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We came across an interesting study recently regarding hot flashes. Can Chinese herbs help?

It seems that a  mix of certain traditional Chinese herbs thought to have weak estrogen-like activity might help ease menopausal hot flashes, a small clinical trial suggests.

But the herbal mix, dubbed Jiawei Qing’e Fang, is not widely available. And while the new study suggested some benefits, it had enough limitations that the true effects of the herbs are still unclear, according to an expert not involved in the work.

For the study, reported in the journal Menopause, researchers in China randomly assigned 72 women to either take Jiawei Qing’e Fang everyday for eight weeks, or use a placebo mix of starches that were made to look, taste and smell like the herbs.

All of the women were relatively young —

Can physical activity help menopausal hot flashes? In this article, we summarize the reports regarding physical activity and hot flash & night sweats otherwise known as VMS(vasomotor symptoms) and discuss biological mechanisms by which physical activity might exert a beneficial effect. The potentially mediating role of mood, quality of sleep, and/or body weight on the relation between physical activity and VMS will be reviewed, as will the clinical and public health implications of our current state of knowledge.

Review of the literature

Approximately 27 published articles have explored the relation between physical activity and hot flashes (a complete reference list is available from the author). Generally, these studies have evaluated Caucasian populations in the United States, Australia, and Sweden; a few have included African Americans and other racial/ethnic groups.

Most studies feature observational, cross-sectional designs: one had