In the authors' words
“The overall effect of physical activity was a statistically significant decrease of both total estradiol (standardized mean difference [SMD] -0.12; 95 % confidence interval [CI] -0.20 to -0.03; P = 0.01; I (2) = 0 %) and free estradiol (SMD -0.20; 95 % CI -0.31 to -0.09; P = 0.0005; I (2) = 0 %).”
What was measured
- Hormone levels Reported an improvement
About the study
- Type
- Meta-analysis
- Who took part
- Midlife women
- How many
- 1,994
- Exercise
- General physical activity
- Cited
- 143 times, per Europe PMC
- PubMed ID
- 26541144
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 review of trials and cohort studies in pre and postmenopausal women found physical activity mostly decreased estrogens, progesterone and androgens, and increased sex hormone binding globulin, with small effect sizes.
- A review of 43 studies found diet and exercise interventions, especially combined with weight loss, better controlled estrogen levels linked to breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women.
- 173 sedentary, overweight postmenopausal women did a 12-month moderate exercise program, and those who lost more body fat had greater declines in testosterone than controls.
- Sedentary overweight postmenopausal women did a year-long moderate-intensity physical activity program versus stretching, with limited evidence that sleep changes affected exercise-related weight, ghrelin or leptin changes.