How Exercise Can Help Menopause Symptoms

What is Menopause?

Menopause is from the Greek word men (month) and pausis (cessation), in other words, the monthly cycle stops. This occurs in women around the ages of 45-55 years old as their body undergoes hormonal changes and they start experiencing menopause symptoms.

These hormonal changes include a decrease in:

• Estrogen
• Progesterone
• Testosterone
• Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
• Luteinizing hormone (LH)

During this time, women will also experience uncomfortable symptoms including hot flashes, weight gain, muscle loss, depression, anxiety, insomnia, headaches, UTIs, and more.

Most women begin having these symptoms 4 years before their last period and 4 years beyond their last period. That’s 8 years of potential negative side effects!

Treatment

In an act to help reduce menopause symptoms, many doctors will prescribe hormone replacement therapy (HRT) which can help reduce discomfort during menopause.

The problem with taking hormone replacements is that they can increase the risk of breast cancer (1). In fact, a large study found that most hormone replacement therapy drugs are linked to an increased risk of breast cancer (1).

This study found the greatest risk when taking estrogen-progesterone treatments, but small increases in risk were linked with estrogen-only treatments (1).  

If you already have a family history of breast cancer, it may be best to avoid taking hormone replacements and focus on more natural therapies. We recommend that you consult a doctor if you are concerned about your hormone replacement.

Anyway, if you want to avoid taking hormone replacement for one reason or another, we’ve got good news for you! 

Exercise & Menopause Symptoms

Exercise, particularly strength training, has been shown to help improve some symptoms of menopause! 

Exercise, in general, helps boost endurance, metabolism, energy, cognitive function, and sleep! Plus, it helps promote muscle gain, healthier joints, and bones. 

A group of menopausal women ages 55-72 did 3 hours of exercise per week for 1 year and had much greater physical health, mental health, and quality of life compared to their sedentary counterparts (2). 50% of the women that exercised reported symptoms at the beginning of the year while only 37% reported symptoms at the end of the year. The percentage of women reporting symptoms that did not exercise increased by 10% over the same year (2).

Another study followed 438 menopausal women in Australia for 8 years. It found that those who exercised were 49% less likely to report hot flashes (2)! Other studies on exercise and hot flashes have mixed results, so we cannot declare that it always helps.

Many other studies have shown that exercise improves health and reduces symptoms during menopause. Some of the benefits of regular strength training exercise include:

• Improved sleep quality
• Better mood
• Reduced dizziness
• Fewer headaches
• Reduced shortness of breath
• Less pain
• Overall higher quality of life
• Greater muscle mass
• Increased bone density
• Reduced risk of heart disease
• Lower weight
• Reduced lower back pain

Exercise Recommendations

It is recommended to exercise for 150 minutes per week, which balances out to 30 minutes per day 5 days a week. You can see even more benefits with greater amounts of exercise. If you’re not used to exercising, we recommend starting out with 30 minutes per day or less. 

If you’re new to strength training, you may consider working with a personal trainer. Wendy Green is a certified personal trainer and she is happy to give you exercise and diet recommendations. 

Please be aware, some blood pressure medications lower your maximum heart rate. If you are taking one of these drugs, you will want to be careful to target a lower heart rate while exercising. 

References

(1)   https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m3873

(2)   https://core.ac.uk/reader/20320648?utm_source=linkout