With a compelling amount of women being associated with the status of menopause and osteoporosis, it is essential to do exercise, especially strength training.
Perimenopause holds a number of physiological changes which have significant implications for both physical and mental health. One of the most prevalent being osteoporosis from oestrogen deficiency during this period, causing a risk of bone fractures and bone weakening disorders. Despite that, most of the physiological changes can be helped positively through exercise, particularly strength training.
Middle-aged women tend to have smaller muscle mass than middle-aged males. Despite the few biological reasons for this, a lot of the decline in strength and muscle mass that occurs through perimenopause belongs to the lack of exercise stimulus along with biological reasoning. Women as a whole do not engage in enough exercise or strength training as men do.
Strength training should be a main priority of exercise for middle aged women and above, to help build bone around vulnerable areas such as the hips, spine, and arms to prevent osteoporosis. While providing other benefits such as managing weight, improving balance, relieving or decreasing pain, maintaining muscle mass, and improving cardiovascular health. Exercise can help cardiovascular diseases by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. While strength training also helps reduce body fat, specifically visceral fat during menopause and increase muscle mass
For both muscle and bone, it becomes much harder to add extra once you are post-menopausal, compared to pre-menopause. Starting before the onset of menopause gives women the best chance at building the strength they will need for a resilient older age. That being said, it’s never too late to start!
Written by Georgia Cutt, Exercise Physiologist