Effect of 10 weeks aerobic exercise and resistance training on quality of life among sedentary menopausal women

Introduction and purpose: Menopause is accompanied with physical, psychological and social changes that affect women's quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate effect of 10 weeks combined exercise on quality of life among sedentary menopausal women. Methods & Materials: In this quasi-experimental study, twenty four postmenopausal women (50 -65 years) were randomly placed into two groups of training and controls. Women in the training group, performed 10 weeks of combined exercises including 2 walking sessions per week and 2 resistance training sessions per week. Control group did not participate in any physical activity exercise. Quality of life was measured by the mental and physical health (SF-36) at baseline and after completion of 10 weeks of exercise. Data were analyzed by SPSS18 using independent t-test and paired t-test. Findings: We found no significant difference in the mean scores of quality of life after intervention in the case group compared to controls (P greater-than 0.05). Whereas, there was significant differences (P less-than 0.05) between case and controls in terms of mean scores of quality of lifes dimensions such as psychology, physical activity, social activity, physical action and satisfaction after intervention. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, short-term combined exercise training (10 weeks) is not able to improve quality of life among inactive postmenopausal women.