woman-sweating-blog

Menopause: To Sweat or Not to Sweat

When you’re suffering from hot flashes, the last thing you want to do is work up a sweat. But research shows that it could be just the ticket to sailing through menopause with fewer symptoms.

In a recent Pennsylvania State University study, 92 menopausal women with mild to moderate hot flashes tracked their exercise for 15 days. The researchers discovered that most of the women who exercised experienced fewer flashes for a full day afterward. The effect didn’t hold for everyone—overweight women and women who were out of shape reported having slightly more hot flashes when they increased their exercise— but overall, more movement equaled fewer flashes.

We’re not talking intense pavement-pounding here. The women in the study exercised at a moderate pace—ideal for taming those “power surges,” says the National Academy of Sports Medicine. High intensity workouts can have the opposite effect, putting you at a higher risk of hot flashes.

All of this is of particular interest to me, as I recently got some unwelcome news: My doc informed me that at the relatively young age of 45, I have officially entered menopause. While I’d been half-expecting such a diagnosis, it was still a bit of a shock. I vividly remember my mom going through The Change. She was young, too—early 40s, if I remember correctly—and she was hit with a slew of disturbing symptoms, the worst of which were the hot flashes.

But while genetics may have led me prematurely to this new life stage (six years ahead of the average woman—call me precocious), my exercise habit may allow me to escape my mom’s flush-inducing fate. Mom rarely laced up her sneakers—perhaps not surprisingly, since she was busy going to school, working and single-handedly raising four kids. (Yep, she’s pretty amazing.)

Happily for me as a newly menopausal woman, the benefits of exercise don’t end there. More movement can also help with weight loss during a time when many women find that everything they eat, well, sticks. Another study recently published found that overweight women who trimmed down had fewer hot flashes—particularly if they lost 10 percent or more of their body weight.

Regular sweat sessions can also help you conquer the sleep problems, lack of energy and mood swings that often accompany menopause, says Mehmet Oz, MD.

So sure, I intend to do a lot of sweating over the next few years. But with luck, it won’t have anything to do with menopause.

Are you dealing with menopause? How are you handling the symptoms? Share your stories and remedies in the comment section below.

Join the largest health conversation in 140 characters or less! Tweet what you want to talk about to @SharecareNow and let’s start chatting!

File under: In the News

Contributor

Su Reid-St. John

Su Reid-St. John is Sharecare's Senior Fitness Editor. Before joining the team, she spent over a decade on Health magazine's editorial team, overseeing all things exercise-related during the majority of her time there. She lives in Birmingham, AL with her husband (Eric), daughter (Zoe), and cat (Lucy), and can be found inline skating, Nordic walking, cycling, doing yoga, and strength training (TRX is her new obsession) whenever time allows.

View my Sharecare profile

« Previous Entry
Next Entry »

Comments

  1. Susan McDonald

    Hi! Well, I’m always hot! Always! When I’m at work you will never see me without a piece of paper of some kind fanning myself! Everybody else is cold, but not me! That’s just the only thing that works for me! I’ve tried the black kohosh, and I take hormone pills, I think I probably need my levels checked or something!

    September 11th, 2012, 3:00 pm
  2. Connie

    I try to go barefoot whenever possible. I sleep with my feet out of the covers and only with a light sheet on. My arms are also out of the covers too. I find this helps me to regulate my body temperature and not get too hot. I also try to drink more ice water than hot beverages that bring on the hot flashes.

    September 12th, 2012, 7:36 pm
  3. Terri O

    I am taking the black cohash also with no hormone therapy. I try to drink ice cold water and have found that wine truly brings on the hot flashes. Any other suggetstions for natural therapy?

    September 18th, 2012, 5:54 pm
  4. Jackie

    I take DHEA and excercise and eat right. I have been in menapause since I turned 44 and I am now almost 48. My symptoms are very mild and I know that excercise 3-5 times a week helps a lot. The DHEA makes me almost hot flash free. If I have a hot flash it lasts maybe 10 to 20 seconds.

    September 18th, 2012, 6:21 pm
  5. Jo Mello

    I have SUFFERED from hot flashes for 20 yrs! No relief as of yet, but always open to suggestion. I exercise, eat right,have sight belly fat,relieved stress with mind management,and have tried many things. I started menopause at 45 after having 2 children at 39 and 41 and figure at 65 I am just too old to have to put up with this!I am doing the recommended 12 miles a week to take off the weight and that isn’t working either. Just 10 lbs and we would have our waist back.

    September 18th, 2012, 7:43 pm
  6. Susan

    I exercise 4-6 days a week and was still flashing every 30-45 minutes… sleep was a very distant memory… tired a variety of natural remedies including wild yam creams and black kohosh, icool, etc.. excluding presciptions or estrogen. I was happy to report after only 6 months of very little sleep and constant flushing… it stopped, but I got my cycle back, very light for a week and then again started spotting a couple weeks later… it had been a year since the last one… So, good, bad or normal???… I am 140 lbs and 5’2…. a few pounds overweight, however, most of my weight is muscle as I work out with weights as well as cardo most days…. extremely healthy diet thanks to my heroes Dr. Oz and Dr. Joel Furhman.. 53 yo’s and take no drugs…. zillch… chloresterol was a bit high, but food and exercise brought it down by over 25%. I have been to the my ob-gyn and am awaiting results of blood work and sonogram and biopsy… Should I be paranoid at this point for all of you that have been there???

