What Exercise Can Do For Menopausal Women

Forty is considered the midpoint in a woman’s life. Half of your life is behind you and the next half is ahead of you. You are now officially “middle-aged”.

Turning forty is also a signal that menopause is not that far away. Though the average age for a woman to stop having monthly periods is 51, menopause can happen anytime between the ages of 41 and 59. Technically, menopause is when you have had no menstruation for 12 consecutive months. The period before that happens is called perimenopause and the period immediately after is called post-menopause.

Many women dread menopause because they think they are no longer as ‘womanly’ as they were when they were younger. However, a more positive view of this inevitable life experience is that it can be liberating. Child-rearing responsibilities are fewer since the children are usually independent by now. There is no longer a fear of getting pregnant. Now is the time to seriously consider pursuing dreams that were never fulfilled because of marital, parental or financial factors.

However, to enjoy the second half of your life, you need to have a fit and healthy body Exercise can help you to have a better quality life pre- and post-menopause.

Heart Disease
Estrogen protects a woman from heart disease by keeping arteries relatively free from cholesterol deposits and by raising HDL (good cholesterol) levels. Ten years after menopause, a woman’s risk of heart disease becomes the same as a man because of declining hormone levels. By doing regular cardiovascular exercise like walking, dancing, and swimming, a menopausal woman can continue to keep her heart and blood vessels healthy.

Osteoporosis
Menopausal women are at high risk for osteoporosis because lowered estrogen levels hasten the loss of bone minerals. Although the best time to build strong bones is before the age of 35, weight-bearing exercise (walking, running, yoga, aerobic classes) and resistance training (weight lifting) prevent further bone mineral loss from happening.

A Tufts University study found that twice a week sessions of simple weight lifting exercises that could be done at home increased bone density by 1% after one year.

Balance
People tend to lose their sense of balance as they get older if they do not exercise regularly. This has serious implications for a post-menopausal woman. A good sense of balance helps prevent unnecessary falls that could lead to a wheelchair existence. Exercise not only keeps the muscles strong but also keeps movement reflexes sharp.

Weight Gain
According to the Archives of Internal Medicine, “All women are equally susceptible to menopausal weight gain regardless of premenopausal body types”. This means that even if you were lean and lanky in your thirties, you can put on five to ten pounds during perimenopause. And most of it will be around your waist and abdomen rather than the hips, buttocks, and thighs. The change in your shape, from an hourglass to a shot glass, can probably be blamed on downward shifting hormonal levels.

Though still unproven in humans, a 2003 study on monkeys found that declining hormones lowered metabolism and increased appetite by 67%.

Other possible reasons why menopausal women put on weight are reduced physical activity, increased caloric intake especially of sweets, and a slowdown in metabolism due to a loss of muscle.

Wayne Westcott, strength training expert, says that a sedentary woman can expect to lose about half a pound of muscle a year during perimenopause and a pound a year during the ten years after menopause. This means that by the time a woman is 55, she would have lost 15 pounds of muscle. The muscle loss does not only result in a flabby body but also in less physical activity since a weaker body does not have the endurance and stamina for exercise.

A pound of muscle requires 5 to 10 calories per day to maintain itself. A loss of 15 pounds means 75 to 150 fewer calories per day. Over time, this leads to a slowly creeping weight gain.

But it’s not as hopeless as it sounds. Exercise can help keep the pounds away. A 2002 study found that sedentary menopausal women had 38% body fat compared to fit women who only had 25% body fat.

Resistance exercise or weight lifting is the best way to rebuild muscle that you have lost. Aerobic exercise helps to keep the weight down because of the calories burned during the workout and cellular changes that make you a more efficient calorie burner.

Continue reading here: Making the Waist Smaller

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