For menopause exercise, strength training has the most trials behind it. Balance and sleep also have support from recent reviews. Anxiety shows a small drop, and studies have found no clear change in hot flashes. Here is what each review found, and a simple way to start at home.
What is the best exercise for menopause?
There is no single best exercise for menopause, because each goal has its own research. So it helps to look at the goals one at a time.
Strength training has the most support. A review of 34 studies found it made postmenopausal women stronger.
Balance also has trial support. In 26 trials of women around menopause, strength training and balance training each raised scores on balance tests.
Sleep has moderate support. In 31 trials, combined exercise and mind-body exercise improved how well women said they slept.
For mood, the research is mixed. Aerobic exercise brought a small drop in anxiety, with no clear change in depression.
Hot flashes have the least support. The one review on them found no clear difference with exercise.
So a week that mixes strength work, balance practice and brisk walking matches the goals with the most research.
Does strength training help during menopause?
Yes, for muscle strength the research is consistent. A 2026 review looked at 34 studies of strength training in postmenopausal women (Walter et al., 2026). Together they included 1,541 women, and most of the studies were rated as good quality. Across them, regular strength training made women stronger.
The same review checked whether extra protein helped. Above 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight a day, more protein gave no extra gain in strength or muscle.
One recent trial, analyzed in a follow-up paper, shows what this looks like over a few months (Thorell et al., 2026). It included 65 postmenopausal women who had hot flashes and were not very active. The researchers split them at random into a training group and a group that did not train. The training group lifted weights with a coach three times a week. The program lasted 15 weeks.
Of the 65 women, 44 had MRI scans before and after. In those scans, the training group gained more muscle than the group that did not train. The training group also lifted more on their strength tests. The researchers tested strength only in the training group, though, so they could not compare strength between the two groups.
For a full starter routine, see our guide to strength training for women over 50.
Does exercise help balance after menopause?
In trials, yes. A 2023 review combined 26 randomized trials in women going through menopause or a few years past it (Walsh et al., 2023). In each trial, the average age was 65 or younger.
In these women, strength training raised scores on a standard balance test. Balance training on its own did the same. Programs that mixed strength, cardio and balance work also helped women stand longer on one leg.
These results are balance test scores, so the review did not show whether women fell less often.
Does exercise help you sleep during menopause?
Probably, and some types have more support than others. A 2025 review combined 31 randomized trials (Zhou et al., 2025). The trials included women going through menopause and women past it.
Two types of exercise improved sleep quality. One was combined exercise, meaning programs that mix different types of exercise. The other was mind-body exercise. The authors were fairly confident in those two results. Aerobic exercise and stretching also helped, but the authors were less confident in those findings.
Women aged 55 or younger gained more than older women, and so did women who already had a sleep disorder. Sleep quality in these trials was self-rated, so it reflects how women felt they slept.
Does exercise help with mood or hot flashes?
For anxiety, exercise has a small effect, and for depression the result is unclear. For hot flashes, the research has not found a clear effect.
A 2025 review combined 61 randomized trials of aerobic exercise (Carpeggiani Weber et al., 2025). All the women were past menopause, and together the trials included 4,100 women. Aerobic exercise brought a small drop in anxiety scores. The change in depression scores was too uncertain to count as a real change.
Hot flashes have less research. A Cochrane review found five randomized trials in women who had hot flashes (Daley et al., 2014). Together they included 733 women, and the authors rated the evidence as low quality.
Three of those trials compared exercise with no active treatment, and they included 454 women. Exercise made no clear difference to how often hot flashes and night sweats came, or how strong they were. That review is from 2014, and its trials were small, so the question is still open.
How do you start exercising at home during menopause?
Start with the weekly guideline, which includes both steady activity and strength work. US guidelines call for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, such as brisk walking (CDC, 2026). They also call for 2 days of muscle-strengthening activity.
Here is what a simple week at home could look like. On your strength days, pick a few moves like these. Squat down to a chair and stand back up. Do push-ups against a kitchen counter. Step back into a lunge while you hold a chair back. Do a few slow repeats of each.
On most days, take a brisk walk. Those walks add up toward the 150 minutes.
Add a little balance practice. Stand on one leg while you brush your teeth, and hold the sink if you need to.
Try some gentle stretching too. In the sleep trials, stretching helped too, though the authors were less confident in that result.
The trials did not test this exact week. It simply puts together the types of exercise that did best for strength, balance and sleep.
If bone density is the question on your mind, read what trials found on vibration plates for osteoporosis.
We'd start with a strength day this week and an extra walk. Add another strength day once that feels routine.
Short, regular sessions are also the idea behind our board. Kiwii Move is an interactive whole-body vibration board — a vibration plate with four pressure sensors that turns 10 minutes a day into games you play with your body. You can read more about our interactive vibration board.
Sources
Walter F et al., Sports Medicine - Open. Analysis of the Additive Effects of Nutritional Strategies in Strength Training Interventions on Body Composition, Muscle Strength and Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Women: A Systematic Review. 2026. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Thorell S et al., Maturitas. Effects of resistance training on postmenopausal women's muscle strength, muscle volume and muscle fat infiltration: A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial. 2026. europepmc.org
Walsh GS et al., Maturitas. The comparative effect of exercise interventions on balance in perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised, controlled trials. 2023. europepmc.org
Zhou K et al., Climacteric. Sleep quality in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women: which exercise therapy is the most effective? A systematic review and network meta-analysis of 31 RCTs. 2025. europepmc.org
Carpeggiani Weber A et al., Menopause. Impact of aerobic exercise on cardiovascular and mental health in postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. 2025. europepmc.org
Daley A et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Exercise for vasomotor menopausal symptoms. 2014. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adult Activity: An Overview. 2026. cdc.gov