    September 18th, 2012, 9:04 pm
  7. Bonnie

    I would wake up at least 2 times a night with hot flashes. I would get up and eat something..big no no! I gained 28 lbs in 9 months. Now when I get up, I take a drink of cold water (always make sure bottle of water in frig) instead of finding a snack.

    September 19th, 2012, 7:21 am
  8. Rose

    I started hot flashing at 34 and 10 yrs later still going although not as badly if I take all the vitamins and supplements in Dr Oz’s “staying young” book. Also have been using 20% progesterone cream (natural plant based) and a herbal supplement called Harmony “Confidence through Menopause” which helped with mood swings! That was brutal, until I started on the Harmony! Now I find coffee brings on the flashes. But otherwise if I get enough sleep (thank you Melatonin!) and eat healthy and hydrate, life is mostly back to normal! If I remember to take powdered greens and the dr Oz vitamins as well, I feel the best. Good luck ladies.

    September 19th, 2012, 11:57 am
  9. Flashing Friend

    I will share with you “My Little Helper”. It’s a FROZEN water bottle. I take it with me everywhere I go. It’s in a insulated water bottle bag I clip on to my purse. Every time I get hot I just take it out and demurely hold on to it (with both hands sometimes!). No one notices because, hey, it’s just a bottle of water and everyone has one these days… When I get home I just throw it back in the freezer. I can’t imagine being without it anymore…

    September 19th, 2012, 12:15 pm
  10. Erika

    Jackie – What’s DHEA?
    I am suffering, I mean suffering from horrible hot flashes. I finally broke down and started taking hormone pills, which helped. But then I started getting nauseated, just like morning sickness, increasing almost daily. My doctor asked me to try a patch. It helps, but still having hot flashes, just not as severe. I exercise 4x a week, including weights and cardio. What else (natural) is out there that could bring relief? I am worried about the hormone therapy, cancer.

    September 19th, 2012, 6:12 pm
  11. Linda

    I have suffered for several years (even before the official menopause). I exercise, eat well, and take black cohosh. Although I do get a few hot flashes at night, I found a remedy accidentally. When after I hurt my low back, I started to bring a frozen gel pack to bed to use on my back. So when the hot flashes came on (not as often since I was cooler), I would grab it and hold it against my body and the flash subsided much quicker. My bigger concern now is lack of sleep. I go to sleep fine, but at least a couple of times a week, wake up after about 4 hours and can’t get back to sleep. I’ve tried so many things, but still am up 2-3 hours on those nights.

    September 19th, 2012, 7:56 pm
  12. Carol

    I’m 48 and have been going through hot flashes for about a year now. Miserable and embarrassing. Not being able to go to sleep because first I’m sweating, then I’m cold from taking the blankets off. Now I take Melatonin in liquid form before bed and I sleep through the night. Have been taking Remifemin and the flashes have kind of lessened. And boy have I gained the weight in the middle!!

    September 20th, 2012, 9:26 am
  13. debby rechard

    Age is the leading cause of menopause. It’s the end of a woman’s potential childbearing years, brought on by the ovaries gradually slowing down their function. Certain surgeries and medical treatment can induce menopause. Those include surgical removal of the ovaries (bilateral oopharectomy), chemotherapy, and pelvic radiation therapy. Having a hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus) without removing the ovaries does not lead to menopause, although you will not have periods anymore.

    September 20th, 2012, 12:17 pm
  14. karen

    I take soy supplements and eat some soy products. it hasn’t taken all hot flashes away but most. Also as a bonus i sleep well and i do not think i have mood swings. although my husband probably would say i do. lol. I do exercise and try to eat healthy most of the time, we save weekends for a little indulgence.

    October 19th, 2012, 7:23 pm
  15. joan

    I am 76 and still have hot flashes . started menopause at 52. Wine does bring on a hot flash so try to avoid ,
    sleeping is also a problem but I try different things sometimes a teaspoon of chia seeds ,in water or milk…
    sometimes dried cherries or cherry juice although they tell us juice turns to sugar in your system and sometimes I think sugar in any form brings on a hot flash .cherries are supposed to have a natural production of melatonin . I do not take the hormones …lots of outdoor work in the garden and walking .

    October 19th, 2012, 11:01 pm
  16. sue

    I have worked in women’s healthcare for 38 years. At age 46 I started becoming symptomatic. At 47 I started HRT with the view that I would taper myself off before the age of 60 if all went well. At 55 I started slowly reducing the HRT with my gynecologist’s
    approval. Last year at 59 I finally stopped. The hot flashes are the only symptom that returned in a mild form. I do run 2-4 miles 4times a week. I have found that regular exercise, a low (but not obsessive) carb diet, limiting myself to no more than 3 glasses of wine per day and 7 hours of sleep is working for me. I have not weighed myself on a scale since I stopped HRT. I try to live healthy and go by how I feel not a number on the scale. I feel great, look good and am in better condition that I was in my 40′s. Life after menopause can be good! Find out what works for you, we are all different…

    October 31st, 2012, 4:54 pm

Leave a Reply