Qi Gong & Menopausal Symptoms: 2024–2025 Evidence Overview
Menopause can feel like someone has quietly changed the settings on your whole system: hot flushes, night sweats, mood swings, brain fog, aching joints, and sleep that suddenly doesn’t play by the rules.
Qi Gong is often recommended as a gentle, body-based way to ride these waves. But what does the recent science – especially 2024–2025 – actually say about Qi Gong and menopausal symptoms?
This page gives you a clear, compassionate overview of the evidence so you can use Qi Gong alongside proper medical care, not instead of it.
Bring gentle support into your menopause journey
You don’t have to figure this all out alone.
Join Bright Beings Academy to learn soft, adaptable Qi Gong you can use for hot flushes, mood, sleep and emotional balance – with live classes, on-demand routines and deeper energy teachings to support this transition.
Why a menopause evidence hub?
Most Qi Gong articles (including my own) talk about:
Cooling fiery energy in the upper body
Strengthening the lower Dahn Jon
Restoring “Water Up, Fire Down” balance
All of that can be beautiful and empowering – but if you’re dealing with severe symptoms, you may also be wondering:
Has this actually been tested in women like me?
How much can it realistically help?
Is it an alternative to HRT, or a companion?
Since around 2022, we’ve had a growing cluster of:
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in peri- and postmenopausal women
Meta-analyses of mind–body exercise (Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga) in menopause
Trials in breast cancer patients on aromatase inhibitors, where menopausal-type symptoms can be particularly intense (PubMed)
This hub pulls those findings into one place so your symptom pages can link here, and you don’t have to wade through dense PDFs every time.
What exactly have researchers studied?
Across 2022–2025, the main menopause-focused Qi Gong studies share some common themes.
The practices
Most use Baduanjin or Health Qigong – simple, repeated movements with coordinated breathing and mindful awareness.
Sessions are usually low impact and adaptable (standing, with options to modify or sit when needed). (Wiley Online Library)
The women
Community postmenopausal women with anxiety, depression and poor sleep. (PMC)
Perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with a mix of vasomotor, mood and fatigue symptoms in larger mind–body meta-analyses. (PubMed)
Breast cancer survivors on aromatase inhibitors, experiencing treatment-induced menopausal symptoms and fatigue. (PMC)
The programmes
Typically 2–5 sessions per week, 30–45 minutes, over 8–12 weeks.
Most are group classes; some allow home practice between sessions.
How changes are measured
Menopausal symptom scales (e.g. Menopause Rating Scale – somatic, psychological, urogenital domains). (Taylor & Francis Online)
Sleep quality (PSQI), anxiety and depression scales. (PMC)
Quality of life, fatigue, and in cancer trials, even inflammatory markers (IL-6, TNF-α, etc.). (ResearchGate)
Headline findings from 2024–2025
1. Postmenopausal women: mood, sleep and symptom relief
A Spanish RCT in postmenopausal women used a 12-week BaDuanJin-style Qigong programme. Compared with controls, the Qigong group showed: (PMC)
Improved sleep quality (better PSQI scores)
Reduced anxiety and depression
Improvements across somatic and psychological menopausal symptoms
These were ordinary community women, not elite exercisers – which makes the results feel more relatable.
2. Peri- and postmenopausal women: mind–body exercise as a whole
A 2024 meta-analysis on mind–body exercise (including Tai Chi and Qigong) in peri- and postmenopausal women reported that these practices: (PubMed)
Improve bone mineral density
Help sleep quality
Reduce anxiety, depression and fatigue
Ease overall menopausal symptom severity
The authors are cautious – programmes vary, and not every study is high quality – but the overall direction is clearly positive.
3. Breast cancer survivors on aromatase inhibitors
Several studies have looked at Baduanjin for women with breast cancer on hormone therapy (which can induce intense menopausal symptoms):
Trials show better quality of life and sleep quality in Baduanjin groups vs usual care. (PMC)
A 2025 pilot RCT found that 12 weeks of Baduanjin reduced menopausal symptoms and fatigue and modulated inflammatory markers in women on aromatase inhibitors. (De Gruyter Brill)
Researchers describe Baduanjin as a feasible, low-intensity adjunct, not a cure – but for women navigating both cancer and menopause, even a modest reduction in symptoms can feel huge.
4. Mind–body therapies more broadly
Earlier systematic reviews and umbrella reviews of mind–body therapies in menopause (yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong, meditation) consistently find: (PMC)
Improvements in vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes, night sweats)
Better mood and sleep
Enhanced quality of life
Qigong is one strand in this wider family, and its results fit that pattern.
How Bright Beings Academy can support you during menopause
Reading the evidence is one thing. Having gentle, do-able practices and emotional support as your body changes is another.
At Bright Beings Academy, you can choose the level of support that fits where you are:
Whichever level you choose, you’ll be held in a warm, empathic community of people also learning to work with their changing bodies, not against them.
How strong is the evidence?
In evidence terms, Qi Gong for menopausal symptoms currently sits in the “promising adjunct” category.
