# Time-Restricted Eating Combined with Exercise Reduces Menopausal Symptoms and Improves Quality of Life More than Exercise Alone in Menopausal Women: A Quasi-Randomized Controlled Trial

## TL;DR

Combining time-restricted eating with exercise improves menopausal symptoms and quality of life more than exercise alone in menopausal women.

## Contribution

This study is the first to show that combining time-restricted eating with exercise provides greater benefits than exercise alone for menopausal women.

## Key findings

- The combination group showed significantly greater reduction in total MRS score and psychological and somatic subdomains compared to the exercise-only group.
- The combination group had significantly better post-intervention scores in the physical and psychosocial subdomains of the MENQOL questionnaire.
- No significant differences were observed in the urogenital domain or vasomotor and sexual subdomains of quality of life.

## Abstract

Background: Menopause is often accompanied by menopausal symptoms and reduced quality of life. Studies on the combined effects of time-restricted eating and exercise in this population are lacking. This approach may provide additive preventive benefits by aligning nutritional timing with exercise to improve health and well-being in menopausal women. We aimed to assess whether a combined intervention is more effective than exercise alone in reducing menopausal symptoms and improving quality of life. Methods: This study examined the effects of a time-restricted eating protocol (16:8) combined with a resistance and endurance circuit training program in menopausal women. Symptoms were assessed using the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS), and quality of life was evaluated with the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQOL). Participants (n = 54) were quasi-randomly assigned to a combination group (exercise + time-restricted eating; n = 24) or an exercise group (exercise only; n = 30), with allocation influenced by participant preference. Results: The reduction in the total MRS score, as well as in the psychological and somatic MRS subdomains, was significantly greater in the combination group than in the exercise group (p = 0.008, p = 0.009, p = 0.007, respectively). No significant difference was observed in the urogenital domain. For MENQOL, post-intervention scores in the physical and psychosocial subdomains were significantly lower in the combination group compared with the exercise group (p = 0.013, p = 0.002, respectively), while no significant differences were found in the vasomotor and sexual subdomains. Conclusions: These findings suggest that integrating time-restricted eating with exercise results in greater alleviation of menopausal symptoms and improvements in quality of life compared to exercise alone in menopausal women.