The influence of physical activity on climacteric symptoms

Introduction
The menopausal syndrome affects 85-87% post-menopausal women. Typical symptoms include: hot flashes, heavy sweats, dizziness, increased body temperature, heart palpitations, depression, mood swings, distorted concentration, distorted memory and interrupted sleeping patterns. The literature on effects of physical activity on menopausal symptoms seems to be inconsistent. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between intensified menopausal syndrome and undertaking physical activity.

Material and methods
We studied 105 healthy menopausal women (aged 45 to 65). Their mean age was 52 SD 5.2. We used the survey method. The research tools were: questionnaire we devised, Kupperman index and Borg scale. Additionally, we devised: physical effort intensity index and physical activity variety index. To conduct the statistical analysis, we used STATISTICA programme. We set statistical significance at p<0.05.

Results
We found a statistically significant relationship between the frequency of undertaking physical activity and the intensity of menopausal syndrome. More than a half of the subjects (54.3%) did physical exercise "often" or "regularly", and they did not suffer from the "severe" form of menopausal syndrome. We found a significant relationship between the BMI and intensity of menopausal symptoms (p=0.04) and between the waist size and menopausal symptoms (p=0.001).

Conclusions
The more intense, varied and frequent physical activity, the less intense menopausal symptoms. The subjects with normal BMI and waist narrower than 80cm had less difficult menopause. Physical activity reduces physical and psychological changes experienced in the climacteric.