Strength Training During the Menopause
The benefits of strength training in general are well documented – but the benefits during the menopause are second to none.
From improving muscular strength and increasing bone density to reducing stress and anxiety, strength training does it all.
As the retirement age increases, its becoming more apparent how detrimental the symptoms of the menopause can be for women whilst trying to maintain a normal working and social life. No matter when strength training is started, the benefits can really help.
What is the menopause?
The menopause is when a womens periods stop due to low hormone levels. This usually occurs around the age of 45-55 years, however it can occur sooner naturally or as a result of surgeries such as an oophorectomy (removal of ovaries) or a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus). Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and/or genetics can also cause menopause to occur early as well.
Symptoms of the menopause can fall into 2 categories: Physical and Mental.
Physical signs
The physical signs and symptoms are likely to be the most noticeable as they include the stopping of your periods, hot flushes, difficulty sleeping, change in body shape and weight gain, headaches and migraines that are worse than usual, and skin changes such as now having dry and itchy skin. When you start to get a combination of all of these things and you are in or near to the age category for the menopause, it’s a highly likley the cause of the changes.
Mental well-being changes
With regards to changes within your mental health, these may not be as easy to spot. Especially as awareness around Mental Health and the psychological changes pre and during the menopause are not documented as much as the physical changes. The mental health symptoms of the menopause include low mood, anxiety, mood swings, low self esteem but also problems with memory or concentration. A lot of people with the menopause complain of experiencing ‘brain fog’. These symptoms can often be shrugged off as “having a bad day” or “just not feeling yourself at the moment” and are often overlooked.
Perimenopause and other changes
Perimenopause is when you have symptoms before your periods have stopped. You reach menopause when you have not had a period for 12 months. During perimenopause you may experience some physical and/or mental symptoms, however these can change over time.
All symptoms will have a detrimental effect on everyday life and the main symptoms people like to combat quickly are their sleep quality, weight gain and anxiety levels. These usually have the biggest impact on our day to day lives, both work and social. The exercise that we do can have a huge impact on reducing the symptoms and allowing our day to day lives to stay relatively normal and how they used to be.
Why does strength training help during the menopause/peri-menopause?
Strength training allows us to maintain muscle mass and with muscle mass being vital in keeping us healthy and allowing for longevity with our functional movement, it becomes especially important during the menopause. During strength training, stress is also put onto your bones, improving their resilience and density.
During peri-menopause and the menopause women start to experience some changes both physically and mentally with their bodies due to changes in hormone levels. A decrease in oestrogen being the biggest and main cause of most of the symptoms.
Some symptoms of the menopause include, weight gain, an increase in body fat mass and more aches and pains in joints.
Oestrogen is considered to be an appetite suppressing hormone and one form of oestrogen, estradiol, helps to regulate metabolism and body weight. So as it reduces, appetite can increase. Strength training can help by maintaining as much muscle mass as possible. This helps regulate our metabolism and reduce the chances of increasing our body fat percentage to dangerous levels, which then increases the risk of getting diabetes or heart disease. The more muscle you have the ‘higher’ your metabolism so the more calories can be consumed before heading into a surplus.
From a bone density perspective, from the age of about 35 we start to lose calcium from our bones. The rate of this increases as our oestrogen levels drop increasing the risk of osteoporosis as oestrogen is required to help lay down bone. Activities that put stress on bones can nudge bone-forming cells into action. That stress comes from the tugging and pushing on bone that occur during strength training. The result is stronger, denser bones and slows down the effects of reduced oestrogen during the menopause.
Now from a psychological perspective, strength training also has its benefits. Increased cortisol and therefore stress levels during the menopause can be hugely detrimental to every day life, both work and social. Strength training can really help here. Physical exercise helps to release our feel good hormones, endorphins. These help to raise our mood and switch our mentality to “I can” rather than “I can’t or I can’t be bothered”. Anxiety reduces, cortisol levels go back to their normal levels and all is good in the world again. Regular exercise and regular endorphins being pumped out increases self confidence, improves mood and can help you relax. In turn and in time a reduction in stress and anxiety levels will contribute to better sleep as well. Another symptom of menopause is broken sleep.
What might a strength training workout look like for a client experiencing the menopause?
For a client experiencing the menopause a strength training workout can be extremely flexible. However the programme will be progressive. Progressive overload is extremely important in making sure muscular strength is maintained or improved over time. Depending on how many strength sessions are being done per week will depend what each session looks like, but 9/10 each session will be a Total Body workout. So upper body, lower body and core exercises will all be completed.
