Does a Hot Foot Bath Improve Sleep Quality? - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

IF 1.9 4区医学 Q3 INTEGRATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE

Alternative therapies in health and medicine Pub Date : 2025-06-11

Poonguzhali Shanmugam, Venugopal Vijayakumar, Poornima Ravi, Deenadayalan Boopalan, Maheshkumar Kuppusamy

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Hot foot bath (HFB), a simple non-pharmacological intervention and a readily available hydrotherapy application, is often recommended in Naturopathy system of Medicine to improve sleep.

Primary study objectives: The current systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to update and provide a comprehensive overview of the effect of HFB on sleep quality.

Method: Electronic databases such as PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, EBSCO, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched from inception until May 2024 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the effects of HFB as an intervention to improve sleep quality.

Intervention: Application of a hot foot bath (defined as immersion of both feet in water of temperature ≥40°C).

Primary outcome measures: The primary outcome measures include sleep onset latency (SOL), total sleep time (TST), wake after sleep onset latency (WASOL), and sleep efficiency (SE), measured objectively using polysomnography (PSG).

Results: Following appraisal for risk of bias, extracted data were meta-analyzed using a random-effects model for the sleep outcome parameters. The comprehensive literature search yielded six studies of low methodological quality, with 176 patients. The findings reveal that although HFB may improve sleep quality, the results were statistically insignificant. Subgroup analysis was performed with temperature, duration of HFB, and interval of time between HFB and bedtime (more than 1 hour vs less than 1 hour); however, the parameters showed no significant effects of HFB.

Conclusion: HFB may be a safe and cost-effective modality to enhance sleep quality. However, the number of studies available is limited, with a high risk of bias. More high-quality RCTs with larger sample sizes are required before strongly suggesting HFB as an effective intervention for sleep-related problems.

Keywords: Sleep quality; warm water therapy; hydrotherapy; hot foot bath; sleep disturbance; naturopathy.

本刊更多论文

热足浴能提高睡眠质量吗？-系统回顾和荟萃分析。

背景：热足浴（HFB）是一种简单的非药物干预方法，也是一种容易获得的水疗法，经常被推荐用于医学自然疗法系统以改善睡眠。主要研究目的：本研究进行了系统回顾和荟萃分析，以更新和提供HFB对睡眠质量影响的全面概述。方法：检索PubMed/MEDLINE、Scopus、Web of Science、CINAHL、EBSCO、Cochrane Library和谷歌Scholar等电子数据库，从研究开始到2024年5月，检索评估HFB干预改善睡眠质量效果的随机对照试验（RCTs）。干预措施：热足浴（定义为双脚浸泡在温度≥40°C的水中）。主要结局指标：主要结局指标包括睡眠开始潜伏期（SOL）、总睡眠时间（TST）、睡眠开始潜伏期后醒来（WASOL）和睡眠效率（SE），采用多导睡眠描记仪（PSG）客观测量。结果：在评估偏倚风险后，提取的数据使用睡眠结果参数的随机效应模型进行meta分析。综合文献检索得到6项方法学质量较低的研究，共176例患者。研究结果表明，尽管高频高频可以改善睡眠质量，但结果在统计上并不显著。亚组分析包括体温、HFB持续时间、HFB与就寝时间间隔（大于1小时vs小于1小时）；但各参数对HFB无显著影响。结论：HFB可能是一种安全、经济的改善睡眠质量的方法。然而，可用的研究数量有限，存在较高的偏倚风险。在强烈建议HFB作为睡眠相关问题的有效干预措施之前，需要更多高质量的大样本量随机对照试验。关键词：睡眠质量；温水疗法；补水;热足浴；睡眠障碍;物理疗法。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Alternative therapies in health and medicine INTEGRATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE-

CiteScore

0.90

自引率

0.00%

发文量

219

期刊介绍： Launched in 1995, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine has a mission to promote the art and science of integrative medicine and a responsibility to improve public health. We strive to maintain the highest standards of ethical medical journalism independent of special interests that is timely, accurate, and a pleasure to read. We publish original, peer-reviewed scientific articles that provide health care providers with continuing education to promote health, prevent illness, and treat disease. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine was the first journal in this field to be indexed in the National Library of Medicine. In 2006, 2007, and 2008, ATHM had the highest impact factor ranking of any independently published peer-reviewed CAM journal in the United States—meaning that its research articles were cited more frequently than any other journal’s in the field. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine does not endorse any particular system or method but promotes the evaluation and appropriate use of all effective therapeutic approaches. Each issue contains a variety of disciplined inquiry methods, from case reports to original scientific research to systematic reviews. The editors encourage the integration of evidence-based emerging therapies with conventional medical practices by licensed health care providers in a way that promotes a comprehensive approach to health care that is focused on wellness, prevention, and healing. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine hopes to inform all licensed health care practitioners about developments in fields other than their own and to foster an ongoing debate about the scientific, clinical, historical, legal, political, and cultural issues that affect all of health care.