The symptoms of menopause can be hard to get grips with. One minute you’re having a hot flush, the next your body is stone cold and overrun with aches and pains. It’s no wonder so many women start to feel depressed when the menopause hits.
But according to new research, a simple stretch before bedtime could be all it takes to ease off menopausal aches and pains, as well as bouts of depression. It can also help you sleep better too. Hurrah – no more ghastly night sweats.
Dr JoAnn Pinkerton, executive director of The North American Menopause Society, said: ‘If women were to exercise with light walking 30 minutes daily and then stretch for 10 minutes, they might improve their health, menopausal symptoms, mood and cognition and, if stretching helps sleep, improve their sleep.’
In a study of 40 Japanese women, aged 40 to 61, half were told to stretch for 10 minutes a day before going to bed.
The remaining 20 were told they should rest and relax before hitting the hay.
The researchers, from the Physical Fitness Research Institute, Meji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare in Tokyo, then evaluated the women’s menopausal symptoms by asking 10 questions about vasomotor symptoms, including hot flushes and chills.
They also assessed psychological symptoms, including mood and sleep disturbances, as well as body aches. Additionally, they were quizzed about depression.
At the start the groups were fairly similar. More than half of the women were postmenopausal,nearly two-thirds had depression, and the majority of the women were not physically active.
The women in the stretching group were told to stretch for five days a week. After three weeks, the stretching group of women had improved on both sets of questions compared to the group that didn’t stretch at all. Hot flushes remained the same, however.
Speaking to the Mail Online, Dr Pinkerton spoke said: ‘It is impossible to tell if the positive effect found from stretching on menopausal and depressive symptoms was due to the stretching, the increased movement, or not doing whatever they normally do during the 10 minutes before bed such as eat, smoke or drink.’
Dr Pinkerton said the results would have been more interesting if the comparison group had been given a task to do before bedtime, to compare if it was the act of stretching that was beneficial or just the fact of doing something before bed.
In most studies of methods for reducing hot flushes, the placebo group sees some improvement, too, she added.
For more conclusive results, Dr Pinkerton said: ‘This study needs to be replicated with larger, more diverse postmenopausal women with an active control group.’
