Yoga Can Reduce Menopause Symptoms

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The onset of the menopause is not a widely welcomed turn of events at the best of times, but sometimes the symptoms can become oppressive and even downright unbearable. Yoga has proved to be a revelation to some women who have taken the decision to give it a shot.

Marie Bushey, a Massachusetts yoga teacher in her sixties, says that one of the most noticeable things for her was the change in her mental state. “My mind got very busy,” she says. “Yoga helped me to calm down and to get more restful sleep.” She’s not alone in this respect; a recent review published in the journal Maturitas looked into the impact yoga had on menopausal women. And right across thirteen randomised studies the finding were clear and consistent — overall, yoga was helpful.

The research examined data on 1,306 women going through the menopause. Some didn’t experience treatment of any kind, while others tried yoga or some other discipline, or health education. Of the women who tried yoga, some tried Hatha yoga, other Iyengar, yoga therapy, Tibetan, mindfulness-based or Integral.

Yoga was more effective than the other treatments

The women who tried yoga, of whatever persuasion, saw a decrease in menopausal symptoms. Compared to the groups who had no treatment, and those who underwent health education, yoga was found to be more effective at reducing total menopausal symptoms, and also better than other types of exercise for symptoms like hot flushes and night sweats.

yoga for menopause

Improvements were seen in four key areas: psychological, somatic, vasomotor and urogenital. Joint pains, night sweats, anxiety and sleep disturbances were all eased to some extent, and there were no significant adverse effects.

Yoga resets the hormone control system

Dr. Sara Gottfried, an expert on the ageing process, said that one reason for yoga’s effectiveness in treating the symptoms of menopause is that it calms down the stress response system.

“It’s no surprise that yoga helps with the physical and emotional symptoms of menopause because it is a complete system that is proven to reset the control system for hormones, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis,” she said.