Menopause and Exercise
Questions and Answers
Avoiding weight gain during menopause
Let's take a closer look at menopause and exercise. To successfully lose weight during menopause you’ll need to incorporate all three of these important elements:
Any menopausal woman who is looking at ways for avoiding weight gain during menopause will likely find these questions and answers helpful.
Can exercise reduce or eliminate the symptoms of menopause? Yes, it certainly can. In fact, research shows that women who stay physically active will experience fewer and milder menopause symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, and sleep disturbances than women who are sedentary. Physical exercise has a positive and significant effect on mood and has even been shown to be extremely helpful in treating mild to moderate depression symptoms.
Menopause and Exercise: Weight Gain During Menopause
Can exercise prevent or reverse weight gain during menopause? A number of women tend to notice extra weight gain during menopause particularly in their abdominal region. Research shows that weight gain after menopause tends to be more common in women who are inactive more so than in women who maintain an active lifestyle. Exercise does have an important influence on a woman’s total body fat and particularly abdominal fat during menopause. If a woman doesn’t gain weight during her menopausal years, the pattern of fat deposition will probably look different. That’s because a woman’s reproductive hormones seem to promote the “pear” body shape instead of the “apple” shape. A woman who has typically deposited fat in her thighs and hips may now find that she gains fat in her stomach area and waistline. Unfortunately, this switch to visceral and abdominal fat storage also increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Needless to say, it’s a good idea to be physically active and find activities you enjoy that will help keep your body slim and trim!
Menopause and Exercise: Benefits of Exercise During Menopause
What are the benefits of exercise during menopause and what role do hormones play?
Estrogen seems to bestow a “shielding effect” on women with regard to diseases such as heart disease and osteoporosis. When estrogen levels drop and begin to fluctuate, women become increasingly more susceptible to these types of health conditions. This is one reason why I’ve always been a strong advocate of the use of high quality
menopause nutritional supplements.
Exercise can also step up and offer its own unique “shielding effect” as well. The 5 years subsequent to the change of life are generally a time of rapid bone loss.
Resistance training and other forms of weight-bearing exercise will allow you to maintain the bone you’ve got, whereas inactive women will be losing bone mass. Regular and frequent cardio exercises have been shown to lessen the risk of diabetes, heart disease, improve lipid profiles, lower blood pressure, increase insulin sensitivity and even prevent weight gain. Certainly, these are some very valid reasons to keep your body active and moving!
Menopause and Exercise: Best Exercises For Menopausal Women
What are the best types of exercises for menopause women? Which are particularly important during the menopause years?
An active lifestyle is the most essential thing, but a our body will generally benefit most from these three main types of physical activities: - cardiovascular exercise for heart health as well as for calorie burning (walking, jogging, swimming, cycling)
- resistance training for increased lean muscle tissue, healthy bones and metabolism (weights, resistance exercises and bands)
- full body stretching for muscles flexibility and fluid joint movement (yoga, stretching, tai chi, pilates)
Many recreational activities such as dance, hiking, tennis etc, can also provide you with additional muscle and bone building benefits and can be lots of fun too!
Mature bodies will need a little more attention paid to stretching and warming up muscles before beginning any exercise, so give yourself at least 10 minutes of gradual stretching and warming up time at the beginning of any exercise session to prevent any possible injuries. This could be something like a low level cardio activity like walking or cycling and some gentle stretching (range of motion exercises). Ladies, hopefully I've addressed a few of your questions about menopause and exercise here. It’s a big topic and I know I’ve just scratched the surface. Exercise will add so much more vitality and energy to your life, so look for and be open to new activities that will keep you moving and that give you pleasure.
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