Evidence library · Blood pressure

Does stretching affect blood pressure in menopause? What 6 studies found

Studies of stretching in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women that measured blood pressure. 6 reported an improvement and 0 found no difference against the comparison group.

  1. A systematic review of 51 studies found aerobic, resistance, interval or stretching exercise improved arterial stiffness in healthy young, middle-aged and older women, varying by age and exercise type.

    Reported an improvementSystematic review · 2023Midlife womenCited 20 timesPubMed

  2. Obese postmenopausal women did stretching exercises three days a week for eight weeks and researchers reported reduced blood pressure and arterial wave reflection compared to a no-exercise group.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 28 women · 8 weeks · 2014PostmenopausalCited 40 timesPubMed

  3. Menopausal women aged 45 to 59 practiced Rusie Dutton traditional Thai exercise for 13 weeks and showed significant improvements in fitness, flexibility, blood pressure and quality of life versus controls.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 50 women · 13 weeks · 2014Midlife womenCited 20 timesPubMed

  4. Breast cancer survivors, including postmenopausal women, did 12 weeks of combined treadmill and stretching exercise, which improved resting blood pressure and oxygen saturation compared to controls.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 48 women · 12 weeks · 2015Midlife womenCited 4 timesPubMed

  5. Sedentary women aged 40 to 60 did a 26 week multicomponent exercise program; postmenopausal women showed greater blood pressure and waist reductions, premenopausal women showed greater lipid and glucose improvements.

    Reported an improvementControlled trial · 38 women · 26 weeks · 2025Midlife womenCited 3 timesPubMed

  6. This narrative review summarized medical literature finding that regular exercise in midlife and postmenopausal women is linked with reduced obesity, cancer, dementia, mood symptoms, and osteoporosis.

    Reported an improvementOther · 2015Midlife womenCited 56 timesPubMed

How to read this. Each line is one study, summarised in plain language from its PubMed abstract, with the authors' own sentence underneath on the study page. A count of studies is not a verdict: trials differ in size, length and quality, and a result in one group of women may not hold in another. Nothing here is medical advice.

Summaries are generated, then checked by machine against the abstract they came from; any summary that could not be matched word for word was left out. Our clinical lead is reviewing the summaries topic by topic, and this note will change when that is done. Corpus last refreshed 2026-11-03. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix the summary or remove the study.

Other exercise types and blood pressure