Menopause
What is the menopause?
Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels. It usually affects women between the ages of 45 and 55, but it can happen earlier. It affects anyone who has periods.
Menopause can happen naturally, or for reasons such as surgery to remove the ovaries (oophorectomy) or the uterus (hysterectomy), cancer treatments like chemotherapy, or a genetic reason. Sometimes the reason is unknown.
Perimenopause is when you have symptoms of menopause but your periods have not stopped. It ends when you have not had a period for 12 months. Symptoms can include anxiety, mood swings, brain fog, hot flushes and irregular periods, and can begin years before your periods stop and continue afterwards.
These symptoms can have a big impact on your life, including relationships and work. There are things you can do to help, including treatments that replace missing hormones and relieve symptoms.
How can physical activity help?
One effect of the menopause can be weight gain. Regular exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight. Similarly, menopause can lead to a loss of muscle mass – which can affect your metabolism and strength. Exercising during this stage of your life can counteract some of these effects:
- Improve your heart health. After the menopause, you may be at an increased risk of heart disease due to lower oestrogen levels. Helpfully, regular cardio exercise can help to reduce this risk.
- Encourage better sleep. The menopause can sometimes cause insomnia and regular exercise may support better sleep patterns.
- Reduce anxiety and low mood. The hormonal changes during menopause can affect your mental health. Exercise produces feel-good endorphins and can lower stress.
- Support your bone health. A loss of oestrogen can affect the health of your bones, but resistance exercises can help to keep them strong.
Thanks to funding from Taunton Deane Primary Care Network, we have been able to offer their patients free access to our specialist MenoFit course, which has been a huge success. For more details, please see the evaluation from our courses.