Hot flashes, drenching night sweats, vaginal dryness and decreased libido are some of the irksome symptoms associated with menopause in women. During the course of a recent research, scientists have unearthed that plant-based therapeutic measures could prove to be invaluable in controlling the symptoms of menopause, especially hot flashes and vaginal dryness.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is the principal mode of treatment currently being used to treat the menopausal symptoms. However, given the side effects associated with HRT, especially cardiovascular disorders and breast cancer risk, scientists have always looked for alternative therapeutic measures.
Plant Therapy: The Safe Treatment Modality for Menopausal Symptoms
Plant based therapies comprise of different measures, the most commonplace of which is the use of phytoestrogens-the chemicals that mimic the action of estrogen (the female hormone) in the body. Phytoestrogens are naturally found in soy and soy products as flavones. Phytoestrogens are also a part of linseeds (flaxseeds), sesame seeds, wheat berries, fenugreek, oats and barley etc. By exerting the same actions as estrogen, phytoestrogens help induce a pseudo pre-menopausal state, hence controlling the symptoms associated with it.
Other herbs like red clover and black cohosh and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are also effective plant-based remedies. This research has shown that a staggering 40-50% of the female population in the Western countries resort to alternative therapies, mainly plant-based therapies, for the management of the vasomotor menopausal symptoms.
This meta-analysis was carried out by Taulant Muka, M.D., Ph.D., of Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands and fellow researchers by thorough evaluation of the existing studies about the effectiveness of plant-based therapies. About 62 randomized clinical trials (based on data of 6,653 women) were included in this meta-analysis. The data was collected from electronic databases including Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central. The results of the study were later published in the June issue of JAMA.
It was demonstrated that regular use of phytoestrogens can help diminish the severity of menopausal symptoms, especially hot flashes and vaginal dryness. The frequency of the episodes of hot flashes was also found to be reduced. No significant effect of phytoestrogens was, however, observed on the complaint of night sweats. Chinese medicine was found to be less effective as compared to herbal medicine and phytoestrogens.
The Future Prospects
Even though hormone replacement therapy is still the mainstay of treatment of menopausal symptom, this meta-analysis is expected to pave way for recognition of plant-based therapies as effective treatment methods for menopausal symptoms in women.
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This study calls for a need to carry out further research to establish the exact relationship between the use of plant-based therapies and the alleviation of menopausal symptoms since the existing data is quite heterogeneous in this regard.
Plant-based therapies have the added benefit of being devoid of the side effects that come in the wake of hormone replacement therapy. This study has encouraged the use of more natural therapeutic measures for treating menopausal symptoms. In the near future, phytoestrogens may emerge as the first line of treatment for menopausal symptoms.
Stretching Can Reduce the Severity of Menopausal Symptoms in Middle-Aged Women
Menopause is associated with bothersome symptoms of mood swings, sleep disturbances, decreased libido, hot flashes and depression, which can often take form of mid-life crisis. Research shows that almost 25% of the women going through menopausal period are likely to suffer from depression.
Owing to the myriads of side effects associated with Hormone therapy (HT), scientists have turned to alternative therapies for the control of menopausal symptoms. Latest research, carried out on the Japanese population, depicts that 10 minutes of stretching exercises before bedtime can help lessen the severity of menopausal and depressive symptoms in middle-aged women.
Study Design
This randomized controlled trial (RCT) was carried out in forty Japanese women aged less than 40 years who had reached menopause and were not taking hormone replacement therapy or any other sort of medications for the control of their menopausal symptoms. 55% of the recruited study subjects were postmenopausal and about 62.5% were found to have depressive symptoms.
The study participants were randomly divided into two groups, one was to undergo stretching while the other was the control group. An interventional program consisting of stretching exercises was carried out for 3 weeks. The exercise regime consisted of standing poses, move to sitting poses, prone and supine poses. At the end of this period, the participants were re-assessed for the menopausal ad depressive symptoms using Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS).
Results
By the end of the 3 week interval, the vasomotor, psychological and the Somatic symptoms had significantly improved in the stretching group, as compared to the control group. The greatest beneficial effect (-0.84) of stretching was found to be on the Somatic symptoms, especially muscles and joint pain and shoulder stiffness, with significant improvement in the muscle flexibility and the range of motion with regular low-intensity exercises.
About 41.7% of the participants with depression recovered from depression. Only 2% of the participants in the control group were able to recover from depression. There was only a slight variation in the frequency of hot flashes between the stretching (25%) and the control group (45%).
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This study is the first of its kind to examine the effects of light-intensity exercises on the severity of menopausal and depressive symptoms in middle-aged women. Previously, it was thought that rigorous workouts are needed to overcome the irksome menopausal symptoms. This study has aptly negated the common public notion of indulging in moderate to vigorous-intensity exercises in order to control the menopausal and depressive symptoms, highlighting the importance of low intensity workouts.
This study emphasizes not only the intensity of workout but also its timing. According to the researchers, the best time to stretch the muscles is before going to bed as it helps improve the blood flow to the muscles. In this way, stretching helps overcome the sleep disturbance-one of the common symptoms of menopause.
This study has established stretching exercises as a safe and effective alternative to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in middle-aged women in order to improve the frequency and intensity of menopausal and depressive symptoms.