5 Ways Exercise Helps with Menopause Symptoms
Menopause symptoms can be a great discomfort and in some cases debilitating. In fact, more than 75% of women experience some kind of symptom such as hot flushes, night sweats, sleep problems, fatigue, and anxiety. While not all women experience all symptoms, finding a way to ease these feelings while building positive health habits is a fantastic solution; and exercise and movement is exactly that.
Exercise is an effective way to relieve menopause symptoms while naturally managing stress, boosting mood and improving energy levels. Why? Because when you exercise, endorphins are released, which are chemicals (hormones) released by the body that alleviate pain and increases feelings of wellbeing.
However, don’t be put off by the term ‘exercise’. You don’t need to worry about lifting twice your body weight or running marathons. Instead, we’re going to be providing simple and effective ways to keep your body healthy and your mind happy. A little goes a long way.
1. Exercise supports hormone balance
During the perimenopause and menopause, the amount of oestrogen your body produces declines. This has many knock on effects, but one that everyone should know about is how it impacts bone density.
Oestrogen keeps bones healthy as it promotes osteoblasts, which are responsible for producing new bone. That means when oestrogen levels drop, the process is slowed down and results in bones that are less dense. This also increases the risk of osteoporosis.
Weight bearing exercise (where your feet and legs support your weight) and strength training (where you lift or pull against resistance) are recommended for improving bone density and helping prevent osteoporosis.
Even gentle exercise brings benefits to both your mind and body. This could be walking up and down the stairs for 10 minutes, going for a brisk walk in the park, dancing around your kitchen or doing 10 squats while the kettle boils.
A really easy way to start strength training is with resistance bands. Not only are they cost effective, but they’re also a low impact way of getting stronger bones without needing a gym membership. Start light and enjoy the journey of feeling your body getting stronger and more able!
2. Combat high cortisol
We know that endorphins promote positive feelings, but what about the negative ones? That’s where cortisol comes in. It’s the primary stress hormone and it takes precedence over many other hormones. That’s why stress can trigger menopause symptoms or make them worse. We’re also more susceptible to stress during the menopause transition.
Doing exercise for menopause has a direct correlation with managing stress levels, or in this case, cortisol. During perimenopause and menopause, some women experience a rise in cortisol and that can naturally have a negative effect on overall wellbeing, feelings of self, and general happiness.
Cortisol can be managed though, and that’s through regular exercise. While that sounds simple enough, the process of starting and maintaining regular exercise is often the hardest bit - especially on the ‘I can’t be bothered days’.
Clinical Psychologist, Dr Julie Smith, uses the term ‘low mood’, and that’s a good way to spot early signs of high cortisol levels. That means when you feel low, make extra effort to do the most basic exercise; it could stop you feeling down and turn a bad day into a great one.
For the days when you don’t feel like exercising, just do the basics; walking, stretching, dancing. Getting the body moving will feel good!
Yoga is a wonderful way to calm the nervous system and reduce cortisol levels. It also helps to strengthen muscles and bones through the various postures. (follow a beginner video on YouTube if you’re new to it, I love Yoga with Adriene)
Take care not to overdue the exercise because intense workouts such as HIIT or pounding the treadmill to your limits can lead to elevated cortisol levels which put more stress on the body and make menopause symptoms worse. Everything in moderation!
3. Balance blood sugar
Due to hormonal changes during the menopause transition, blood sugar levels can be unpredictable. Stress, eating sugary foods or refined carbohydrates can also cause a blood sugar roller coaster. Exercise for menopause helps to balance blood sugar levels, which in turn ensures more stable moods and energy levels throughout the day. The simplest of physical activity increases your metabolic rate, which can help to burn calories more effectively and make better use of the glucose that is in the body.
Solutions for balancing blood sugar can be as simple as 30 minutes of walking a day. If you’re in the office at work then consider a stroll on your lunch break, or if you’re at home, enjoy a mid-morning walk around a local favourite spot. It’s an opportunity for you to have a chat with a friend, enjoy a podcast, or just have some peace and quiet.
Walking is incredibly low impact so keeps your bones healthy, and helps your body to release energy correctly. After all, adults in the UK spend an estimated 9 hours sitting down every day. No wonder a walk makes us feel better!
4. Exercise helps to improve sleep
During menopause, getting a good night’s sleep can be tough. With so much hormonal, physical and psychological change, it’s no surprise that sleep is something many women struggle with.
While bad sleep can have a number of issues at the core, exercise during menopause will absolutely help in getting a better night’s rest. The body expects to be lower in energy in the evening, so feeling like you’ve had an active day is a really positive sign. Equally, if you hit the evening feeling full of energy then that’s a sign you haven’t released as much energy as your body would have liked, resulting in a potentially restless night.
Try not to exercise too near the time you go to sleep either as it wakes your body up and releases endorphins at a time when you don’t need them as much. Instead, try and plan your day with the idea of it steadily winding down. It helps to get the big jobs out of the way early and lower stress levels as you enter the evening.
If you’re experiencing poor sleep, check out our 10 tips on improving sleep during menopause.
5. weight Management
As mentioned, levels of oestrogen decrease during menopause, which slow down metabolism and make weight gain easier, and weight loss harder. That means exercise becomes even more important to weight management.
Every person is different and the weight loss/weight management journey is completely unique to every person. What this means is that progress is influenced by age, weight, and hormones, so don’t feel demotivated if progress is slow!
Through exercise, you burn calories, raise your metabolism, and increase your heart rate, which have a huge range of benefits. But, weight isn’t influenced by exercise alone. It’s equally as important to have a diet that compliments your exercise.
Consider this; there’s 262 calories in an avocado salad and 251 calories in a McDonald’s hamburger. However, the saturated fat (unhealthy cholesterol-raising fat) in the hamburger makes up 40% of its fat content, while the saturated fat in the salad makes up 12%. There’s also twice the amount of sugar in the burger than the salad, and nearly three times the salt. Simply put, it’s going to be much harder to burn off the burger than the salad and you’ll get significantly less nutritional value. With this in mind, you might even want to consider eating organic as herbicides and pesticides on non-organic produce are hormone disruptors.
When you exercise, keep in mind what you're exercising with. Exercising on a diet of nutrient dense, nourishing whole foods will help you look after your weight so much better.
Remember to enjoy exercise
Exercise starts off difficult, but don’t be put off by the challenge. If you keep it up, you’ll find yourself in a routine where you can’t go through the week without it. Try finding ways to exercise on your terms too; it’s not a one size fits all activity, and requires you to step out of your comfort zone, try new things and learn what works for you.
Amongst easing menopause symptoms, exercising will encourage better overall mood, better sleep, and healthier weight. Enjoy!
For a personalised program to improve menopause symptoms including exercise, nutrition, detoxification, sleep & self care contact Sally @ rebalancebysally@gmail.com
