Women who exercise appear to have decreased hot flashes in the 24 hours following their workout, a new study shows.
Researchers at Penn State followed 92 menopausal women for 15 days and found that women who reported mild to moderate hot flashes showed a decrease in symptoms one day after exercising. The women, age 40 to 59, wore a device that measured the moisture level of their skin. They also recorded how m any times they felt the symptoms of a hot flash.
The conclusion that the experts came to – that exercise can decrease the number of hot flashes – is in contradiction to earlier studies.
“Some physiological explanations would suggest that performing physical activity could increase hot flashes because it acutely increases body core temperature," said Steriani Elavsky, assistant professor of kinesiology at Penn State.
But that didn’t happen in this study.: “For women with mild to moderate hot flashes,” Elavsky said, “there is no reason to avoid physical activity for the fear of making symptoms wors In fact, physical activity may be helpful, and is certainly the best way to maximize health as women age.”
