In the authors' words
“Physical activity interventions did not significantly improve sleep quality (-0.03 [-1.23, 1.18]; P = 0.96; I(2) = 78 %) or insomnia (-1.65 [-3.52, 0.21]; P = 0.08; I(2) = 0 %) but produced minor improvements in sleep problems (-0.08 [-0.16, -0.00]; P = 0.04; I(2) = 0 %).”
What was measured
- Sleep Mixed results
- Hot flushes Direction not stated
About the study
- Type
- Meta-analysis
- Who took part
- Midlife women, other condition
- How many
- 1,579
- Exercise
- General physical activity
- Cited
- 4 times, per Europe PMC
- PubMed ID
- 40288155
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 11 trials found low to moderate intensity programmed exercise for 12 weeks to a year reduced depressive symptoms in midlife and older women, with less insomnia reported secondarily.
- 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.
- A meta-analysis of 21 trials in 2884 menopausal women found structured exercise slightly improved hot flush severity but not frequency, with very low certainty evidence.
- A meta-analysis of 16 trials in 2108 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women found physical exercise improved sleep quality on both subjective and objective measures.