Menopause is a critical stage of women's life associated with various complaints and distresses. Vasomotor symptoms (VMS), such as hot flushes, night sweats, sleep disturbances, and fatigue, are the most common menopause symptoms affecting about 50% to 80% of middle-aged women. Obviously, these symptoms, resulting from estrogen deficiency during menopause, can exert negative effects on women's health and quality of life and thus require to be managed through approaches such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Many herbal treatments for menopause symptoms contain and its components such as 8-prenylnaringenin, 6-PN, isoxanthohumol and xanthohumol. Recent in-vivo studies have highlighted the ability of 8-prenylnaringenin to reduce serum-luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), to increase serum prolactin levels and uterine weight, and to induce vaginal hyperplastic epithelium. Previous research has shown that hops extract can strongly bind to both estrogen receptors, stimulate alkaline phosphatase activity in Ishikawa cells, and upregulate presenelin-2 and progesterone receptor mRNA in Ishikawa cells. Numerous clinical trials have documented significant reductions in the frequency of hot flushes following the administration of hop-containing preparations. Nevertheless, further clinical trials with larger sample size and longer follow-up are warranted to confirm such benefits.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; Epithelium ; Estrogens ; Fatigue ; Female ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hormone Replacement Therapy ; Hot Flashes ; Humans ; Humulus* ; Menopause ; Prolactin ; Quality of Life ; Receptors, Estrogen ; Receptors, Progesterone ; RNA, Messenger ; Sample Size ; Sweat ; Women's Health

No abstract available.
Acacia* ; Pelvic Organ Prolapse* ; Plants*

Menopause is not a high-risk period for psychiatric illness but can cause psychological issues; the most common of which are anxiety and depression, which can impair coping and reduce women’s quality of life. Thus, many women have leaned toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for the relief of menopause-related symptoms. No rigorous study exists in the literature on the effects of CAMs on the psychological symptoms of menopause despite this growing patient interest. This systematic review aimed to assess the efficacy of CAM interventions on psychological symptoms of menopause. Databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar) were searched from January 2000 to May 2021 using the keywords: menopause, menopausal symptoms, psychological symptoms, and complementary and alternative medicine. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) for randomized clinical trials. Of the 704 articles found, 33 articles with 3,092 participants entered the final review. Aromatherapy, massage, yoga, and acupuncture, as well as some dietary and herbal supplements improved psychological symptoms during menopause based on the findings of the current study. However, the effectiveness of reflexology and exercise was debatable. However, necessary precautions should be taken when using them in clinical settings despite the positive effect of various CAM interventions on reducing psychological symptoms. More studies with a higher methodology quality are required to make better decisions about the effect of various CAM interventions on the psychological symptoms of menopause.

OBJECTIVES: To critically assess the effect of aromatherapy on the psychological symptoms as noted in the postmenopausal and elderly women. METHODS: Three following databases were systematically searched: MEDLINE, Scopus and Cochrane Library (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) from inception to January 2018. The search keywords included ‘menopause’ AND (aromatherapy), without language restrictions. RESULTS: In this study, 4 trials were included which fit into our systematic review. The findings demonstrated that the aromatherapy massage have significantly improved psychological symptoms in menopausal and elderly women as compared to the control group (standardized mean difference [SMD] = −1.24; 95% confidence interval, −0.188 to −0.606; P < 0.001 random effect model; 3 trials, moderate to high heterogeneity, I2 = 0.76; P = 0.028). According to 1 of the trials, the aromatherapy oil massage was no more effective than the untreated group regarding their experience of symptoms such as nervousness. CONCLUSIONS: The aromatherapy may be beneficial in attenuating the psychological symptoms that these women may experience, such as anxiety and depression, but it is not considered as an effective treatment to manage nervousness symptom among menopausal women. This finding should be observed in light of study limitations.
Aged ; Anxiety ; Aromatherapy ; Depression ; Female ; Humans ; Massage ; Menopause ; Population Characteristics

OBJECTIVES: The present systematic review was conducted to compare the effect of lavender on the quality of sleep, sexual desire, and vasomotor, psychological and physical symptoms among menopausal and elderly women. METHODS: There were five electronic databases which selected to search respective articles which included were Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Library without any language restriction since the study inception to March 10, 2018. The quality of studies was assessed in accordance with a jaded scale. RESULTS: According to three trials, the lavender as utilized in a capsule form or aromatherapy could significantly improve the measured Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score (P < 0.05) in the menopausal and elderly women. The aromatherapy with lavender improved sexual function (P < 0.001), depression (P < 0.001), anxiety (P < 0.001), and physical (P < 0.001) symptoms. Based on a trial, 66.7%, 70.0%, and 53.3% of subjects reported feelings of relaxation, happiness, and cleanness effects of having used lavender respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested the effectiveness of the use of lavender either in capsule form or aromatherapy on the improved quality of sleep, depression, anxiety, sexual desire, and psychological and physical symptoms. These results, however, should be interpreted with caution considering the limitations of the study.
Aged ; Anxiety ; Aromatherapy ; Depression ; Female ; Happiness ; Hot Flashes ; Humans ; Lavandula ; Libido ; Menopause ; Relaxation

OBJECTIVES: The current overview aimed to present the effect of herbal medicines on cognitive function among menopausal women. METHODS: Two separate authors performed systematic search of the 3 databases of (the MEDLINE Scopus and the Cochrane Central Register Trials) from inception to January 2018. Methodological quality of each study was assessed using the AMSTAR. RESULTS: According to 2 reviews, soy seems to be effective in enhancing summary cognitive function and visual memory. The effect of isoflavones on cognition was affected by treatment duration as six weeks of treatment improved some dimensions of cognitive parameters, including mental flexibility and planning, and longer treatment period (6 months) improved category digit span test, digit symbol test, and visual scanning test score. The effect of phytoestrogen on cognitive function of menopausal women might be altered age, gender, ethnicity, menopausal status, dosage, and length of treatment, types of cognitive test, location, types of soy, and types of phytoestrogen. Combination of Gingko with ginseng could not improve sustained attention, episode memory, category generation or frontal lobe function. Gingko biloba had no significant effect on planning, memory and sustained attention, except for its limited effect on mental flexibility in late menopause. In addition, other herbal medicines like black cohosh showed no effective beneficial. CONCLUSIONS: Phytoestrogen, soy and isoflavones might have a limited beneficial effect on some aspects of cognition. The phytoestrogens affecting cognition might be modified by age, gender, ethnicity, menopausal status, dosage, and length of treatment, types of cognitive test, location, types of soy, and types of phytoestrogen.
Cimicifuga ; Cognition ; Female ; Frontal Lobe ; Ginkgo biloba ; Herbal Medicine ; Humans ; Isoflavones ; Memory ; Menopause ; Panax ; Phytoestrogens ; Pliability