Yoga Is Part of Hot Flash Solution According to New Research
We advocate using yoga as part of the solution to menopausal symptoms and here's why:
1. Hot flashes are not beneficial for your health, and whether you are 30 and having your first low hormonal cycle and a couple of odd episodes, or 51 (the average age of menopause) and in full blown vasomotor flurry with hot flashes, cold sweats, sleep disruption, or 81 and one of the 2% of women who still have symptoms, one thing we know is hot flashes in women have been linked with stroke, cardiovascular disease, dementia and even earlier death! Hot flashes disturb sleep and can even cause sleep apnea. Hot flashes, can disrupt both mood and memory. White spots that appear in tissue of brains of aging women are more common with diseases like diabetes and hypertension, but occur in menopause more frequently in women with hot flashes.. It's these spots that can lead to more thought disruption in older women.
2. Women with menopausal hot flashes can be so miserable, and have so much harmful to health, yet these are treatable, through many options that are both functional and medical. And if you are interested in being part of the solution, call the Clinical Research Division of Women's Health Practice: 217-356-3736.
3. Research confirms that yoga is beneficial for menopausal hot flashes.
4. A new study that has just been released , from Holger Cramer, research director of the department of internal and integrative medicine at Kliniken Essen-Mitte and the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, and reported through Reuters Health: those who practice yoga regularly may experience more relief from all the menopause associated hot flashes.
5. Exercise also helps hot flashes, and should be an integral part of all menopausal therapy. If you would like to do yoga with us contact Hatha Yoga and Fitness.
6. Yoga practice was more effective than other forms of exercise specifically for hot flashes. The data is interesting as they compared yoga practice in some studies to women who did no exercise, yoga practice to other forms of exercise and yoga to just education.
7. Women in menopause women who practice yoga experienced more relief from symptoms like night sweats and hot flashes int these 13 trials of over 1300 women.
8. Interestingly even anxiety and vaginal dryness, and pain during sex all improved the most in the yoga group. Exercise has been found to be better than no treatment at all. Normalizing hormones of stress may be part of the overall effectiveness from yoga and exercise.
9. At Women's Health Practice we advocate yoga, exercise, stretching, and swimming for a variety of reasons that we want to discuss and individualize for our patients. Factors other than what we mention above such as slowing of metabolism with advancing age, the inability to exercise well due to arthritis, and loss of vertebral flexibility due to degenerative disc disease, and finally the dramatically changing hormones all contribute to poor body composition with increase in fat and loss of muscle. In a study once sponsored by NIH it has been confirmed that the hormonal shifts in menopause predispose women to gain of belly fat as well as at least a ten pound weight gain.
10. And don't forget some tips from Hada Cosmetic Medicine regarding skin care during yoga and exercise: skin hydration, sun screen, and proper cleansing. So your posture and your skin will be the best you can be!