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:
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!