Exercise helps with menopausal symptoms

As her body adapts to the changes of Menopause, 52-year-old Nancy Bouche has good days and bad. But one thing is for sure - since starting Pilates three years ago, she has more energy, less stress and a striking drop in hot flashes. "I used to have them every day," she says, "and now I can go for weeks without having any."

Bouche, an executive assistant at Nickelodeon Animation in Burbank, Calif., is a testament to the power of exercise over menopausal symptoms. That link has been noted by fitness instructors and trainers who have seen the effect on the hot flashes, insomnia, joint aches and weight gain often accompanying this phase of a woman's life.

But it's only now starting to get a closer look from researchers and from many women looking for natural ways to ease the symptoms of Menopause. Fueling the scrutiny are recent questions about the safety of hormone replacement therapy and a National Institutes of Health panel calling for Menopause to be "demedicalized."

One analysis of 12 menopausal women in an eight-week strength training program found that 40 percent of the women felt less anxious and half had less aching, stiffness and irritability. Another, even smaller, study found that yoga helped reduce participants' overall symptoms by 16 percent.

Other researchers have found, however, that exercise programs produce very little or no improvement of symptoms. One study even discovered that a moderate-intensity exercise program exacerbated hot flashes among a few women.

Yet the prevailing wisdom is that exercise can be a benefit to some women who experience menopausal symptoms - if not by actually reducing the frequency of hot flashes and other discomforts, then by generally improving their health.

The symptoms of menopause can be divided into early and late onset symptoms. Early symptoms include abnormal vaginal bleeding, hot flashes, and mood changes. Late symptoms include vaginal dryness and irritation, osteoporosis, and heart disease. These symptoms are discussed in detail below:

Read more: menopausal symptoms

"We know that exercise improves quality of life, and if you translate that into any population you see improvements," says Alysia Mastrangelo, associate professor of physical therapy at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and lead author of the strength training and yoga studies. "People who are physically active do better."

A combination of strength training, cardio workouts and stretching can not only ease many women's symptoms, experts say; it can decrease the risk of and , two common ailments among postmenopausal women.