Aerobic exercise lowered blood pressure after menopause, with mixed mental-health results
Across trials in postmenopausal women, aerobic exercise lowered blood pressure compared with control groups. Anxiety scores also fell, while depression and total-cholesterol results did not show statistically significant effects.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Aerobic exercise improved blood pressure and several blood-fat measurements in postmenopausal women compared with control groups. Anxiety scores also improved, but depression and total cholesterol did not show statistically significant effects. These results describe measured risk factors and symptoms; they do not establish fewer cardiovascular events or durable mental-health benefits.
The abstract does not report intervention durations or evidence-certainty ratings, although certainty was assessed. The authors call for longer-term clinical outcomes, leaving effects on cardiovascular events and lasting health changes unresolved.
What researchers found
Top blood-pressure reading
Aerobic exercise versus control: 95% confidence interval, -6.5 to -2.4 mm Hg. The abstract does not report the intervention or follow-up durations.
Blood measurements were the cardiovascular outcomes
The review measured blood pressure, cholesterol fractions and triglycerides. Several results favored exercise, while total cholesterol remained statistically uncertain. These measurements are distinct from clinical events, which the authors identify as an area requiring further research.
Anxiety and depression differed
Anxiety scores decreased in the pooled analysis, but the depression result was not statistically significant. That distinction should remain visible: a favorable anxiety score does not establish an improvement in depression, and statistical uncertainty does not prove no effect.
The original publication
Impact of aerobic exercise on cardiovascular and mental health in postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Carpeggiani Weber A, Borges Migliavaca C, Lacerda Tavares A et al.
Menopause · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40742785
- Record checked
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