Power your way through perimenopause and out the other side
Power your way through perimenopause and out the other side
“Menopause” is a workplace buzzword. Alas, it seems it might as well have the word “hell” written after it. A new landmark study by the Fawcett Society entitled Menopause and the Workplace discovered:
1 in 10 women who worked during the menopause left a job due to their symptoms
8 out of 10 women say their employer hasn’t shared information, trained staff, or put in place a menopause absence policy
Almost half of women haven’t approached their GPs and 3 in 10 saw delays in diagnosis.
The results are shocking but not surprising. Women have been kept in the dark about what happens in peri and post menopause for decades and so it can be frightening and overwhelming when symptoms come knocking on the door. Much needs to happen in this arena - education from health professionals, the workplace and society.
But, is “hell” the best way to think about a time of life that 100% of women who reach their late 40’s go through and then spend a third of their life in?
If you knew what to expect, what your choices are and, with a bit of work, a holistic approach to stress management, nutrition and exercise, wouldn’t you rather be in control of your own destiny and steer your own path in this lifestage?
HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) is the main driver of menopause information at the moment - and it’s without doubt - a big piece of the jigsaw but it’s not a magic bullet cure-all. Lifestyle changes can have a massive impact on your wellbeing.
First, get to know what perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause is. Dr Louise Newson’s site is a fountain of information in easily digestible articles as well as a free app, Balance, which has information and a symptom tracker. There’s also a great Radio 4 series called 28ish Days Later which takes you day-by-day through the menstrual cycle. The episode “Day 18” talks about perimenopause including its effects on confidence in your ability at work.
Stress management
This becomes all important. Midlife is a stressful time with teenagers, ageing parents, careers, dog at the vet’s every week, inflation, madmen in corners of Europe, you name it… But it’s also a time when your body becomes more stressed. Erratic hormones in perimenopause do this to you.
Rest and recovery is needed. If you’re putting weight on you’ve probably heard “move more, eat less”. This means women tend to start jogging (or lots of hour-long cardio classes). They run longer, more frequently and to swerve the cherry on the icing, eating like a sparrow. This fuels your stress.
The elusive good night’s sleep? It’s critical to get this buttoned down. You can’t possibly contemplate doing a day’s work nevermind exercise or eating healthily on top of that if you can’t function. Consider HRT - it can work wonders for this. There are also natural remedies which have shown to help too. Adaptogens, such as black cohosh, have been researched by the North American Menopause Society and found to be helpful. (However, natural doesn’t mean it’s always harmless. Consult a doctor or Registered Dietician to ensure supplements don’t clash with a condition or medications.)
Nutrition
Oh God, here come the fad diets… Fad diets have one thing in common - calorie restriction. Intermittent Fasting and keto are the big two Influencers like to push. Are they good for women? If you’re an active woman the answer is no. Instead, adopt a whole foods, high protein diet (yes, women need MORE protein as they age and no, it doesn’t give you kidney disease) with lots of vegetables and moderate starchy carbs (particularly around workouts). Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. You’ll sleep better if you stop eating about two hours before bedtime.
Eat around any hard training (when it leaves you feeling depleted) - eat a little protein and carbs before, eat a lot of protein (40g) and some carbs after. Women have a very short recovery window to get that nutrition in - eat within 30 minutes of finishing a heavy training session. If you want the benefits from a workout, eat straight after or else you won’t be maximising what you’ve done, it messes with your hormones, disrupts sleep and slows your recovery.
If you want to increase your power and strength then you need to eat like an athlete. Fuel your training. Don’t reduce yourself to a husk of a woman.
Exercise
As soon as women hear I’m a fitness coach for over 45 year olds they think I’m going to make them do loads of cardio. Quite the opposite!
The exercise you might always have relied on has probably stopped working. What do you need to do now? Loss of estrogen and progesterone means you lose muscle mass - there goes your power and strength - they are the first things to go; your bones start thinning (with a rapid increase in bone loss in the first 12 months following menopause); you become insulin resistant and your cortisol is chronically high. To tackle those things the workouts need to be hard but short and balanced with easy recovery work on other days (a walk in the woods, restorative yoga, easy Pilates). Work hard, recover harder.
Lift heavy weights: increases power, increases muscle mass, bone density and tackles insulin resistance. What’s heavy for you is heavy. Once, twice, three or four times a week. The weight needs to be challenging at 8-10 reps, very heavy 6-8 reps. This is the Queen of the list. Do this if nothing else.
Sprint training: increases power, for insulin sensitivity, positive epigenetic changes to mitochondria function. This is sprint intervals, 85%+ heart rate, anaerobic work. Hard but short - no longer than 20 minutes max.
Plyometrics (jump training): increases power, for bone density and tensile strength. Squat jumps, multi-directional movement. 10 minutes, three times a week.
Running does not build lean muscle mass nor bone density in menopausal women. You cannot rely on steady cardio any longer. (If you never did it then there’s no need to start!) You might like steady cardio but it’s not doing you any favours if you want to keep your power, strength or help body composition (more lean mass and less body fat).
In conclusion, get on top of your symptoms first. When you’re getting a good night’s sleep you can then start looking at your diet and exercise. You don’t need a fad diet - they are not good for your long term health. You need all three macros (carbs, fat and protein). They each have a job to do.
Start lifting weights. Get your power back. If you feel physically powerful you can conquer anything - including that kick ass career. If sprinting or jumping put the fear of God in you then you don’t have to do it; concentrate on lifting weights. Don’t be one of the women forced out of her job because she just can’t cope any longer. How sad would that be?
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