Exercise Eases the Symptoms of Menopause

Exercises Eases the Symptoms of Menopause

I am LIVING proof!!  Seriously, I have SO many friends in their early to mid 50’s who are just plain miserable with their hot flashes and sleepless nights!!  It’s a huge struggle for them and I’m over here sleeping through the night without hot flashes!!  I’m not bragging by any means but I had a theory; Could my clean diet and exercise be helping me get through menopause without all the horrible symptoms? I was curious so I did some research and came across this article. It’s a worthwhile read!!

Menopausal or perimenopausal hot flashes! You know the ones... burning up hot from the inside out and there's not a big enough fan in the world to make it go away. So why would you exercise and produce even more heat inside your body? Because multiple studies show that exercising helps ease many of the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause, including hot flashes. 

"Exercise during menopause, especially if it makes you hot, sweaty and fitter, can reduce the number and intensity of hot flashes" says a study published in The Journal of Physiology.

The MOST common symptom of menopause is hot flashes. They are described as feelings of intense heat in the core of the body, not just on the skin. Outward symptoms include skin reddening, and sweating due to an increase in circulation.

These moments of discomfort can last 2-3 minutes but feel like forever! There is about an 75 to 85% increase in blood flow during these times. Sweating is greatly increased as well. 

There are just as many supposed causes of hot flashes as their are studies being conducted. Results of these studies tend to conflict, which leads us to assume that different women have different triggers, food responses, sleep responses and even fatigue that can bring on a hot flash. But one thing we do know, the majority of women studied have found that light to moderate exercise decreases the frequency of symptoms.  They also report that overweight women have more hot flashes, so exercising to decrease weight will also decrease symptoms.

Medical News Today writer Yvette Brazier reports that Dr. Helen Jones from the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University, recruited 21 healthy symptomatic post-menopausal women.

One group of 14 women undertook a gym-based exercise program for 16 weeks, while the others made no changes to their daily routine.

Participants completed a self-assessment questionnaire about the frequency and intensity of their hot flashes.

Researchers also assessed the women's hot flashes by placing the women in a hot water suit to induce a hot flash and recording their physiological reactions. These included sweating and skin and brain blood flow, which match the descriptions of sweating, flushing and faintness on the self-report questionnaire about hot flashes.

The exercise group worked out in the gym on a treadmill, bike, rower and cross trainer. They increased their breathing and blood flow and they sweated, but they were still able to talk.

They progressed from three 30-minute sessions a week to five 45-minute sessions a week.

Significant reduction in symptoms

After 4 months, the team measured the number and severity of hot flashes again using the same measurements.

In the exercise group, when hot flashes occurred, the amount of sweating was significantly reduced. Blood flow to the skin decreased by 9% at the chest and 7% on the forearms. Blood flow in the brain was minimized. The hot flashes increased heart rate, skin blood flow and sweating, but reduced mean arterial pressure and blood flow in the brain.

In contrast, the women who remained sedentary reported very little difference in hot flash severity.

One limitation of the study was that participants only rated weekly self-reported severity and did not also rate severity during the acute hot flashes assessed in the laboratory. Nevertheless, a reduction in weekly severity was reported, which supports the data collected in the laboratory and the theory that exercise training reduces the severity of post-menopausal hot flashes.

Dr. Jones comments: "Previous studies have only investigated if post-menopausal women could improve the number and severity of  hot flashes using a questionnaire that describe symptoms. We have provided direct evidence that the physiological reactions during a hot flash can be improved with regular exercise that makes you fitter. 

The finding, say the team, can now be used to promote exercise as a treatment in the management of menopausal hot flashes. 

*********If YOU need motivation and inspiration to get started…reach out to me!!  I would love to help!!!********