for between 4 and 6 hours per night, with compliance monitored via their activity monitors and self-reported sleep diaries. Participants will be requested to maintain normal wake cycles without midday sleep.

OTHER

Exercise stress

Stress-Exercise participants will come to the Pontzer Lab to complete a one-hour cycling workout on a Lode Corival CPET ergometer/exercise bike at 60-75% predicted maximum heart rate.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Principal Investigators

  • Herman Pontzer, PhD · Duke University Evolutionary Anthropology Department

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
45 Years
Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-05-31
Primary Completion
2028-08-31
Completion
2029-08-31

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07566260 on ClinicalTrials.gov