Book Synopsis Effect of Physical Activity on Menopausal Symptoms in Non-vigorously Active Postmenopausal Women by :
Download or read book Effect of Physical Activity on Menopausal Symptoms in Non-vigorously Active Postmenopausal Women written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Menopause is the time in a womans life when regular menstrual periods cease, due to a natural change in sex hormones, which may be accompanied by unwelcome symptoms. PURPOSE: To determine whether physical activity is associated with a reduction in menopausal symptoms (hot flashes, insomnia, numbness, fatigue, headaches, psychological symptoms, urogenital symptoms and physical symptoms). Providing that symptom differences among activity levels exist, a secondary purpose was to suggest an adequate level of physical activity for relief of menopausal symptoms. METHODS: Women (n=401) who were not taking hormone replacement therapy completed two questionnaires based on a 7-day recall of an average week: the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (Godin & Shephard, 1985) and the Menopausal Index (St. Germain, Peterson, Robinson, & Alekel, 2001). Women were divided into quintiles according to their physical activity scores (1=least active, 5=most active) and compared for menopausal symptoms using first a MANCOVA with covariate percent fat, as this was the only covariate that had significant group mean differences. Secondly a MANOVA with the appropriate post-hoc analysis was conducted. RESULTS: The mean (SD) age of the participants was 58.2 (6.3), the mean years postmenopausal was 6.7 (6.0), the mean percent body fat was 37.4 (5.6) %, and 16.5% had a previous hysterectomy. Univariate tests did not identify significant group differences for hysterectomy (p=0.774) or time since menopause (p=0.440); however, there were significant group differences for percent body fat (p=0). The MANCOVA was not significant between physical activity groups with percent fat as a covariate (Wilks Lamda p = 0.126). The MANOVA indicated a significant group main effect of physical activity on menopausal symptoms (Wilks Lamda p = 0.034). Of the 8 symptoms under review there were significant group differences for fatigue (p=0.05), and physical symptoms (p=0.004). The post-hoc analyses identified that two.
