Menopause
In a conversation with a close friend they explained this to me as the “old lady hormones”.
For the likes of myself who had grown up not knowing what hormones were, I sure as hell didnt know what Menopause was or what happens or what to expect the female body to go through later on in life.
As a coach, ive started to gain more clients over the age bracket of 40+, so there's a few things personally I need to keep in mind for them, also to understand what my own mum is going through and what to expect in the years to come for myself.
Females bodies are amazing, but what we go through astounds me.
SO, what is Menopause?
Menopause occurs when there is a drop in estrogen and progesterone causing the permanent cease of a reproductive menstrual cycle.
Perimenopause is the time period normally between 45-51 years old where the last menstrual cycle will occur leading up to menopause.
The reproductive system starts running out of eggs to fertilize and signals for the reproductive system to shut down.
Estrogen levels will rise to a peak then fall to very low levels post menopause as well as Progesterone.
How does Menopause affect training?
Some of the best advice given for women during their perimenopausal, pre menopausal and menopausal phases is to continue or start resistance training.
Strength training isnt just about gaining bulk amounts of muscle.
It can help with improved sleep, posture, reduce the risk of falls and injuries, balance, gaining bone density, weight loss maintenance, muscle mass maintenance.
With the drop of hormones, estrogen levels at a minimum, this can be a higher risk for these women to develop rapid bone loss and can develop osteoporosis. As this is higher risk, most women will opt for the use of Hormone Replacement Therapy.
Understand if the client/friend/family member is going through HRT(Hormone Replacement Therapy) post menopause, as their physiology will be different to those who arent.
HRT is a synthetic form of the hormone estrogen and progestin, this is to reduce or eliminate the affects from menopause (as above). This is best paired with exercise to be most beneficial to increase the effectiveness of both.
Some common symptoms when entering those perimenopausal years can be:
Metabolic decline
Insulin resistant
Higher testosterone levels (more visible male sex characteristics)
Infrequent or very last of the menstrual cycle
Muscle loss (ill touch on this soon)
Body fat patterning
Decline of sexual interest
Decline of bone density
Estrogen slowly declining
Progesterone declining
Shut down of the reproductive system
Vaginal dryness
Cloudy thinking
Chills
Weight gain
Anxiety
Depression
When entering Menopause the above symptoms become more pronounced.
