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.