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March 24, 2007: Here is a natural,
drugless way to make a woman’s passage to the
inevitable menopause easier and less distressing –
walking and doing yoga.
A study, published in the Annals of Behavioral
Medicine, examined 164 sedentary women suffering
from hot flashes, night sweats and other
menopausal symptoms.
Researchers found that, doing regular exercise, be
it walking or yoga, seemed to promote the women’s
emotional wellness.
However, there is no clear evidence that either
walking or yoga eased hot flashes or other
specific symptoms of menopause, but both
activities did boost the women emotionally and
also improved how they rated their quality of
life.
After four months, women in both groups (walking
and doing yoga) reported higher levels of general
happiness compared to a group that did not
exercise. The first group also reported gains in
“menopause-related quality of life,” which
measured their feelings about their physical
health, emotional well-being and sex life.
Dr Steriani Elavsky, an assistant professor of
kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University, the
United States, and the study’s lead author, said:
“I would definitely recommend exercise to enhance
psychological well-being.”
She said more research was needed to find out if
walking, yoga or other forms of exercise could
reduce specific symptoms of menopause like hot
flashes and sleep problems.
According to Dr Steriani Elavsky, some studies
have revealed that, because exercise raises body
temperature, it can promote hot flashes in the
short term.
Dr Elavsky and her team found that, while neither
walking nor yoga were clearly connected to
improved menopause symptoms, those women who were
able to boost their cardiovascular fitness during
the study period reported fewer symptoms.
This, Dr Elavsky said, is encouraging because
fitness is something women can change, by
consistently doing activities that raises the
heart rate.
BY OUR PHARMA CORRESPONDENT
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