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As adults advance in age, their chances of suffering from high blood pressure increases. Along with high blood pressure comes a higher risk of serious health problems like heart attack and stroke. 

Researchers at UNT Health Fort Worth are exploring a new approach to heat therapy that has potential for reducing that risk by lowering blood pressure and improving blood vessel function in older adults. 

Their findings were recently published in the article titled “Home-based heat therapy lowers blood pressure and improves endothelial function in older adults” in the Journal of Applied Physiology. 

Heat therapy is a medical treatment that involves applying heat to the body and is commonly used to relieve pain, relax muscles or increase blood flow. It is typically administered using heating pads, hot baths and saunas. 

“Within the last decade heat therapy has emerged as a potential therapeutic strategy to help improve cardiovascular health in different clinical populations. But a lot of that previous research has been done with whole body heating—things like whole hot tub emersion or sauna bathing,” said Bella Ruiz, PhD candidate in UNT Health’s College of Biomedical and Translational Sciences and first-author of the publication.  

“Those methods aren’t applicable to everyone, especially older adults who have contraindications to heat exposure, so we were trying to find strategies that leverage the benefits of this whole-body heating but are safe for these populations.” 

To test those new strategies, the team used specially designed pants that are outfitted with tubes to circulate warm water to deliver heat therapy to the lower body of the wearer. For the study, a group of older adults wore the pants for one hour, four times a week over an eight-week period. Part of the group received heat therapy; others received a sham intervention with non-heated water circulated through the pants.  

The research team monitored each participant’s blood pressure before and after the treatment period. When they compared the numbers, the group that received heat therapy showed positive results. 

“The major finding of this study is that their ambulatory systolic blood pressure was decreased by 5 mmHg, which is clinically meaningful reduction in blood pressure,” Ruiz said.   

“That amount of reduction has been shown previously to reduce cardiovascular disease risk or cardiovascular event risk by about 10 percent.” 

Participants who received heat therapy also showed improved endothelial function, which is a sign of healthier blood vessels and important for overall cardiovascular health. 

Another key finding is that the study showed that the experimental pants could deliver heat therapy effectively and without expensive equipment like hot tubs or saunas. The pants provided study participants with a feasible way to administer heat therapy themselves, at home and without the help of an aid or care provider. 

“We had 100 percent compliance, which was great since most intervention studies that rely on participants to do something by themselves are much lower,” Ruiz said. 

The study was conducted by Ruiz and the research team in the Human Vascular Physiology Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Steven Romero, associate professor of physiology and anatomy. Romero says these results expand on the lab’s previous research and open the door to further exploration of heat therapy. 

“We’re building on a centuries-old practice by uncovering how heat therapy benefits cardiovascular health and adapting these approaches to be more practical and accessible for people today,” Romero said.  

“Bella’s study shows for the first time that just heating the lower legs can boost cardiovascular health in older adults, and what’s exciting is that it doesn’t involve medication and can be done right at home.” 

Future research could look to better understand the mechanisms of exactly how blood pressure is lowered during heat therapy or be broadened to include populations with more overt comorbidities. 

“We’re just adding one more piece to the puzzle that shows how heat therapy can be beneficial,” Ruiz said.  

In addition to this study, Ruiz’s dissertation research is exploring the mechanisms that regulate blood flow in skeletal muscle across the adult lifespan. She is supported by an institutional NIH T32 research training grant. 

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