Menopause does not come only through physical changes. As sleep becomes lighter and emotional swings widen, what many women say is hardest is an unquantified “shaking of the mind”. A large-scale analysis has now looked at what mindfulness training can do for psychological difficulties in this phase.
Bringing ten studies together
A team at King’s College London in the UK published its analysis of how mindfulness-based interventions affect the psychological state of menopausal women in Frontiers in Global Women’s Health in July 2026.
The research was conducted not as separate trials, but by synthesising existing studies. The team carried out a systematic literature review and meta-analysis according to the PRISMA guidelines, analysing eight randomised controlled trials and two quasi-experimental studies, for a total of 10 studies. Participants included 1,270 women who experienced natural menopause. First author was Flavia Bonfadini and the corresponding author was Mark Kennedy. The primary outcome measures were quality-of-life components related to menopause, assessing anxiety, depression and cognitive function. In particular, when the measurement tools matched, the researchers conducted an exploratory (random-effects) meta-analysis to integrate estimates of the mindfulness intervention effect.
The clearest shift was in quality of life
In the analysis, the biggest change emerged in psychosocial quality of life related to menopause. The figure showing effect size, the Hedges g value, was -1.06, indicating a large improvement, while statistical significance was p〈0.001. Overall, mindfulness interventions produced a substantial improvement in quality of life. In particular, it suggested that emotions and social distress linked to menopause were eased across the board.
Psychosocial quality of life is a measure that captures areas menopausal women genuinely experience in everyday life, such as emotional steadiness and satisfaction with relationships and role performance. The findings point to a change not in the symptoms themselves, but in the way people live with them.
Effects were smaller for anxiety and depression
In the same analysis, the improvement in anxiety and depression scores was comparatively smaller. That means mindfulness does not act on all psychological symptoms of the menopause with the same magnitude.
On the basis of these differences, the research team said it is necessary to understand mindfulness not as a way to replace existing treatments, but as a complementary approach that supports quality of life.
The tasks the research team leaves behind
The research team also set out what should be checked in follow-up work. They recommended independently assessing cognitive function with an approved tool, examining how long benefits last depending on the intensity of mindfulness practice, and introducing a design that directly compares with existing treatment methods.
They added that the number of included studies is not large, at 10, and said that this needs to be taken into account when interpreting the results.
Questions for menopause care in South Korea
In South Korea, women’s mental health during menopause has also been treated as one pillar of managing menopausal symptoms during perimenopause, but approaches have focused on hormone therapy and adjusting lifestyle habits. This analysis shows, in numbers, what place training the mind could have in improving quality of life during this period.
That also means an additional set of evidence has emerged that domestic organisations running meditation programmes and hospital health-promotion centres can draw on when designing separate courses for menopausal women.
Written based on research results published in Frontiers in Global Women’s Health in July 2026.
