HOCATT for Women’s Health: What Does the Research Say?
Women’s bodies move through so many different seasons. From the reproductive years and preparing for pregnancy to difficult periods, fertility challenges, and eventually perimenopause and menopause, our needs are constantly changing.
At O2 Renew, one of the wellness therapies we offer is
HOCATT—a 30-minute wellness sauna that brings several modalities together in one session, including ozone sauna, far-infrared heat, PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic fields), steam, CO₂ and other wellness technologies.
While HOCATT is
not used during pregnancy or breastfeeding at O2 Renew, there are some fascinating areas of emerging research surrounding women’s health outside of those seasons.
Here are a few that I find especially interesting.
Endometriosis & Pelvic Pain
This may be one of the most exciting areas of HOCATT research for women.
Endometriosis can be incredibly disruptive. For many women, it means years of painful periods, chronic pelvic pain and searching for ways to feel better.
A small 2023 study looked specifically at women with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain using a combination of
ozone sauna therapy and PEMF delivered with the HOCATT.
The women received treatment twice a week for three weeks—a total of six sessions.
Researchers reported a significant reduction in pain after the fourth treatment. In another group receiving the intervention, researchers also measured inflammatory markers and found significant reductions in
CRP and IL-1β following the treatment period.
This was a small preliminary study, so it certainly does not establish HOCATT as a treatment for endometriosis. But it gives researchers an interesting reason to continue studying this combination of therapies in women with endometriosis and pelvic pain.
Read the study:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36789645/
Preconception & Fertility
This may be one of the most interesting areas of emerging HOCATT research.
A study followed
44 women with severely diminished ovarian reserve who were undergoing IVF. Each woman completed an IVF cycle, received six HOCATT ozone sauna + PEMF sessions over three weeks, and then completed another IVF cycle using the same stimulation protocol.
Here is where it gets interesting:
the women didn't produce significantly more eggs after HOCATT—but they did produce significantly more embryos.
Researchers also found that the women's
endometrial lining became significantly thicker, reaching approximately 7 mm, which is an important consideration when preparing the uterus for embryo transfer.
Why does this matter?
When it comes to fertility, the number of eggs retrieved is only part of the picture. Those eggs also need to successfully fertilize and develop into embryos, and the uterus needs an adequate endometrial lining to support implantation.
Because more embryos developed without an increase in the number of eggs retrieved, the researchers suggested that the results could potentially indicate an improvement in egg quality. However, the study was not designed to prove that HOCATT improves egg quality, pregnancy rates or live-birth rates.
The researchers also studied ovarian granulosa cells—the cells that surround and support a developing egg—and found changes in genes involved in hormone production after ozone exposure, giving researchers another reason to investigate this area further.
This is still early research, but for women in the
preconception season, it is an intriguing area of research and one worth watching.
Read the full study:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10226693/
Thin Endometrial Lining
There is also some very early research involving women who struggled to develop an adequate endometrial lining for embryo transfer.
In a published case series, three women undergoing fertility treatment had
persistently thin endometrial linings despite previous interventions.
They then received a combination of
ozone and PEMF using HOCATT.
Following the intervention, all three women experienced an increase in endometrial thickness. Two of the three subsequently became pregnant following single-embryo transfer.
While this was a very small case series of just three women, the results are certainly worth paying attention to. Seeing improved endometrial thickness in all three women—and subsequent pregnancies in two—raises interesting questions about how HOCATT may fit into preconception and fertility wellness. Larger studies are needed, but this early research gives us another reason to keep exploring its potential role in supporting women preparing for pregnancy.
Read the full study:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6716719/
Painful Periods & PEMF
One of the benefits of HOCATT is that the session can be customized. HOCATT incorporates multiple wellness modalities, and you don't necessarily have to use every component during every session. This allows us to look at what the research says about some of the individual technologies found within HOCATT as well.
Let's look at
PEMF, or pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, and painful periods.
In one double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study,
91 women ages 18–34 with moderate-to-severe menstrual pain were assigned either an active PEMF device or a placebo device.
The results were impressive. Compared with the placebo group, the women receiving PEMF reported progressively greater reductions in pain—31% on day one, 39% on day two, 42% on day three, 48% on day four and 63% by day five. Overall,
77% of women using PEMF reported decreased pain compared with only 14% in the placebo group.
Read the study:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4590087/
Other randomized research has also looked at PEMF and menstrual pain.
One study of
52 women with primary dysmenorrhea compared PEMF with high-intensity laser therapy. Women receiving PEMF had significant reductions in both
pain severity and blood levels of prostaglandin PGF2α following treatment.
Prostaglandins are particularly interesting in painful periods because elevated uterine prostaglandins are involved in the strong uterine contractions and cramping associated with dysmenorrhea.
Read the full study:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5684002/
Supporting Women’s Health as a Whole
These studies give us an exciting glimpse into the different ways HOCATT and its individual technologies are being explored in women’s health—from
endometriosis and painful periods to fertility, embryo development and endometrial lining.
These are only a few areas of women’s health where HOCATT and its components are being studied. As research continues to grow, I’m excited to see what else we learn about how these technologies may support women through the different seasons of their lives.
This article is for educational purposes only. HOCATT is a wellness service and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. O2 Renew does not provide HOCATT sessions during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Women receiving medical or fertility treatment should discuss adjunct wellness therapies with their healthcare provider.
