Young Kids Ease Menopause Symptoms

Having kids in the house could help reduce symptoms of menopause, according to a new study.

Researchers from The Kinsey Institute and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that living with young children decreased the likelihood of hot flashes and night sweats during menopause.

Researchers looked at the relationship between midlife women and young children. They found that women who underwent menopause triggered by the surgical removal of ovaries had significantly fewer hot flashes and night sweats when young children lived in their homes.

The latest study involved 117 participants who underwent health checks before he surgery and then again at two months, six months and a year after surgery.

"These are intriguing findings," researcher Tierney Lorenz, postdoctoral fellow at The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University Bloomington, said in a news release. "For women who were menopausal when our study began, those with young children at home actually showed more symptoms of hot flashes. But the women who underwent rapid menopause because of the surgical removal of their ovaries showed a dramatic reduction of symptoms."

Researchers noted that the findings only held true in families with young children.

"The fact the effects observed were limited to only women with children younger than 13 years suggests that parity was not sufficient to produce changes in flashes and points instead to the increased nurturance needs of young children," study authors wrote in the journal article. "Presence of young children at home may moderate development of hot flashes during the menopausal transition."

The findings were published in Menopause: the Journal of the North American Menopause Society.