Evidence library · Fatigue

Does other aerobic exercise affect fatigue in menopause? What 6 studies found

Studies of other aerobic exercise in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women that measured fatigue. 5 reported an improvement and 1 found no difference against the comparison group.

  1. Perimenopausal women who walked briskly three or more times weekly for 12 weeks reported greater reductions in menopausal symptom scores, cholesterol, triglycerides and weight than controls.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 111 women · 12 weeks · 2014PerimenopausalCited 35 timesPubMed

  2. Breast cancer patients did 16 weeks of resistance plus HIIT or aerobic plus HIIT during chemotherapy; at 5 years fatigue did not differ from usual care, but gluteal pain sensitivity was reduced with resistance HIIT.

    No difference foundRandomised trial · 240 women · 16 weeks · 2024Midlife womenCited 13 timesPubMed

  3. Twenty postmenopausal women did high-intensity treadmill training for 3 months, and researchers reported added infrared light improved muscle power and reduced leg fatigue versus training alone.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 20 women · 12 weeks · 2011PostmenopausalCited 24 timesPubMed

  4. Occupationally active menopausal women with symptoms did 24 weeks of aerobic exercise, which increased perceived mental resources and reduced physical strain but did not change overall work ability scores.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 123 women · 24 weeks · 2014Midlife womenCited 15 timesPubMed

  5. Postmenopausal women aged 50 to 60 who did 6 months of treadmill training combined with infrared light therapy showed greater quadriceps power and less fatigue than treadmill training alone or sedentary controls.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 30 women · 26 weeks · 2014PostmenopausalCited 7 timesPubMed

  6. Postmenopausal women did 16 weeks of jazz dance or concurrent aerobic and resistance training; both reduced anxiety, depression and stress, with some differences in timing and mood domains.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 70 women · 16 weeks · 2025PostmenopausalCited 4 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 fatigue