Date of Award

1-30-2001

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

First Advisor

Denise Twohey

Abstract

This project was aimed at improving our understanding of how exercise impacts the menopausal transition in order to offer women guidance and understanding in managing their own passage through menopause. Participants included 90 healthy midlife women between the ages of 45–55. They were asked to complete demographic information regarding their menstrual history and two questionnaires including the Kaufert and Syrotuik Symptom Index-Revised and the Exercise Inventory. The Symptom Index-Revised was given to each respondent twice; first for symptoms experienced since turning 40, and secondly for symptoms directly attributable to menopause. Double administration of this symptom checklist allowed for participants to report symptoms experienced in general, and also for better understanding of how women perceive their own particular menopause transition. Three types of symptoms were assessed including vasomotor, nervous, and general health symptoms. Exercise was broken down into five aspects of exercise including frequency, duration, intensity, routine, and persistence. It was hypothesized that women participating in exercise would report fewer nervous symptoms and fewer general symptoms as assessed by the Kaufert and Syrotuik Symptom Index-Revised. It was expected that women who engage in regular exercise, report exercise as a structured event, and who engage in exercise over a long period of time would report fewer symptoms than women who engage in little or irregular exercise. It was further hypothesized that women currently taking ERT would report few symptoms, especially vasomotor symptoms such as hot flashes. Results indicated that the majority of women participating in this study engaged in some form of exercise. Women who reported low amounts of exercise also reported significantly more vasomotor symptoms than women engaging in moderate to high amounts of exercise. In terms of ERT use, women did not report fewer symptoms when using ERT as hypothesized. In contrast, results indicated that women using ERT reported significantly more vaginal dryness, headaches, trouble sleeping, and difficulty concentrating than women not using ERT. This study found differences in symptoms reported when exercise was incorporated into lifestyle. More research is necessary to investigate the relationship between vasomotor symptoms and exercise.

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