In the authors' words
“While walking did not improve most symptoms experienced by midlife women, frequency of walking may improve sleep.”
What was measured
- Menopause symptoms overall No difference found
- Sleep Reported an improvement
About the study
- Type
- Randomised trial
- Who took part
- Midlife women, sedentary at entry
- How many
- 173
- How long
- 24 weeks
- Exercise
- Walking
- Cited
- 60 times, per Europe PMC
- PubMed ID
- 16025696
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.
Similar studies
- A meta-analysis of 12 RCTs found exercise such as yoga, walking, and fitness qigong improved sleep quality in perimenopausal women, with qigong over 10 to 12 weeks most effective.
- 164 previously low-active midlife women did walking, yoga, or no exercise for 4 months; walking and yoga groups reported improved positive mood and menopause-related quality of life.
- A review of 31 studies found yoga, walking, exercise, and stretching improved sleep quality in menopausal women, with inconsistent effects on depression.
- Postmenopausal women did 2 years of resistance and walking exercise with or without soy isoflavones, and exercise groups maintained hip bone density and improved balance compared with control.