MedWire News: A study has found that a 12-week Nordic Walking program improves the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and lipid profile of pre- and perimenopausal women, and the VO2max of pre-, peri-, and postmenopausal women.

Igor Zubrzycki (Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea) and colleagues say that in women the deterioration of health-related quality of life (HRQoL)—a person’s perceived physical and mental health over time—can be caused by menopause.

In this study, the researchers tested the effectiveness of a 12-week program of Nordic Walking for improving factors involved in deterioration of HRQoL including BMI and other measures of adiposity, lipid levels, and VO2max (the maximum amount of oxygen in ml that can be used in 1 min per kg of body weight) in 168 pre-, peri-, and postmenopausal women.

Zubrzycki et al observed significant improvements in physical fitness, BMI, total fat mass, WC, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in the pre- and perimenopausal women.

However, although similar improvements were seen in postmenopausal women, the age- and menopause-related increase in BMI and adiposity, as well as in LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol seen in this group, rendered them statistically nonsignificant.

The authors conclude that Nordic Walking, preferably combined with good dietary habits, can significantly improve the HRQoL of pre- and perimenopausal women.

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