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

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• Sleep Science
• Hydrotherapy Research

Background:

• Hot foot bath (HFB) is a non-pharmacological intervention recommended in Naturopathy to enhance sleep.
• Hydrotherapy, specifically HFB, is a readily available method for sleep improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of HFB on sleep quality.
• To provide a comprehensive overview of existing research on HFB for sleep enhancement.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published up to May 2024.
• Inclusion of studies evaluating HFB (water temperature ≥40°C) as an intervention for sleep quality.
• Objective sleep parameters (SOL, TST, WASOL, SE) measured by polysomnography (PSG) were analyzed using a random-effects model.

Main Results:

• Six studies with 176 participants were included, exhibiting low methodological quality and high risk of bias.
• Findings indicated that while HFB might improve sleep quality, the results were not statistically significant.
• Subgroup analyses based on temperature, duration, and timing relative to bedtime did not reveal significant effects.

Conclusions:

• HFB presents as a potentially safe and cost-effective method for improving sleep quality.
• The current evidence is limited by the small number of studies and high risk of bias.
• Further high-quality RCTs with larger sample sizes are necessary to confirm the efficacy of HFB for sleep disturbances.