'Feeling hot, hot, hot': is there a role for exercise in the management of vasomotor and other menopausal symptoms?

©FFPRHC J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2007: 33(3) Background Until recently, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was a popular treatment for vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes and night sweats) but evidence1,2 reporting adverse effects of hormone therapy and negative media reports have raised important questions about its use. It seems that both clinicians’ and patients’ confidence in the use of HRT has been undermined, as demonstrated by the large reduction in HRT prescriptions in recent years.3 As large numbers of women are choosing to avoid HRT, it is increasingly important to identify evidence-based lifestyle interventions that have the potential to reduce prevalence and severity of vasomotor symptoms. One option might be exercise, particularly given that evidence involving other populations4 has reported regular participation to have positive effects upon some of the other kinds of symptoms and health concerns that many menopausal women experience and for which they might also seek treatment (i.e. cognition, depression, fatigue, bone health, weight maintenance and cardiovascular diseases). The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) advises that regular aerobic exercise may help with menopausal symptoms5 and studies report that women believe exercise to be useful for symptom mangement.6