Osteoporosis Mat

February 10, 2003 — A healthy diet, exercise and medication are typically what doctors prescribe for the more than ten million women and men who suffer from osteoporosis in this country. Now, what you sleep on may also help prevent bone loss.

Inside this thin mat are two hundred layers of aluminum and polyester, materials that may hold the key to treating and preventing osteoporosis.

"When a person lies on the mat, the layers of material rub together and create this very low level electrical field," said Karen Prestwood, M.D., Geriatrician, Center on Aging, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT.

Researchers from the University of Connecticut believe that electrical field builds bone density and stimulates calcium growth when patients sleep.

"The mat can act as a capacitor so that when a person lies on it, this energy is emitted and it is thought it may affect bones," said Karen Prestwood, M.D.

Half of the seventy women in the study sleep on the electromagnetic mat and half on a placebo mat. Agnes Perrault is a volunteer. She doesn't have osteoporosis yet, and hopes to keep it that way.

"I really am into preventative medicine, or whatever. I would rather do something now than have some sort of condition," said Agnes Perrault.

Bone activity is monitored through changes in blood and urine, which are taken every six weeks.

"The implications are huge because this would be a simple, noninvasive, inexpensive way to treat osteoporosis," said Karen Prestwood, M.D.

The study is also looking at whether or not sleeping on the mat can boost the immune system.