Evidence library · Fatigue

Does yoga affect fatigue in menopause? What 6 studies found

Studies of yoga in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women that measured fatigue. 5 reported an improvement and 0 found no difference against the comparison group.

  1. Breast cancer survivors with hot flashes did an 8 week Yoga of Awareness program and reported greater improvements in hot flash frequency, severity, joint pain, fatigue and sleep than a wait-list group.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 37 women · 8 weeks · 2009PostmenopausalCited 182 timesPubMed

  2. Breast cancer survivors averaging age 49 did 12 weeks of Hatha yoga and meditation, reporting lower menopausal symptoms, less fatigue, and better quality of life than usual care at 12 and 24 weeks.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 40 women · 12 weeks · 2015Midlife womenCited 84 timesPubMed

  3. In 40 breast cancer survivors with menopausal symptoms, a 24-week yoga program's benefits on menopausal symptoms, quality of life and fatigue were partly explained by increases in self-esteem.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 40 women · 24 weeks · 2017Midlife womenCited 18 timesPubMed

  4. A quasi-experimental trial found 6 to 24 months of Shivam Yoga practice in women aged 40-65 reduced climacteric symptom scores and increased estrogen and testosterone levels versus controls.

    Reported an improvementControlled trial · 182 women · 104 weeks · 2026Midlife womenPubMed

  5. A narrative review of psychological and mind-body approaches, including yoga, found empirical support for improving quality of life and symptoms like hot flushes and sleep during menopause.

    Reported an improvementOther · 2024Midlife womenCited 3 timesPubMed

  6. A planned 18 week yoga program will be tested against a waitlist control for musculoskeletal complaints in women on endocrine therapy for breast cancer, with results not yet reported.

    Direction not statedOther · 140 women · 18 weeks · 2026PostmenopausalPubMed

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.

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