A Florida State University researcher is tackling a new and inventive way to slow down and perhaps prevent preterm labor.
The solution A pair of goggles.
Specifically, Associate Professor James Olcese is developing goggles - he's calling them light emitting devices - that could intermittently flash a blue light at a sleeping pregnant mother at risk for preterm labor. That flash of light could cause a drop in the brain hormone melatonin, which is tied to contractions.
Ideally, the contractions would slow down or stop.
"They could simply have them on their night stand and put them on if they are feeling contractions," Olcese said.
In 2009, Olcese discovered that many women go into labor at night when melatonin is at its peak. Future research through a partnership with preterm labor patients at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital found that when women were exposed to bright light overnight, the cells associated with contractions saw a drop in melatonin levels, suppressing contractions and potentially delaying labor.
"We can use that information to develop ways of helping women either in inducing labor or, conversely, mechanisms that would prevent or slow the contractions a month or two earlier in the pregnancy," Olcese said.
Olcese patented his theory that reducing melatonin would produce better results for women at risk of preterm labor.
In the study at TMH, the patients were exposed to a computer-monitor-sized lamp shining full-spectrum light. But, that interrupted sleeping patterns and was generally uncomfortable for some participants.
