Does Exercise Help with Hot Flashes?

Hey gang, today, I’m diving into a short overview on how your workouts of different types might help with vasomotor symptoms of menopause, aka hot flashes or flushes.

If you’re dealing with peri- or post-menopausal symptoms and want to explore how fitness practices can help, meet up for a free consult with Rachel–she’s a certified menopause fitness coach. Email her at rachel@unstilllife.com to schedule.

Exercise can definitely help mitigate hot flashes, but a few things matter. First off, it’s important that the exercise be consistent over time. The benefit comes from improving your body’s temperature control system. So there’s not as much benefit from willy nilly exercise. And the results are likely to be gradual over a longer time frame, like weeks or months. But research backs up that regular exercise can significantly reduce core body temperature thresholds. So, take heart and get more consistent if you can.

Menopausal symptoms are complicated, multifaceted, and highly individualistic. You may have read my recent articles on high intensity and sprint intensity workouts being of great benefit for many symptoms, and yet those high intensity workouts may not be the best when it comes to hot flash mitigation. They may still help with the temperature control in the long term, but vigorous workouts may also bring on flashes in the short term, so just be aware of your exertion level and see what works or doesn’t work for you. For some people, sticking with more moderate exertion will have better results in this particular area.

Exercise also helps on the hot flash front in indirect ways. It controls cortisol, the stress hormone, and helps to increase endorphin release so it’s a positive mood enhancer. Since stress is a vasomotor trigger for many people, keeping stress lower and improving mood help to decrease the instance and intensity of flashes. And finally, exercise helps with sleep quality which helps menopausal symptoms in general.

Menopause varies from person to person, and is an excellent time to get an even deeper knowledge of yourself, your body and its changing needs. You are an experiment of one, so conduct your research closely and take good notes. I’m here to help with a menopause coaching consultation, so get in touch and let’s talk about what’s going on with you.