Daily exercise improves quality of life among postmenopausal women

A new study of how exercise can increase the quality of life among postmenopausal women showed that physical training gives energy, vitality and improves emotional state.

Photo: Daily exercise improves quality of life among postmenopausal women

Daily exercise improves quality of life among postmenopausal women

This study is a continuation of the Dose Response to Exercise in postmenopausal Women (DREW) study, but this time it shows really great and impressive results.

The whole process looks like this: 430 women (57 year old on average) women were randomly divided into four groups, three of which did various amounts of exercise (70, 135, or 190 minutes per week), while the fourth group did no exercise.

In the end all the women in the exercise groups showed a great improvement in social functioning compared to women in the non-exercise group. Those groups with larger amounts of exercise revealed improvements in general, emotional and mental health.

Six months of exercise showed that the women improved almost 7 percent in physical function and general health, 16.6 percent in vitality, 11.5 percent in performing work or other activities, 11.6 percent in emotional health, and more than 5 percent in social functioning.

So the best advice is to start exercise training; spend at least 10 minutes to 30 minutes every day and you’ll improve the quality of life. It’s especially important for sedentary, overweight or obese women as it may improve your overall condition and help you get rid of any health or emotional limits.

The study was reported Thursday at the American Heart Association's Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism, in Colorado Springs, Colo.