The idea that over-exercising can trigger an early menopause is a myth, a new report concludes.
A study of more than 107,000 women found no link between levels of physical activity and the age at which they stopped menstruating.
It comes seven years after a controversial Japanese research paper found women who spend a lot of time exercising are more likely to go through the change of life in their 40s, or even sooner.
Despite skepticism, researchers have struggled to conclusively contradict the findings.
But now, researchers at the University of Massachusetts say they have found clear proof to the contrary with the largest and longest analysis on the subject using data from US nurses who were followed for more than two decades.
The US study is the first conclusive evidence against a Japanese research paper found women who spend a lot of time exercising are more likely to go through the change of life in their 40s
Lead author Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, a professor of epidemiology, said: 'Our study provides considerable information in helping us understand the relationship between activity and timing of menopause.
'This is because of its size, its focus on early menopause specifically, and because of its prospective design, which limited the likelihood of bias and allowed us to look at physical activity at different time periods.'
Until now, there have been conflicting results with some studies suggesting very active women may be at lower risk of menopause before the age of 45, while others have found evidence of the opposite effect.
The issue has important implications for health.
An early menopause increases the risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis because of the loss of estrogen.
On the other hand the hormone promotes breast tumors, and that may explain why early menopause is tied to a lower risk of breast cancer.
Dr Bertone-Johnson's team also found a diet high in vegetables, cheese and yogurt - which are rich in calcium and vitamin D - reduces the risk of an early menopause.
Menopause, which occurs on average at the age of 51, happens when the body stops naturally producing estrogen and other sex hormones.
During menopause, a woman's ovaries stop producing eggs and she can no longer naturally conceive.
Some 80 percent of these women are thought to experience symptoms, which typically last for about four years, including depression, hot flushes, headaches and night sweats.
While high levels of physical activity - usually five or more hours of exercise per week - have been tied to early menopause they have also has been linked to irregular menstrual cycles, which could lead to later menopause.
Dr Bertone-Johnson said: 'Several previous well designed studies have found suggestions that more physical activity is associated with older age at menopause, but even in those studies the size of the effect was very small.
'Our results, in conjunction with other studies, provides substantial evidence that physical activity is not importantly associated with early menopause.'
An earlier Japanese study of over 3,000 participants found those who worked out the most - about eight to 10 hours a week - were 17 percent more prone to early menopause than sedentary peers.
The new research published in the medical journal Human Reproduction involved more than 30 times as many individuals who were tracked for over twice as long - from 1989 to 2011.
The registered nurses were aged 25 to 42 when they were enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study II and completed questionnaires about lifestyles and medical conditions every two years.
They were asked about the time they spent in recreational physical activities such as walking, running, cycling, racquet sports, swimming laps, aerobic activities, yoga, weight training and high intensity activities such as lawn mowing.
The researchers also collected information on factors such as race, ethnicity, age, education, height, the age when they had their first periods and whether or not they had been pregnant and how often.
They were also asked about use of oral contraceptives and hormone therapy, their smoking history, weight and body mass index (BMI), diet and use of dietary supplements.
In order to assess the frequency, duration and intensity of the activities, the researchers multiplied the hours per week of each activity by its metabolic equivalent (MET) score to create total MET hours per week.
MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) is a measure of energy consumed per hour. A MET score of one is the sort of energy you would expend watching TV.
Anything which gets a score above three counts as moderate activity. Above six and you are in the realms of 'vigorous'.
During more than 20 years of follow-up, 2,786 women experienced natural menopause before the age of 45.
There was no significant difference in the risk between, for instance, those reporting less than three MET hours a week of physical activity or 42 or more.
The latter would be equivalent to four or more hours of running or eight or more hours of brisk walking a week.
The amount of physical activity reported in their teenage years was also unrelated to the risk of early menopause.
First author Mingfei Zhao, a graduate student, said: 'While our results do not suggest more physical activity is associated with lower risk of early menopause, we would encourage pre menopausal women to be physically active, as exercise is associated with a range of health benefits, such as a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer and other conditions.
'Our results in no way suggest that premenopausal women should not be physically active.'
Researchers are still investigating other factors that might play a role in women experiencing an early menopause.
'Our work has suggested environmental factors are associated with early menopause,' Dr Bertone-Johnson said.
'We found higher intake of calcium and vitamin D from dairy foods to be associated with lower risk.
'Higher intake of vegetable protein was associated with lower risk as well, though animal protein was not.
'Cigarette smoking is associated with higher risk, as is being underweight. We are currently investigating other factors as well.'
Link article
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/05/getting-lots-of-exercise-is-not-linked-to-early-menopause-despite-previous-fears-study-finds/
Main photo article The idea that over-exercising can trigger an early menopause is a myth, a new report concludes.
A study of more than 107,000 women found no link between levels of physical activity and the age at which they stopped menstruating.
It comes seven years after a controversial Japanese research paper...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Health HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/04/22/4FB57D3A00000578-6132055-image-a-1_1536097712172.jpg
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