Hydrogen Therapy Helps Healthcare Workers Combat Burnout and Stress

Authors
Journal
Voprosy Kurortologii, Fizioterapii, i Lechebnoĭ Fizicheskoĭ Kultury
Year
DOI
10.17116/kurort202510205217
Study Type
Human
Outcome
Positive
Peer Reviewed
Yes
Country
Russia
Health Condition
Occupational Burnout Syndrome
Body System
Nervous System

TL;DR

Hydrogen therapy improved stress-related biological and psychological markers in medical workers with burnout, supporting recovery and stress resilience.

Key Finding

Combined physiotherapy including hydrogen therapy, cryotherapy, magnetic therapy, and hypoxic-hyperoxytherapy produced greater improvements in burnout symptoms and stress markers than any single therapy alone in medical workers with occupational burnout syndrome.

Summary

This study tested whether various physical therapies—including hydrogen therapy, cold exposure, magnetic therapy, and controlled oxygen breathing—could help medical workers suffering from occupational burnout (a condition of emotional exhaustion from work stress). Researchers divided 150 burned-out medical workers into groups that received different combinations of these therapies alongside exercise and counseling. The combined use of all therapies together produced the strongest improvements in stress markers and burnout symptoms, with single therapies showing 12-38% improvement compared to exercise and counseling alone.

Practical Takeaway

This study suggests that hydrogen therapy as part of a multi-modal treatment approach may support recovery from occupational burnout in medical professionals. However, the study did not isolate hydrogen therapy's individual effects, so it's unclear how much benefit comes from hydrogen specifically versus the other therapies or their combination. The findings are limited to medical workers and would need to be confirmed in other populations before broader conclusions can be drawn.

Abstract

Professional burnout syndrome is becoming an increasingly important social and medical problem, as it can occur in almost every third doctor or nurse. This syndrome is based on chronic stress, which provokes the development of a close relationship between the indicators of various psychological tests and questionnaires, hormonal and biochemical markers of metabolic disorders of carbohydrates and lipids, as well as parameters characterizing oxidative stress. One of the promising directions in the treatment and prevention of occupational burnout syndrome is physiotherapy technologies with the combined use of factors with a fundamentally different mechanism of action, which, due to synergistic effects, can significantly increase the effectiveness of therapeutic effects. Objective: To evaluate the possibility of using non-drug technologies (physical exercises, psychocorrection, general air cryotherapy, general magnetic therapy, hypoxic-hyperoxytherapy, hydrogen therapy and their combined use) to activate stress-limiting mechanisms and manifestations of professional burnout in medical professionals. Materials and methods: The research was conducted on the basis of the Scientific and Clinical Center 1 of the Russian National Research Center named after B.V. Petrovsky Academy with the participation of 175 patients from among the medical staff aged 30 to 60 years (25 of them without signs of professional burnout syndrome) and a group of somatic healthy non-medical workers. By the method of simple fixed randomization, patients with this syndrome were divided into 6 groups: control (n=25), comparison groups 1-4 (n=25 each) and main (n=25). Patients of all groups received a course of physical exercises and psychological correction. For the control group, this type of correction was exhaustive. In comparison group 1, an additional course of general air cryotherapy was performed; comparison group 2 additionally received a course of general magnetic therapy procedures; comparison group 3 additionally received a course of hypoxic-hyperoxytherapy; comparison group 4 additionally received a course of hydrogen therapy; in the main group, patients received a course of complex effects of therapeutic physical factors. The study design provided for a double examination of patients in all groups using the MBI questionnaire, the Spielberger-Hanin test and the Beck scale, as well as biochemical and hormonal stress markers. Results: Individual signs of professional burnout syndrome may appear in medical professionals who have not yet verified this syndrome. At the same time, in its presence, the formation of pathological correlational pleiades is noted, integrating the relationship of the emotional and psychological parameters of this syndrome with indicators of oxidative stress and hormonal regulation of metabolic and energy homeostasis. The use of physiotherapeutic factors of various nature in patients with occupational burnout syndrome has made it possible to establish their effectiveness. Less pronounced changes were noted in the control group with the use of physical exercises and psychocorrection. Additional course application of therapeutic physiotherapeutic procedures in the monopharmaceutical mode (general air cryotherapy, general magnetic therapy, hypoxic-hyperoxytherapy and hydrogen therapy;) This was accompanied by an increase in the positive dynamics of the estimated indicators by 12-38%. The complex use of all physiotherapeutic effects, implemented in the main group, caused the development of the most pronounced corrective effect. Conclusion: The use of non-medicinal technologies makes it possible to achieve high efficiency in terms of activation of stress-limiting body systems and sanogenetic processes in medical workers with occupational burnout syndrome. The maximum corrective effect, manifested in the complex application of physiotherapeutic factors, is due to the realization of the additive supra-additive effect of the interaction of their therapeutic potentials.