Ladies, Get Fit And Strong For The Menopause

Should women get in training for menopause? Yes – and the sooner the better.

Although menopause – the time when periods sign off for good – kicks in at around 50, symptoms like hot flushes, fractured sleep and a spreading waistline can start in the 40s. It's called the perimenopause:  the years when ovaries start winding down, creating hormonal changes that can influence bone health, heart health – and where you stack on weight.

But an exercise habit can do a lot to help, says Professor Lily Stojanovska, a researcher in women's health at Victoria University's College of Health and BioMedicine (in Australia).

"There's good evidence that exercise improves sleep and mood, and leads to better blood glucose control, as well as healthier blood fats and blood pressure. Exercise also improves the immune system and with that comes better health," she says.

Where women store weight can shift in midlife. Although women tend to store any extra fat around the hips and thighs during their reproductive years, come menopause any surplus fat tends to gather around the middle instead. That's more than a cosmetic issue – too much abdominal fat ups the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

That's why it makes sense to get an exercise habit that includes strength training before you reach 40 if you can, Stojanovska points out.

"The more strength training we do, the stronger bones become, the more muscle we build and the less fat we accumulate," she says. "Muscle burns more kilojoules than fat even when we're resting, and the more muscle we build, the easier it is to keep surplus fat at bay."

Can exercise also cool hot flushes?   The evidence is mixed – some studies find it helps, but others have found no effect. However some research, including a 2008 Australian study by Professor Wendy Brown of the University of Queensland's school of human movement and nutrition science has linked weight loss to fewer hot flushes – and weight gain to more hot flushes.

The message that regular physical activity and sticking to a healthy weight helps prime women for a leaner, healthier menopause needs to be much louder.  Figures from a 20-year study by Women's Health Australia show that women born between 1973 and 1978 who are approaching perimenopause are likely to be eight kilograms heavier at age 47 than women born between 1946 and 1951 were at the same age.

But if you've already reached perimenopause without an exercise habit, now's the time to start.

"You're around half way through your lifespan and at a point where you can influence your health in the second half of your life," says Jennie Burrell, a UK- based fitness trainer who's developed a 30-minute program for women at menopause that's a modified version of CrossFit, mixing cardio with strength training.

"Everyone has to age but you have some choice over whether you'll age with or without preventable health problems like metabolic syndrome, heart disease or diabetes. If we take action, we can probably end up healthier at 60 than we were at 30. Many women at midlife are now caring for elderly parents and often witnessing how the choices their parents made in their mid-lives are contributing to ill health and lack of independence in later life."

Yet the fitness industry doesn't always cater well for women who want to get serious about exercise in mid-life, says Burrell, who's speaking about fitness for women at midlife at the fitness industry conference, FILEX, in Sydney this coming weekend.

"This area of fitness is wildly under-served. In general, the fitness industry goes from full-on, high-impact programs to gentle exercise and aqua-aerobics and often bypasses mid-lifers who are active and strong.

"If a 55-year-old woman is climbing stairs and getting around then she's not ready for the 'soft shoe shuffling' movement regimes often offered to the over 50s. She's probably going to live to at least 85 so for me it's about keeping her strong, active and independent for the next 30 years – not pressing the 'power-down button'."

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The Benefits of Swimming: 10 Reasons Every Woman Should Get in the Water

Swimming is one of my favourite forms of exercise - be that pool swimming or sea swimming (- yes, I'm lucky enough to live on the coast!).  Swimming has major health benefits and takes years off your age and adds years to your lifetime! It's a well used form of rehabiliation and has multiple benefits....  read on for more of these - get your cozzie ready and dive in!

Benefits of Swimming: It Counts as Both Cardio and Strength Training

In swimming, if you aren't moving constantly, you're sinking. (Forced cardio!) Plus, water is about 800 times denser than air, says swimming and triathlon coach Earl Walton, owner of Tailwind Endurance in New York City, so your muscles are under constant resistance. Finally, no more trying to decide if today is going to be a strength or cardio day. (We suggest this pool workout for every skill level.)

