Most of us recognise the value and importance of exercise as we get older, with an active fitness regime a key aspect of lifelong health. What’s often less straightforward is making time for a training routine alongside countless work and family commitments.
With massive improvements in coverage and education about menopause, it’s also worth noting that many women at this stage in life are also time poor. Menopause typically affects those between 45 and 55, but women can experience perimenopause symptoms at any point from their 30s onward.
From trying to fit in an early morning workout before a full day at work to juggling training around school runs and lifts and prioritising your fitness and well-being among all your other obligations and responsibilities, we’ll take a look at some tried-and-tested approaches to allocating a non-negotiable time slot solely for yourself and your menopause exercise.
What Are the Benefits of Active Movement and Menopause Exercise?
The advantages of a fitness routine are compelling, from better sleep to less exposure to stress and anxiety, improvements to bone health, enhanced muscle tone and strength, reductions in joint pain and stiffness, and even a lower risk of cardiac conditions!
That’s even before we talk about exercise as a weight management tool and a way to build stamina, endurance and flexibility, all of which are known to contribute to balance, coordination and better mobility in older age in the decades to come.
However, we also can’t ignore the difficulty of training, especially if you’re starting working out after a break or haven’t been a regular gym-goer or exercise fan at any previous stage in your life. As a quick recap:
- Menopause involves metabolic and hormonal changes, which can leave some women feeling fatigued and exhausted, with no enthusiasm to engage in strenuous activity.
- Some people have symptoms like bloating and weight gain, low mood, aching joints and hot flashes, exacerbated by reduced quality sleep.
Regardless of whether you are in perimenopause or menopause or are using HRT or other medical interventions, it’s essential you manage your goals realistically and with self-care in mind.
How Can I Make Training During Menopause Easier?
Ignore the outdated mantras and ‘no excuses’ mentality. Although I’m a huge advocate for the power of gradual small changes, such as walking, taking the stairs, exercising and joining in with sports and clubs you love, if your knees are sore and you feel like doing nothing but getting an early night’s sleep, that might be the best thing at that moment in time.
Exercise is essential to your health, but equally, I’d not encourage anybody to force themselves to the gym if they feel acutely unwell or fatigued, and going through the motions can potentially put you at greater risk of injury due to poor form or inattention.
Instead, my approach would be to start where you are and build from there, whatever that might look like for you and whatever health-positive changes you feel are manageable—which could mean booking an appointment with your GP or a menopause specialist if you feel their assistance might be beneficial.
Once you are in a position to commit and have the capacity to add exercise to your menopause management approach, there are tons of tricks you can use to boost your motivation and even get yourself excited about hitting the gym!
Making Time for Training Amid a Packed Schedule
Generally, a PT session or workout class lasts an hour, although you can certainly pick shorter sessions like HIIT workouts that can be completed in less time. My advice would be to schedule workouts and add them to your calendar – in a different colour if you’re using a digital calendar – to ensure you’re not leaving exercise to those rare days when you find yourself with time to spare.
Making your workouts a task and something you intend to complete, with a space of time set aside, means it is typically easier to form a habit and a routine.
There are also strategies you can adopt if you have a packed schedule and are finding the prospect of allocating yourself an hour three times a week – or somewhere thereabouts – daunting, and wondering how to make it work:
- Look at times when you have the space to focus and concentrate on your health and fitness, even if that’s outside of the conventional norms. Could you, for example, slot in an evening gym class or activity or fit a training session in first thing in the morning?
- Think about where you can train – it does not have to be a gym. You might set up a small storage box for your kit in a room in your home, follow online classes when the kids are asleep or busy with homework if you have children, or use online personal training if physically getting to the gym would be a challenge.
- Consider alternative types of training, whether that involves walking to the shops or work instead of driving or using public transport, taking the long route home to get a few more steps in, or using your weekend mornings for a trek with the dog or a cycle ride with friends.
For most people, the key is routine, so if you have a partner, friend, spouse, or older child who would like to join in with you, this can be a perfect way to spend quality time together, wriggle out of any excuses you might make if you were alone, and stick to your calendar.
Improving Understanding and Awareness of Exercise and Nutrition During Menopause
Finally, I’d urge anybody worried about menopause symptoms, feeling drained and tired, or looking for positive lifestyle changes to research the value of menopause exercise, its life-long benefits, and the impacts of nutrition on hormonal well-being.
While there are many products and supplements out there labelled as menopause ‘cures’ that do little to help, there is equally a wealth of information and advice from credible medical professionals.
Once you’ve set your intentions and know why you want to commit to a workout routine, you can keep that goal in mind when you’re making decisions—about what to eat, whether to work out, and when it’s a day for rest and recuperation.
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