|
 The study team examined data on 1,306 women in 13 different clinical
trials that randomly assigned some participants to practice yoga and
others to get no treatment or to try a different type of
intervention such as health education or other forms of exercise.
All of the women suffered from menopause symptoms at the beginning
of the trials.
Yoga was better than no treatment at reducing total menopause
symptoms, anxiety related to symptoms, hot flashes and night sweats,
and vaginal dryness and pain during sex, the study found.
“There were already clear hints from earlier studies that yoga might
be good for relieving menopause-related psychological symptoms such
as mood swings, depression or sleep problems,” said lead study
author Holger Cramer, research director of the department of
internal and integrative medicine at Kliniken Essen-Mitte and the
University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.
“Based on the new data, yoga can also effectively relieve physical
symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, fatigue or bladder
problems,” Cramer said by email. “This indicates a potentially
beneficial effect of yoga for all women with menopausal symptoms.”
Women go through menopause when they stop menstruating, which
typically happens between ages 45 and 55. As the ovaries curb
production of the hormones estrogen and progesterone in the years
leading up to menopause and afterward, women can experience symptoms
ranging from vaginal dryness to mood swings, joint pain and
insomnia.
In the current study, yoga was better than other types of exercise
for so-called vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats.
Yoga was also better for overall menopause symptoms than health
education.
The analysis included four clinical trials from the U.S., three from
India, two each from Brazil and China, and one each from Germany and
South Korea.
Half of these studies included at least 54 participants, although
they ranged in size from 30 to 355 women.
The small trials ranged in length from 4 to 16 weeks and had women
practice yoga or do other interventions anywhere from 1 to 14 times
weekly.
Women who did yoga in the trials tried a variety of different forms,
including hatha yoga that focuses on breathing and meditation and
Iyengar yoga, which concentrates on body alignment.
[to top of second column] |
One limitation of the study is that the variety of approaches to
yoga used in different trials made it difficult to determine what
type of practice might help most with menopause symptoms, the
authors note in Maturitas.
Even so, the results offer fresh evidence of the potential for yoga
to help with menopause symptoms, said Dr. James Stahl of the
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Geisel School of Medicine
Lebanon, New Hampshire.
“All of the mind-body tools, yoga, acupuncture, qi gong, and
meditation probably work through multiple mechanisms - through
remodeling how the mind-body perceives sensations and signals, how
the mind-body responds to those stimuli and finally through helping
set or reset the mind-body’s steady state,” Stahl, who wasn’t
involved in the study, said by email.
Because yoga is a relatively low-risk physical activity that can be
easily adapted to different fitness levels, patients should consider
it for symptom relief, said Dr. Rachael Polis, a researcher at
Crozer-Keystone Health System headquartered in Springfield,
Pennsylvania.
“Yoga is relatively low-impact, inexpensive, can be practiced
anywhere, and during any time of day,” Polis, who wasn’t involved in
the study, said by email.
“For this reason, it’s a great early intervention for patients to
attempt,” Polis added. “I do recommend someone new to yoga take
classes with a well-trained instructor who can teach correct body
alignment and suggest posture modifications when needed.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2llD5jx Maturitas, online December 6, 2017.
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