What’s encouraging:
Multiple RCTs and reviews show reductions in menopausal symptom scores, plus improvements in sleep and mood, when women practise Baduanjin/Qigong several times a week. (Taylor & Francis Online)
Trials with breast cancer survivors suggest a role in easing therapy-induced menopausal symptoms and fatigue – a very challenging group to support. (PMC)
Adverse events are rare; routines are generally low-impact and adaptable.
What’s still limited:
Many studies are small, short-term, and based in specific regions.
Protocols differ (frequency, duration, exact forms), making it hard to pin down an “optimal dose”.
Qigong is often part of a broader lifestyle or mind–body approach, so isolating its unique effect can be tricky.
The fairest summary from 2024–2025 data is:
Qi Gong is not a replacement for medical care or HRT, but it is an evidence-supported, low-risk companion for easing menopausal symptoms, especially when practised regularly and combined with broader support.
How does this fit with UK menopause care?
In the UK, updated NICE guidance (NG23, 2024) emphasises that HRT is recommended as the first-line treatment for troublesome menopausal vasomotor symptoms like hot flushes and night sweats, with CBT and other approaches as adjuncts. (NICE)
That means:
If your symptoms are severe, talk to your GP or a menopause specialist about HRT and other options.
Qi Gong can then sit alongside that as a self-care and regulation practice – supporting mood, sleep, body image and emotional balance.
This evidence hub is not medical advice. It’s here to help you have informed, grounded conversations with your healthcare team and to make sense of why a calming, embodied practice might actually help.
Turning the research into gentle practice
Most successful programmes in the studies look surprisingly achievable when translated into everyday life:
Time per session: 15–30 minutes
Frequency: 3–5 days per week
Duration: Aim for 8–12 weeks before judging the effect
Style: Slow, flowing movements with relaxed breathing; nothing forced or competitive
If you’re experiencing:
Hot flushes, night sweats or “boiling head” sensations
Mood swings, anxiety, or tearfulness
Brain fog, fatigue, or a sense of being “scattered”
…Qi Gong can become a regular appointment with your nervous system – a space to cool, ground and reconnect with your body with kindness.
Always start gently. If you have complex medical conditions (especially cancer, heart issues, or severe joint problems), get clearance from your healthcare team before you begin.
Bring soft, structured support into this transition
You don’t have to white-knuckle your way through menopause.
If the evidence in “Qi Gong & Menopausal Symptoms: 2024–2025 Evidence Overview” resonates with you, consider joining Bright Beings Academy. You’ll receive guided Qi Gong, steady community support and deeper teachings to help you move through this life stage with more ease, dignity and self-compassion.
FAQs: Qi Gong & Menopausal Symptoms – 2024–2025 Evidence Overview
1. Can Qi Gong replace HRT for menopausal symptoms?
No. In the UK, updated NICE guidance states that HRT should be offered as first-line treatment for troublesome menopausal symptoms, after a proper discussion of risks and benefits. In Qi Gong & Menopausal Symptoms: 2024–2025 Evidence Overview we’ve seen that Qi Gong is best treated as a complementary mind–body practice, not a replacement for HRT or specialist care. (NICE)
2. What kinds of menopausal symptoms has Qi Gong been shown to help?
Trials and reviews suggest Qi Gong and Baduanjin can help with:
Overall menopausal symptom severity (somatic and psychological)
Sleep quality and insomnia
Anxiety, depression and fatigue
Quality of life, particularly in breast cancer survivors on hormone therapy (Taylor & Francis Online)
The exact pattern varies between studies, but mood, sleep and overall symptom burden are consistent areas of benefit.
3. How long do I need to practise before I might feel a difference?
Most studies run for 8–12 weeks, with several sessions each week. Some women feel calmer and more grounded within a couple of weeks; for others, changes are slower and more subtle. A realistic experiment is:
15–20 minutes of gentle Qi Gong
3–5 times per week
For at least two to three months
Then review how your hot flushes, sleep, mood and energy feel overall.
4. Is Qi Gong safe if I have breast cancer or I’m on aromatase inhibitors?
Several RCTs in breast cancer survivors on aromatase inhibitors suggest Baduanjin/Qigong can improve menopausal-type symptoms, fatigue and sleep, with good feasibility and very few adverse events. (PMC)
However, it’s essential to:
Check with your oncology or breast care team first
Start gently and adapt movements if you feel weak or unsteady
Stop and seek medical advice if you feel unwell during practice
5. I feel emotionally and spiritually lost during menopause. Can Qi Gong help with that too?
The studies mainly measure symptoms like hot flushes, sleep and mood – but many women report that regular Qi Gong also helps them feel more at home in their bodies, less overwhelmed, and more connected spiritually.
Qi Gong doesn’t erase life changes, but combined with good support, it can:
Give you a daily ritual of self-care
Help regulate your nervous system, so emotions feel more manageable
Create space to listen to what this life stage is asking you to become
That’s very much the spirit in which we use Qi Gong at Bright Beings Academy.
Further reading
If you’d like to explore this topic more deeply – both scientifically and practically – these Bright Beings Academy articles are ideal companions:
I look forward to connecting with you in my next post.
Until then, be well and keep shining.
Peter. :)
