5 Types of Exercises For Better Menopausal Health.

Why is exercise so important during menopause?

That’s because exercise will help with at least 90% of the symptoms of menopause, including hot flushes, anxiety, sleep, brain fog, and painful muscles and joints.

But exercise isn’t just limited to taking a walk, or spending time on the treadmill!

There are various important exercises that span 5 important areas of your health you need to engage in — with the 5 areas being:

1. Joint health
2. Heart health
3. Bone health
4. Muscles health
5. Mental health.

Each area has unique exercises to strengthen your health

To ensure you’re in the pink of health during menopause, it is recommended that you do a combination of these exercises at least 3 to 4 times a week:

Joint Health Exercises

Gently mobilizing your joints will help improve joint health in the long run.

• Ankle circles
• Knee bends
• Shoulder rolls, 
• Spine twists, 
• Hand circles 
• Fist clenching

The more you move the better you will feel, motion is lotion! 

It is advisable to practice these mobility exercises before doing any rigorous activity as it will help warm up the joints and improve the performance of your joints and muscles.

Heart Health Exercises

Any activity that renders you near out of breath is cardio, and is great for your heart health. It is recommended to do 20 to 30 minutes of cardio 3 to 4 times per week. 

However, if going to the gym or a studio class fills you with dread, then we have some ways you can squeeze in some heart pumping cardio in your daily activities:

• Opt for taking the stairs when you can
• Get off the bus or the train one or two stops earlier and walk the rest of the way
• Make your home your gym — when you’re doing chores put on some music and go for it!
• If you have stairs in your home, take two at a time or run up them
• If you already take the stairs or walk a lot, pick up the pace!

Bone Health Exercises

Resistance training — exercise that includes using your own body weight — will slow bone loss, and even build bone mass!

The major sites of osteoporosis are hips, wrist, and spine, so all of these areas need to be targeted. Try these simple exercise:

• Push ups
• Tricep dips
• Lunges
• Squats
• Back extensions
• Resisted rowing

Do 3 sets of 12 repetitions, 2 to 3 times each week for these exercises, but make sure to REST the day after and not do any kind of resistance training.

Start with push ups then work your way down the list and repeat three times.

High impact exercises, such as running and jumping will also help strengthen your bones in your hips and lower spine. However, if you do have osteoporosis it is not advised to undertake prolonged high impact work.

Muscle Health Exercises

Stretching is one of the major components of fitness and is too often overlooked.

If you are starting to feel stiff and achy then some simple stretches will really help, as each muscle crosses a joint. 

Therefore, if that muscle becomes tight then that joint along with the muscle will feel stiff and painful. Make sure your muscles are warm before stretching and hold each stretch for at least 15 seconds.

Mental Health Exercises

Getting fitter and stronger will also do wonders for your mental health. However, there is something else you need to address: taking time out to be calm.

When we hit menopause, the hormonal imbalance causes our adrenal glands to become overworked. These overworked glands will contribute to higher cortisol levels, increasing stress.

To help find inner peace and destress, try meditation. 

Do this:

• Sit somewhere quiet and close your eyes, put a timer on for 10 minutes
• Sit comfortably – or even lie down
• Close your eyes, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Do this slowly and count each breath until you get to 10
• Do not worry if you go over and find you are at 15 or even 30, just start again and don’t give yourself a hard time. It's okay for your mind to wander, just come back to your breathing and try and concentrate on it
• If you do this for 10 minutes each day it will help calm your body, mind and adrenals.

PS: These exercises work holistically to take care of your menopausal health, and can keep menopausal symptoms down to a minimum!

But they do take some time to work it’s magic, so to make sure you get the best out of these exercises...

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