Yoga and exercise do not improve sleep in midlife women

Yoga is good for you. Time and again studies have shown us the benefits of a regular yoga practice.

But a new study from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine shows that yoga and aerobic exercise intervention did not significantly reduce sleep disturbances in women experiencing hot flashes during menopause transition and post menopause.

The main implication of this study is that other treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy should be potentially investigated to improve sleep in midlife women.

Hot flashes and night sweats are one of the most complaints of menopause which can awaken the brain from sleep, causing most midlife women to have disturbed sleep or insomnia.

Previously published analysis of this trial found that yoga and aerobic exercise was associated with a small improvement in sleep-quality and insomnia severity.

The authors analysed data from the Menopause Strategies: Finding Lasting Answers for Symptoms and Health (MsFLASH) network, conducting a secondary analysis through a randomised trial amongst 186 late transition and post-menopausal women with hot flashes, ranging from ages 40 – 62 years. The women experienced an average of 7.3 to 8 hot flashes per day.

They were randomly divided into 3 groups: 12 weeks of yoga, 12 weeks of aerobic intervention and 12 weeks of usual activity. Sleep quality and sleep duration was measured by wrist actigraphy and compared to the usual activity group. Bed times and rise times were determined mainly from the participants’ sleep diaries. Mean sleep duration measured at baseline and after each intervention was less than 7 hours which is recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for optimal health in adults.

The study found that neither 12 weeks of yoga nor 12 weeks of aerobic activity had any significant effect on sleep duration or sleep quality.

The researchers concluded that further investigation was necessary to find other intervention methods to improve sleep in midlife women.

While this study says that yoga and aerobic exercise makes no difference to sleep due to hot flashes, it does you no harm to participate in these activities as both yoga and aerobic exercise have so many beneficial effects on your health.

And as far as sleep disturbances in midlife women are concerned, scientists are working on other intervention methods.

Source: Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine