Treating the climacteric symptoms in Indian women with an integrated approach to yoga therapy

Chattha, Ritu; Nagarathna, Raghuram; Padmalatha, Venkatram; Hongasandra, Nagendra R

doi:10.1097/gme.0b013e318167b902

Cited by 101 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…[33][34][35] Several things are worth noting about our findings. First, we found meaningful reductions in hot flashes despite attendance at the classes being suboptimal and lower than in other studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

A Pilot Study of Integral Yoga for Menopausal Hot Flashes

AvisNancy

LegaultClaudine

RussellGregory

et al. 2014

The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

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Objective-To obtain preliminary data on the efficacy of yoga for reducing self-reported menopausal hot flashes in a randomized study including an attention control group.Methods-We randomized 54 women late perimenopausal (2-12 months of amenorrhea) and postmenopausal women (12 or more months of amenorrhea), aged 45-58 years, with at least 4 hot flashes per day on average, for at least 4 weeks, to one of three groups: yoga, health and wellness education (HW) classes, and a wait list (WL) control group. Yoga and HW classes consisted of weekly 90 minute classes for 10 weeks. All women completed daily hot flash diaries throughout the trial (10 weeks) to track frequency and severity of hot flashes. The mean hot flash index score is based on the number of mild, moderate, severe and very severe hot flashes.Results-Hot flash frequency declined significantly over time for all three groups with the strongest decline during the first week. There was no overall significant difference in hot flash frequency decrease over time by treatment groups, but the yoga and HW groups followed similar patterns and both showed greater decreases than the WL group. By week 10, women in the yoga group reported a decrease of approximately 66% in hot flash frequency, 63% in HW, and 36% in the WL group. The hot flash index showed a similar pattern. Conclusions-Resultssuggest that yoga can serve as a behavioral option for reducing hot flashes, but they also suggest that yoga may not offer any advantage over other types of interventions.Keywords vasomotor symptoms; yoga; hot flashes; menopause Hot flashes and/or night sweats (vasomotor symptoms) are the most common and troubling symptoms associated with menopause and are experienced by 64% to 80% of women undergoing natural menopause and almost all women who undergo surgical menopause. [1][2][3] For many women, these symptoms are frequent and severe enough to become debilitating and impact their quality of life. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Hot flashes are one of the chief menopausal complaints Direct Correspondence to: Nancy E. Avis, PhD, Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC 27157, navis@wakehealth.edu The objective of the current study was to obtain preliminary data on the efficacy of yoga for reducing self-reported menopausal hot flashes in a randomized study that included an attention control group and measured daily hot flashes. Attention control groups are important to help understand the true impact of an active intervention. We hypothesized that women participating in a yoga intervention would achieve a greater reduction in subjective hot flash frequency and severity than women in an educational control group or a waitlist control group. As a pilot study, we also sought to examine the effect of yoga on selfreported hot flash interference, sleep, anxiety, depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and quality of life; and to track the recruitment, retention, and adherence to the protocol. METHODS Study Desig...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

A Pilot Study of Integral Yoga for Menopausal Hot Flashes

AvisNancy

LegaultClaudine

RussellGregory

et al. 2014

The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

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“…Overall, the evidence from prior studies of selfreported outcomes are mixed, tending to show within-group improvements with yoga, 1,2,4 but no significant differences between yoga and control groups. 4,6 To our knowledge, only one prior study of objective and subjective sleep outcomes from a yoga intervention for menopausal women reported reduced ISI…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yoga and exercise have been suggested as useful nonpharmacologic treatments for midlife women experiencing sleep disturbance, but evidence regarding efficacy remains mixed and inconclusive. Several studies of yoga interventions for 8 to 16 w duration in women during and after menopause [1][2][3][4][5][6] showed statistically significant within-group improvements in self-reported sleep outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Yoga and Aerobic Exercise on Actigraphic Sleep Parameters in Menopausal Women with Hot Flashes

Buchanan

Landis

Hohensee

et al. 2017

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

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Study Objectives: To determine effects of yoga and aerobic exercise compared with usual activity on objective assessments of sleep in midlife women. Methods: Secondary analyses of a randomized controlled trial in the Menopause Strategies: Finding Lasting Answers for Symptoms and Health (MsFLASH) network conducted among 186 late transition and postmenopausal women aged 40-62 y with hot flashes. Women were randomized to 12 w of yoga, supervised aerobic exercise, or usual activity. The mean and coefficient of variation (CV) of change in actigraph sleep measures from each intervention group were compared to the usual activity group using linear regression models. Results: Baseline values of the primary sleep measures for the entire sample were mean total sleep time (TST) = 407.5 ± 56.7 min; mean wake after sleep onset (WASO) = 54.6 ± 21.8 min; mean CV for WASO = 37.7 ± 18.7 and mean CV for number of long awakenings > 5 min = 81.5 ± 46.9. Changes in the actigraphic sleep outcomes from baseline to weeks 11-12 were small, and none differed between groups. In an exploratory analysis, women with baseline Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index higher than 8 had significantly reduced TST-CV following yoga compared with usual activity. Conclusions: This study adds to the currently scant literature on objective sleep outcomes from yoga and aerobic exercise interventions for this population. Although small effects on self-reported sleep quality were previously reported, the interventions had no statistically significant effects on actigraph measures, except for potentially improved sleep stability with yoga in women with poor self-reported sleep quality. Keywords: actigraphy, exercise, insomnia symptoms, menopause, variability, vasomotor symptoms, yoga Citation: Buchanan DT, Landis CA, Hohensee C, Guthrie KA, Otte JL, Paudel M, Anderson GL, Caan B, Freeman EW, Joffe H, LaCroix AZ, Newton KM, Reed SD, Ensrud KE. Effects of yoga and aerobic exercise on actigraphic sleep parameters in menopausal women with hot flashes.

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“…Yoga has been examined as a technique for controlling hot flashes, and several trials have suggested yoga to be beneficial in alleviating hot flashes [62,63]. However, a systematic review of seven clinical studies evaluating the use of yoga for menopausal symptoms found that there is currently insufficient evidence to suggest that yoga is an effective means for controlling hot flashes [60,64].…”

Section: Yogamentioning

confidence: 99%