In one of the first large-scale studies of its type, the research team is trying to discover why some women exercise during menopause and others don't.

The study, by doctors Erika Borkoles and Lauren Banting, and professors Remco Polman and Lily Stojanovska, begins simply enough with an online questionnaire seeking women's views about exercise during menopause.

"We still have some taboos around talking about menopause in our society, and that doesn't help when women are making decisions about exercise," Professor Stojanovska said.

"One of the aims of this study is to find out how our team can help women to be more active in this period of their lives. We aim to explore innovative ways, such as the use of cooling jackets, to improve participation in exercise among this group."

Dr Borkoles, who is the lead researcher and an exercise psychologist, said there was a dearth of information on exercise patterns during menopause.

"We suspect that some of the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flushes, may be a reason that women cease to exercise at this time, but there has been so little research on this that we simply don't know. We know that up to 80per cent of women drop out of physical activity after the age of 55, but we don't know why."

The researchers are looking for volunteers who are experiencing or have experienced menopause to take part in the survey.

Details: Lauren Banting 99194771 or lauren.banting@vu.edu.au