Physiology and Anatomy Seminar Series: “Heat Therapy in Obese Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.”

Physiology and Anatomy Seminar Series

“Heat Therapy in Obese Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.”

Speaker: Brett R. Ely, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor & Chair, Department of Sports & Movement Science, Salem State University

Heat has been used for centuries in various populations for therapeutic benefit, including Scandinavian saunas, Japanese Waon therapy, Turkish baths, and Native American sweat lodges. Heat is a complex, global stressor with the potential to impact a variety of systems through repeated exposure. Repeated passive heat exposure (termed ‘heat therapy’) has been shown to reduce cardiometabolic risk in healthy individuals and those with elevated risk. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder characterized by menstrual dysfunction, clinical hyperandrogenism, and polycystic ovarian morphology which affects up to 15% of women and is associated with high rates of obesity and cardiometabolic disease. This seminar will discuss the potential for heat therapy to improve cardiometabolic health and clinical outcomes in obese women with PCOS, and how these findings may extend to other populations at risk for cardiometabolic disease.

Meeting link: https://unthsc.zoom.us/j/84444361340