In the authors' words
“Eight of the nine studies of yoga, tai chi, and meditation-based programs reported improvement in overall menopausal and vasomotor symptoms; six of seven trials indicated improvement in mood and sleep with yoga-based programs, and four studies reported reduced musculoskeletal pain.”
What was measured
- Menopause symptoms overall Reported an improvement
- Hot flushes Reported an improvement
- Mood Reported an improvement
- Sleep Reported an improvement
- Joint pain Reported an improvement
About the study
- Type
- Systematic review
- Who took part
- Midlife women
- How many
- 882
- Exercise
- Yoga, Tai chi and qigong, Other exercise
- Cited
- 58 times, per Europe PMC
- PubMed ID
- 20167444
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 randomized trials found yoga improved sleep quality in women overall, but four trials in peri or postmenopausal women showed no significant improvement.
- A meta-analysis of four trials totaling 660 middle-aged women found 12 to 16 weeks of programmed exercise improved sleep quality scores but did not significantly reduce insomnia severity.
- A meta-analysis of 13 RCTs with 1306 women found yoga reduced total menopausal symptoms, including vasomotor and psychological symptoms, compared to no treatment, similar to other exercise.
- A Cochrane review of five trials in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women found insufficient evidence that exercise reduces hot flushes or night sweats compared with no treatment, yoga, or hormone therapy.