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Stress and Menstrual Health

Sponsor: Duke University • ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT07566260

Registry updated: 2026-09-09

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Description

The goal of this experimental study is to determine how stressors that do not directly impact energy state or energy demands (hereafter called "non-energetic stressors") affect reproductive health in pre-menopausal women. It aims to do this by answering the following main questions: Do non-energetic stressors create a stress response? How does the stress response impact sex hormone concentration and thus menstrual dysfunction? If stress caused by non-energetic stressors does impact sex hormone concentration, does it do so primarily at the level of the brain or the level of the ovary? Participants will be enrolled in this study for 6 months. For two of these months, they will undergo a short stress intervention and provide samples to measure hormone concentration and total energy expenditure.

Interventions

Heat stress (Other)
Stress-Heat participants will undergo supervised 40-min sessions in a 70-80˚C sauna
Sleep stress (Other)
Stress-Sleep participants will be asked to sleep for between 4 and 6 hours per night, with compliance monitored via their activity monitors and self-reported sleep diaries. Participants will be requested to maintain normal wake cycles without midday sleep.
Exercise stress (Other)
Stress-Exercise participants will come to the Pontzer Lab to complete a one-hour cycling workout on a Lode Corival CPET ergometer/exercise bike at 60-75% predicted maximum heart rate.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria: * Adult pre-menopausal females, 22-38 years old with a BMI of 18.5-30.0 * Habitually sedentary (less than 60 minutes MVPA/week) for Exercise cohort Exclusion Criteria: * Individuals on hormonal birth control (oral contraception, injection, implant, or intrauterine device) * Individuals with incidence in the last 6 months of childbirth, lactation, pregnancy, or functional hypothalamic amenorrhea (FHA) * Individuals with a BMI \<18.5 or \>30.0 * Individuals with reproductive disorders (e.g. endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)) * Individuals taking thyroid medications * Individuals who have undergone or are undergoing menopause * MVPA \>60 min/week (for Exercise cohort)

Conditions

Menstrual Dysfunction

Locations

Duke University — Durham, North Carolina, United States

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Official Source

Data sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

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