A new study shows that the amount and harshness of hot flashes among menopausal women seemed not to be affected by doing regular exercise.
Bette Cann of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California stated, “If the sole reason that you start exercising is to reduce of flashes, you may be disappointed.”
About 248 women were randomly chosen from three U.S. medical centers and were divided into two groups for the study. Women in one group exercised three times weekly for 12 weeks using a treadmill, elliptical and stationary bicycle. The other group will just have to live as usual.
In the beginning of the study, all the participants had gone through or are going through menopause and had frequent hot flashes.
They answered questionnaires about depression and sleep quality and were asked to keep a diary to track the number and intensity of their hot flashes.
At the onset of the study, women in both groups have an average of 7 to 8 hot flashes per day. And at the end of the study, they noted a decrease to five to six hot flashes per day. That marks no significant difference between the two groups.
Conversely, women who exercised more reported that they have had a good slumber and displayed greater reduction in depression symptoms, but still, the indifferences were small.
Dr. Margery Gass, executive director of the North American Menopause Society and a consultant with the Cleveland Clinic Center for Specialized Women’s Health, who wasn’t involved in the research said, “The most effective treatment for the symptoms of menopause is hormone therapy. But that comes with side effects, including increased risk of Heart Disease, Stroke and Breast Cancer.”
"But many women can obtain benefit from lifestyle and behavior changes," she added. Women can keep their environments fresh, dress to accommodate the heat, keep air flowing throughout rooms and avoid too much lighting.
"We certainly want to promote research, because the more options there are, the better," she added.
The researches admitted that they will need further researches to establish their initial finding.
This study was published in the journal Menopause.
