Can Exercise Ease Hot Flashes?

Surprisingly, no one has ever asked what the impact of exercising is on hot flashes in menopausal women. Well, now someone finally has. . . .

When 21 post-menopausal women underwent 16 weeks of moderate intensity exercise training, blood vessel dilation, cerebral blood flow, sweating and skin temperature during hot flashes improved, meaning that exercise reduced the severity of the symptoms of a hot flash. The exercise started at 30 minutes of low-to-moderate exercise 3 times a week and increased to 45 minutes of more intense exercise 4-5 times a week.

A second part of the study used “passive heat stress” to induce hot flashes in post-menopausal women. Some of them underwent 16 weeks of moderate intensity exercise training, and some of them who didn’t served as a control group. Training led to significant improvement in hot flashes and hot flash severity and led to greater improvements in hot flash sweating and blood vessel dilation.

So, this study answers the question of whether exercise helps hot flashes. And the answer is yes!

J Physiol 2016;594(3):657-67

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