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Women with severe hot flashes said their quality of life improved after taking mindfulness classes that included meditation and stretching exercises, according to a new study.

The findings also suggest that such classes could help improve sleep quality, stress, and anxiety during menopause.

“There’s a broad range of attitudes about hot flashes and how they should be treated,” Dr. Ellen Freeman, a menopause expert at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, told Reuters Health.

“There are certainly many, many women who don’t want to take hormones … and don’t want to take other drugs either,” said Dr. Freeman, who was not involved in the current study. Mindfulness, on the other hand, “may be something that they find very acceptable.”

Women with frequent and severe hot flashes and night sweats often also complain about anxiety and stress related

The findings are the latest addition to a complicated picture of the possible link between hormones and mental functioning in women. Some researchers think hormone therapy may help improve brain function and prevent Alzheimer’s disease after menopause. But then there are studies that show little impact on thinking and memory, or different impacts depending on the age of women being treated.

One recent study of women in surgical menopause – when the uterus and ovaries are removed – suggested that estrogen might provide a memory benefit, but that testosterone canceled out some of that benefit when women took both hormones.

“Since many women during the time of menopausal transition complain about cognitive impairment it has been suggested that estrogen may have a beneficial effect on memory and cognitive abilities,” while “testosterone is suggested to improve spatial