What Is Menopause?
Definition
“Menopause” is defined as “a point in time 12 months after a woman’s last period“. More generally, the term “menopause” refers to the end of a woman’s reproductive years. Even though menopause technically occurs once in a woman’s lifetime, the symptoms leading to it can last a decade. The decade preceding menopause is known as “perimenopause”.
Perimenopause
By “perimenopause” we usually refer to the lapse of time that precedes a woman’s menopause. In most cases, such lapse of time lasts about 10 years and begins sometime between 35 and 45 years of age. Undoubtedly, the perimenopausal transition causes the most physical, mental and emotional distress in a woman’s life. Indeed, it presents a woman with a variety of symptoms that upset both her life and her identity. In particular, the most common symptoms are:
  | – hot flashes – night sweats – insomnia – mood swings (with anxiety and depression bursts) – blood sugar fluctuations – energy crashes – fat-storing around the waist – loss of life purpose – identity crisis – shorter, lighter periods – shorter, longer or altered cycles |
Is Exercise Good or Bad for Menopause Symptoms?
Excessive exercise can lead to early menopause
While strength training has a beneficial effect on women’s health, excessive exercise – especially cardio – can lead to early menopause. Indeed, in response to the prolonged stress generated by frequent, strenuous sessions, the hormone cortisol is produced (as explained here). However, cortisol competes with progesterone, as they both are made from the same substrate, pregnenolone. Therefore, when the body prioritises the production of cortisol over progesterone (aka the “pregnenolone steal theory”), a woman gets light, short periods, or starts missing her periods altogether. In the worst case scenario, she can face hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), clinically defined as the absence of a period for at least 3 months. When HA is not taken seriously and treated, early onset menopause can occur.
Exercise can be good for perimenopause symptoms
However, strength and power training sessions have a beneficial effect on perimenopausal symptoms. Moreover, when combined with proper rest and nutrition, strength and power training can even help reverse HA. Thanks to the positive effects of strength training on bone mineral density (BMD), blood sugar and mood, weight sessions can help most women reduce symptoms. More specifically, strength training improves sleep quality and insuline sensitivity (thus decreasing the chances of gaining fat around the waist), and it boosts endorphins, fighting both anxiety and depression. Lastly, it can help a woman redefine her sense of identity, as it helps her find new ways of assessing her skills and value.
Best Exercise Routines for Perimenopause and Menopause
1. Weight Training
For the aforementioned reasons, weight training is the best form of exercise to alleviate menopause symptoms. However, make sure you keep your sessions short and effective (45-60 minutes). In terms of frequency, 2 or 3 sessions per week are more than enough, unless you are an advanced athlete.
2. Yoga, Pilates and Stretching
To boost your mood, improve sleep and reduce anxiety, make sure you incorporate yoga, pilates or stretching sessions in your routine. As these types of exercise do not require much time to recover, feel free to have as many sessions as you please. Great additions are also Thai-Chi and Qui-Gong. To get the most benefits, make sure you train outside as often as you can: such a mood-booster!
3. Walks and Hikes
Lastly, make sure you include long, daily walks and/or frequent hikes in your weekly routine. Walking is an amazing way to lower blood pressure, reduce stress and improve sleep. Moreover, it allows you to burn a lot of calories effortlessly; for this reason, it is an excellent exercise to manage your weight and prevent fat-storing.
To Conclude
Hormones and energy
The transition from pre to post-menopause can be a long and painful experience for a woman. While excessive cardiovascular exercise can make such a transition worse, a good balance of strength training, stretching and walking can have a positive impact on symptom management. As I explained in my previous post, a woman’s energy fluctuates with her hormones. However, when exercise, nutrition, lifestyle and work-schedule are synchronised with your hormones, you can be productive all month long.
Want to know more?
Do you want to learn more about how your hormones affect your performance, and how you can organise your monthly schedule to work with your cycle? Would you like to know what foods to eat and what workouts to do in each phase, to be your strongest self all month long? Do you need recipe ideas to support your hormones? Do you want to get rid of cramps and migraines for good?
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