A comprehensive investigation of the association between menopause symptoms and problematic eating behavior in peri- and post-menopause cisgender women.

Midlife individuals assigned female at birth are at risk for problematic eating behavior, associated with negative health outcomes. Little is known about how menopausal symptoms may increase risk in this population. The current study aimed to understand how a comprehensive range of menopause symptoms were globally associated with problematic eating behaviors. A total of 281 cisgender women (176 post-menopause, 105 peri-menopause) from the United States aged 40 to 64 were recruited utilizing Prolific, an online survey platform. Participants answered questionnaires about menopause symptoms and problematic eating. Participants were selected using demographic and health information provided in a screener survey. Participants also completed the Eating Disorder Questionnaire (EDE-Q), Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ), Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Using Structural Equation Modeling, menopause symptoms explained 16.7 percent of the variance in problematic eating. Higher frequency and severity of anxiety, depression, sleep concerns, cognitive complaints, pain, and vasomotor symptoms was associated with greater frequency and severity of problematic eating behaviors, ß = .40, p < .001. Invariance testing showed no significant differences between peri- and postmenopausal women. These findings support the association between menopause symptoms and problematic eating in Midlife cisgender women and highlight the need for continued investigation.

Interrupted lullabies: the association between menopausal symptoms and sleep variability in peri- and post-menopausal women.

Poor sleep is a reality for many midlife women experiencing menopause. Although much empirical attention has been allocated toward ameliorating vasomotor symptoms and related consequences, less focus has been given toward sleep, specifically sleep variability, in menopausal women. The present study aimed to determine the association between menopausal symptoms and night-to-night sleep variability among peri- and post-menopausal women. Participants were 220 menopausal women (42.3 percent peri-menopausal, 57.7 percent post-menopausal) aged 40 to 64 from the United States recruited via Prolific, and online platform. The current study conducted secondary analyses on data collected as part of a larger investigation on midlife women from the United States. A structural equation model assessed associations between a latent menopausal symptom construct, composed of several Women's Health Questionnaire domains, and a latent sleep variability construct, composed of sleep diary indices. Menopausal symptoms were associated with latent sleep variability (ß = 0.49, p < .05); greater experience of menopausal symptoms was associated with more night-to-night sleep variability (medium effect size). Waking after sleep onset (WASO) was the sole significant indicator of the latent sleep factor. The findings highlight the importance of menopausal symptoms for sleep variability, specifically wakefulness. As such, wakefulness may be an important target for sleep interventions for menopausal women. The findings further suggest a need for more research and interventions targeted toward understanding and ameliorating the impact of menopausal symptoms on night-to-night wakefulness overall.

Examining negative affect, sleep duration, and using food to cope as predictors of weight in midlife women.

Midlife women are vulnerable to developing obesity. Behavioral and psychosocial factors including sleep duration, stress eating, and negative emotionality are risk factors. However, little is known about the complex daily interplay between sleep, eating, emotion, and weight among midlife women. The current study examined how daily sleep, using food to cope, and negative emotionality are associated with weight using a daily process research design. An archival analysis was performed using the Midlife in the United States-II study (MIDUS II). The sample consisted of 489 midlife women (40-64 years of age). Variables included ecological momentary assessments of daily sleep duration, using food to cope, and negative affect (means and intraindividual variability) and a standardized measurement of BMI. Sleep duration variability was a significant predictor of BMI, albeit the model only accounted for .8% of the variance in BMI (b = .019, p < .05). In the final adjusted model, sleep duration variability, using food to cope, age, and physical activity were all significant predictors of BMI F(5, 559) = 21.503, p < .001, R2 = .161, ⨂R2 = .024, p = .001. Variability in negative affect, mean sleep duration or negative affect and the interactions between sleep duration (mean, variability) and negative affect (mean, variability) were not significant. Greater variability in sleep duration and greater use of food to cope predicted higher BMI in this sample across age and physical activity levels. Results highlight that daily health and psychosocial factors play an important role in weight.

Role Stress and Sense of Control Predict Using Food to Cope With Stress in Midlife Women.

Objective: The current study examined the association between role stress and using food to cope with stress in midlife women and examined sense of control as a potential underlying mechanism. Methods: An archival analysis was performed using data from 638 midlife women from the Midlife in the United States II study. Results: Hierarchical linear regression analyses demonstrated that work stress (ß = .180, p < .001) and family stress (ß = .138, p < .05) significantly predicted using food to cope with stress. Sense of control was a significant mediator between work stress and using food to cope with stress (b = 0.02, 95% CI [.0014, .0314]). Discussion: Midlife women with higher role stress related to work and family are more likely to use food to cope with stress, and sense of control seems to be the link between work stress and using food to cope.