Menopause: Transition into an important phase by staying fit!

Menopause: Transition into an important phase by staying fit!

By Nidhi Inamdar / 14 Oct 2019

The most remarkable change that Indian demography has observed is the increased life expectancy of women. A lot of changes are faced by women throughout her life. One of the important and critical phases is Menopause. It is a normal condition that all women face, before or after she stops menstruating, this marks the end of her reproductive phase.

Menopause also brings with it a load of symptoms that are troublesome like a disturbance in sleep, aches, and pains, recurring urinal infections, dryness of vagina and irritation, cognitive functions that are altered.
These are only the short term symptoms,  they also affect the quality of women’s health immensely in the long term.  Women face bigger problems like osteoporosis and risk of cardiovascular diseases due to the lack of hormone estrogen.
Fitness is a lot more important to women at this age. As menopause is an important transition in women’s lives. You should use it as a reminder and take good care of your health, mental as well as physical.

Many benefits are offered by exercise, during and after menopause, they are:

  • •    Weight gain is prevented: Women tend to gain abdominal fat around menopause and also lose muscle mass. They also think that they should not go for any physical activity during these times , so they gain weight. Regular physical activity can prevent this. It is a must. 
  • •    Bones are strengthened: Menopause leads to the loss of density in bones, which means our bones become porous, so it causes fractures and osteoporosis. Exercise and weight training help strengthen your bones.
  • •    Risk of cancer is reduced:  Exercise during menopause will help prevent a lot of cancers mainly breast, colon and endometrial cancer.
  • •    Lightens your mood: Menopause is almost always associated with mood swings, depression, irritability, and anxiety. Exercising releases endorphins, the “happy” hormone, thus alleviating these psychological symptoms. 
  • •    You are not at risk for other diseases: Weight gain during menopause leads to a lot of diseases like type 2 diabetes , high blood pressure. Exercise, therefore, plays an important role, in reducing weight and maintaining overall well-being.

A lot of research has been done on the subject and the exercise recommended is a moderate aerobic activity for at least 2.5 hours a week, or a vigorous one 1 hour and 15 minutes a week. Also, strength training exercises are an added bonus. The exercises should be spread out throughout the week. 

Exercises that can help are: 

Stretching: It helps improve flexibility. You should set aside some time before the workouts for the warm-up of your muscles.


Aerobic activities: You can try walking, jogging, swimming or biking. It helps you shed some extra pounds also acts as a mental refresher. You can slowly increase the intensity according to your comfort.


Strength training: You can try hand-held weights or weight machines. You should always choose a resistance level that tires your muscles after around 10-12 repetitions. Regular training will help you reduce fat, burn calories and strengthen your muscles.
Exercises that help in balance and stability, also reduce back pain. Activities like tai chi and yoga are also helpful.
Remember you do not need to go to the gym and exercise. A lot of activities like gardening, dancing can help too. Staying motivated is the key. Rather than following a rigorous schedule, just set goals that are realistic and achievable.

Happy Exercising!