London - Regular exercise eases the misery of the menopause – and could be a natural alternative to HRT, say British scientists.
Women who worked up a sweat in the gym suffered half as many hot flushes as those with a more sedentary lifestyle, a study found. And the flushes they did have were less severe.
Researchers said that in future women in their late 40s and early 50s could be prescribed exercise as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy.
Other experts said gentle exercise such as gardening can also help.
The most common and distressing symptom of the menopause, hot flushes can disturb sleep, drain energy and cause embarrassment. A single flush can last from a few seconds to a whole hour.
HRT is the main treatment, but it is not suitable for all, and many are put off by fears it may be a cause of breast cancer. Those who do use it can suffer side-effects ranging from headaches to heartburn.
To find out if exercise might be a natural alternative, a team from Liverpool John Moores University asked 17 women with an average age of 52 to follow a gym-based exercise programme for four months or carry on with life as normal.
The exercise group built up to five 45-minute sessions a week, pushing themselves hard enough to get out of breath, but not so hard they were unable to talk.
At the start and end of the 16 weeks, the women reported how often they had hot flushes and how severe they were.
Little changed for those who carried on as usual, with the women suffering an average of 49 flushes a week at the end of the study, compared to 45.
But in the exercise group the average number of hot flushes a week plummeted from 64 to 23. And the few flushes they did have were a third as severe, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology’s annual conference in Lisbon heard.
Researcher Dr Helen Jones said it is thought exercise boosts the body’s ability to regulate its temperature. She added: “If it’s doing that, when a flush is triggered the sweating and skin blood flow responses are lowered because the control system is more efficient.”
And the gym-phobic do not have to worry about missing out.
Professor Charles Kingsland, of Liverpool Women’s Hospital, said: “Working in the garden... mowing the lawn, all of these things are exercise. You don’t need to be Mo Farah... Just do something.”
Daily Mail