March 2024
Menopause can significantly impact mood and wellbeing in women. Today’s standard intervention to improve both the physical and emotional side effects of this natural process is hormone replacement therapy, HRT. However, a new meta study confirms earlier results showing that psychosocial interventions, such as meditation, can be effective.
The analysis includes 30 studies comprising 3,501 women across 14 countries, including China, the U.S. and the U.K.
Mindfulness-based interventions (a form of meditation) had an effect on both anxiety and depression, but it was larger on the former.
Psychosocial interventions (the other one being Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) were also found to significantly improve cognition. Overall, these treatments had a medium-to-large effect on improving quality of life.
“We know that HRT doesn’t get to everyone and not everyone wants it … so we do need to consider other things”, lead author Aimee Spector told The Independent.
“General practitioners and healthcare providers often struggle to know what to offer beyond medical treatment. This research will help give practitioners and patients more options”, said senior author Dr Roopal Desai in a web article at University College in London, where the meta study was conducted.
Anders Bolling
Frontier Journalists' Network 