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Exercise Eases Some Menopause Symptoms
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 At the beginning of the study, all of the women were not menopausal. By the end of the study, more than half had experienced hot flashes.
Paradoxically, the researchers found that a mid-level of exercise appeared to make symptoms worse for some women in the late transitional stage, when menstruation may cease for three to 11 months and hormones hit new highs and new lows. After analyzing the data, the investigators concluded that the intensity of the symptoms was more the result of wide-ranging fluctuations in hormones rather than the physical activity promoting any symptoms.
Black women appeared to have more hot flashes than whites, but that could be because as a group, they were heavier and had lower hormone profiles, Nelson said. Physical activity also seemed to provide greater stress reduction for the group of black women. Because they were slightly heavier and smoked more, this level of physical activity was especially helpful to them, Nelson said.
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It's not surprising that exercise doesn't help hot flashes, said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, medical director of the Women's Health Program at New York University Medical Center, New York City. "The reason why there are hot flashes is because the brain's center for temperature is altered by the lower levels of hormones," she explained. Since exercise raises the body's temperature, it's logical that it wouldn't make women experiencing hot flashes feel any cooler, she added.
Other research has found that exercise has "no influence over the number of hot flashes, but it's shown that women cared less about having them," which goes along with the psychological benefits of exercise, Goldberg said.
Dr. Hugh Taylor, a Yale University professor of reproductive endocrinology, noted that women in different cultures have very different attitudes toward hot flashes even though they have just as many as American women. Asian women, for example, "just seem to deal with them better. Maybe this is one answer why: exercise, more physical activity."
The psychological benefits of exercise for postmenopausal women are an important finding, Taylor added. "A lack of estrogen does lead to an increase in stress, anxiety, and depression," he explained.
More information
There's more on menopause at the National Women's Health Information Center.
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Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 1/3/2008
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SOURCES: Deborah B. Nelson, Ph.D., assistant professor, public health and obstetrics and gynecology, Temple University College of Health Professions, Philadelphia; Nieca Goldberg, M.D., medical director, Women's Health Program, New York University Medical Center, New York City; Hugh Taylor, M.D., professor and chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; January 2008 Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
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