Exercise and menopause
It's quite interesting because there was a study done which showed that middle-aged women who exercised less than three times a week, found they had more severe menopause symptoms, weight issues, insomnia, and anxiety than those who exercised more than three times a week.(1) So, that in itself is a huge incentive to get moving.
Now, let’s take a closer look at how exercising even just a little more can help you during perimenopause and menopause, including the symptoms it can help ease, and the ways it can benefit your overall well-being:
1. Hormonal balance
It’s known that exercise can actually help with your hormone balance. So, if you are getting regular exercise, then that's going to help to balance out your oestrogen and your progesterone, which is going to have a knock-on effect on all the major and minor symptoms in menopause.
2. Bone health
This is really important because, as we get older, as our oestrogen level decreases, our bone density decreases, which puts us far more at risk of things like osteoporosis. So, in this situation, things like walking 10 to 15 minutes a day, jogging, a bit of dancing, and a bit of weight resistance, can all help to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, and especially hip fractures, as we get into our 70s and 80s.
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3. Mood and mental health
When we exercise, especially if it's a little bit of cardio, this produces endorphins which make us feel good. This can help reduce anxiety, stress, and depression. And I know if I have a really good workout, afterwards it's almost like my body is singing. It just feels so good, and that lifts me up for the rest of the day.
4. Better sleep
It can improve sleep, believe it or not. So, hot flushes and night sweats can disrupt our sleep, and we know that in perimenopause and menopause getting to sleep and staying asleep can be a lot harder.
Regular exercise is known to promote a better quality of sleep, so you're sleeping deeper, which means you're less likely to wake up with flushes and sweats. And it can help you to get to sleep, and it's just going to promote a better night's sleep all around; and we all need that really, don't we?
The only thing is, don't exercise an hour or two before bed because that's going to rev your nervous system up, and interfere with your sleep. So early evening exercise is fine, but don't do it too late.
5. Muscle mass and strength
As we get older, and especially as our oestrogen drops, our muscle mass and strength can start to decrease. The problem here is that weak and wasted muscles won't support your joints, so you're more likely to get things like osteoporosis and joint pain.
Also, muscles burn far more calories than fat does. So, if you keep good muscle mass and tone, that's going to retain your physical strength, but it's also going to help you control your weight because your body is burning more calories on a daily basis.
And, studies have found that exercising before breakfast will increase your metabolism for a good part of the day. So again, that exercise in the morning will help you to burn more calories for the rest of the day. (2)
6. Weight management
We know that weight gain is an all-too-common issue in perimenopause and menopause. We get tired. We get fatigued. We're so busy that we just forget to exercise. We're probably eating more, and then our weight just slowly creeps up until we realise that we can't get into last year's summer dresses. So again, regular exercise burns more calories, and it will just help you to control your weight that little bit more.
7. Cardiovascular health
This is another important one. For women, it's known that, post-menopause, we're more likely to experience heart attacks than men (3); so, we need to keep our hearts healthy.
So, some kind of cardio work every week, what they call aerobic work, is really important. That would be things like swimming and cycling, even dancing, dancing in front of the telly or with your earphones on to some good music 10 to 15 minutes a day could be absolutely fabulous.
Also, regular aerobic exercise will help to reduce your risk of high blood pressure and also heart disease.
8. Better digestion
Did you know that exercise helps digestion? We tend to get a bit more bloated, and more constipated during menopause. So, a brisk walk, with your arms moving, will help to massage everything throughout the whole of your digestive tract, and that can help with your constipation really quite quickly.
9. Joint health
Again, we're more prone to things like osteoporosis, joint aches and pain, and joint inflammation as we go through perimenopause and menopause.
If you've got joint aches and pains, don't push yourself because that will just make things worse, but you could do things like swimming, yoga, and tai chi. You still want to keep yourself flexible if you've got joint pains, and also, to keep your muscles strong. As I mentioned before, strong muscles will support your joints much better too.
And exercise produces pain-killing chemicals that will reduce pain and discomfort.
10. Pelvic floor health
Pelvic floor exercises are helpful for improving those weak bladders. We want to prevent all sorts of issues, like a prolapse affecting the bladder, or the womb, or the bowel; so, we want to keep our pelvic floor muscles really strong. Weight-bearing exercises, Pilates, this type of exercise is absolutely fabulous for this one. So that's something that you should look at on a regular basis as well.
My favourite types of exercise
It has to be personal because you have to pick exercises that you enjoy. If somebody said to me, "Oh, you've got to go out jogging three times a week," I would stay in my bed. I really don't enjoy jogging.
But, for me, I do a little bit of yoga to keep my flexibility going. A wise yoga teacher many, many years ago told me, "You're only as old as your back." So, she was in her mid-70s, and she could still do the Plow pose. So, I aim to try and do that at least once or twice a week because I don't want an old back.
Walking. I love walking, either a quick walk a couple of times a week or a long hike. And I also do one cardio session a week just to keep my heart healthy. So, these types of exercises I love and I get benefit from them.
I know there are going to be a lot of you out there who are going to be saying, "Where am I going to get the time to do this?" Yes, we're all busy, and it can be really difficult to fit this in. But, for me, keeping myself fit, and healthy, and benefiting from all of these things I've mentioned, is important to me. So, for me, exercise is a priority. It's not a luxury. And yes, at least one morning a week, I have to drag myself out of bed at 5:30 in the morning; but it just makes me feel so much better on a regular basis, so it’s worth it.
Don’t overdo it!
The only thing I would say here is if you haven't been exercising for a long time, don't just jump straight into it because you will be sore for about a fortnight. It's really important that you maybe get a health check first by your doctor, or if you join a sports centre, they will give you a quick once over just to make sure that you're fit enough to do the exercises that you want to do.
Other than that, go for the exercises that you enjoy, that bring you joy, and that make you feel better afterward. If you're slogging away at something for an hour and you come out and you feel tired and totally fatigued, that's the wrong thing for you to do because exercise should be lifting you up.
So, I hope you found this one helpful. There's an awful lot in there. If any of you out there have any specific exercises that you have found have made all the difference to your life, please share them. We love to hear your stories.
Until next time, take care.