Benefits of Swimming: It's Easy on the Impact

Yes, the low impact means swimming is a great workout for injured athletes, who need to take it easy on their joints. But it may also mean more results: "You can swim at higher intensities on a regular basis without feeling wear and tear on your body," Walton says. You could have a super-hard workout one day and still be in the pool the next, he says. Bonus: Research in the International Journal of Sports Medicine shows swimming is better than straight-up rest for exercise recovery, for when you want to take it easy.

Benefits of Swimming: It's Great for Your Lungs

When your face is under water, oxygen is at a premium. In turn, your body adapts to use oxygen more efficiently, Walton says. Plus, it learns to take in more fresh air with every breath, and expel more carbon dioxide with every exhalation. A study in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology even found that swimmers had better tidal volume (the amount of air that moves in and out of the lungs during relaxed breathing) compared to runners. This results in lower resting heart rates, lower blood pressure, and, as you'll see next, better running performance.

Benefits of Swimming: It Makes You a Better Runner

By increasing your ability to take in and effectively use oxygen, swimming increases your endurance capacity like crazy, Walton says. That's great news if you're hoping to complete your first half-marathon this year. It also means you can run faster mile after mile without getting winded. In a 2013 Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports study, swimmers who followed a controlled breathing technique (taking two breaths per pool length) improved their running economy by 6 percent after just 12 swim sessions. Air-fueled benefits aside, swimming trains your glutes and hamstrings, your core, and your shoulders—all of which are needed for improved running form and performances, Walton says.

Benefits of Swimming: Anyone Can Do It

Whether you're recovering from an injury, pregnant (Walton has trained women in the pool on their due dates), a new mom, or an Ironman competitor, swimming can give you a great workout (um, as long as you—you know—know how to swim). You control the pace, intensity, and what you get out of every session, he says.

Benefits of Swimming: It Slashes Major Stress

While exercise-induced endorphins will do wonders for your stress levels, getting in the water for your workout may have its own special brand of mood-boosting benefits, Walton says. Being submerged in water dulls the amount of sensory information that bombards your body, helping to bring on feelings of calm, according to a study published in Pain Research & Management. Researchers found that regular flotation tank sessions were effective at relieving symptoms in patients suffering from conditions related to chronic stress. No wonder you love soaking in the bathtub.

Benefits of Swimming: It Turns Back the Clock

Regular swimmers are biologically 20 years younger than their driver's licenses say they are, according to research from Indiana University. Scientists say that, even up until your 70th birthday, swimming affects blood pressure, cholesterol levels, cardiovascular performance, central nervous system health, cognitive functioning, muscle mass, and blood chemistry to be much more similar to that of your younger self. Who needs night cream?

Benefits of Swimming: It Hits Otherwise Underworked Muscles

"You don't sit at your desk with your arms over your head," Walton says. But when you're in the pool, your arms are all over the place, meaning you need to work your often-neglected lats, deltoids, and traps, he says. And we know you aren't targeting those when you're on a bike or pounding the pavement. Plus, since so much of swimming is about staying balanced and level in the water (while both your arms and legs are moving, mind you), swimming helps you develop the deep stabilizing muscles in your core and lower back that women often miss.

Benefits of Swimming: It Makes You Smarter

Blood flow to the brain increased by up to 14 percent when men submerged themselves in water up to their hearts, according to a Journal of Physiology study. Researchers believe water's pressure on the chest cavity may have something to do with it, and they are now studying whether water-based workouts improve blood flow to the brain better than do land-based ones. Stay tuned.

Benefits of Swimming: It Opens You Up to Awesome Experiences

Want to hop off the back of a boat? Swim across the San Francisco Bay? Go snorkeling in the Bahamas? Win every game of Marco Polo? Mastering swimming will help you do all that, Walton says. "Swimming's a life skill. It opens the doors to a lot of fun stuff."

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