Solution for hot flushes during menopause found

Women approaching or going through the menopause can cure their hot flushes and night sweats with jogging or cycling for four to five times a week, finds a new study.

To test this theory, researchers at Liverpool's John Moores University put women through their paces, reports the Mirror. They reckoned if exercise could regulate menopausal women's thermostats it might also reduce the number and the intensity of their hot flushes. They decided to look at the effects of strenuous workouts in 21 menopausal women who didn't currently exercise but were having hot flushes.

The team measured each woman's general health, fitness and blood flow to the brain (which affects heat responses). To test their ability to respond to heat stress, researchers fitted the women with suits that could be filled with water. By raising the temperature of the water the scientists could induce hot flushes and track each woman's ability to deal with heat stress. Fourteen of the women then began on a gradually increasing strenuous exercise programme, while seven, who served as controls, did not.

The findings indicated that by the end of four months the women were jogging or pedalling four or five times a week for 45 minutes at a pace that definitely caused them to pant and sweat. The results were very encouraging. During a hot flush induced by the hot suit, the women perspired less and their skin temperature increased less than the control group. Their hot flushes were also less intense. But the best bit was they endured far fewer hot flushes - they declined by more than 60 percent.

"Improvements in fitness with a regular exercise programme will have potential benefits on hot flushes," said another author Helen Jones at Liverpool.