What’s This Research About?
Three quarters of women experience menopausal symptoms including sleep issues, hot flashes, depression, and anxiety. The use of hormone replacement therapy which is often used to decrease symptoms has declined due to the uncertainty of its safety. This has left women with less options to choose from for symptom relief. Yoga has become one of the options chosen by many to help alleviate menopausal symptoms.
Some reviews have shown yoga practices help with symptoms, while other reviews have shown no effectiveness in providing relief from menopausal symptoms. The authors note that most of these other meta-analyses included studies that that were not Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs). In light of this, the authors of this paper wanted a more strict inclusion criteria by only allowing RCTs in their meta-analysis.
TITLE: Effectiveness of Yoga for Menopausal Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
PUBLICATION: Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
DATE: 2012
AUTHORS : Holger Cramer, Romy Lauch, Jost Langhorst, Gustav Dobos
Kupperman Menopausal Index, Greene Climacteric Scale, and the Menopause Rating Scale: Questionnaires that measure for total menopausal symptoms
Climacteric: Alternate terminology for menopause