Evidence library · Fatigue

Does walking affect fatigue in menopause? What 7 studies found

Studies of walking in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women that measured fatigue. 3 reported an improvement and 1 found no difference against the comparison group.

  1. Postmenopausal breast cancer survivors did 3 months of walking plus resistance band training; fatigue effect sizes were small and not statistically significant, with inflammatory markers mediating change.

    No difference foundRandomised trial · 46 women · 12 weeks · 2014PostmenopausalCited 70 timesPubMed

  2. In 62 postmenopausal breast cancer survivors on aromatase inhibitors, a 6-week home walking program reported reduced stiffness and less difficulty with daily activities compared with a wait-list group.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 62 women · 6 weeks · 2017PostmenopausalCited 61 timesPubMed

  3. Postmenopausal breast cancer survivors did 3 months of walking and resistance band training; the exercise group reported fewer hours of sleep per night versus control, mediated by inflammation and fatigue.

    Mixed resultsRandomised trial · 46 women · 12 weeks · 2015PostmenopausalCited 47 timesPubMed

  4. 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

  5. 23 sedentary postmenopausal women did a 6 week walking program then either continued or stopped exercising, with continued exercisers reporting better mood, anxiety and quality of life at follow up.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 23 women · 12 weeks · 2006PostmenopausalCited 37 timesPubMed

  6. Twenty-five postmenopausal women did a 6-minute walk test and treadmill task; slower oxygen uptake kinetics correlated with higher fatigue and mood disturbance, and older women had lower aerobic capacity.

    Mixed resultsCross-sectional study · 25 women · 2025PostmenopausalCited 1 timesPubMed

  7. Interviews with 26 postmenopausal breast and gynecologic cancer survivors found they preferred flexible, at-home physical activity like walking, dancing and muscle-strengthening during and after treatment.

    Direction not statedOther · 26 women · 2024PostmenopausalPubMed

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