Exercise During Menopause: How to Step Up Your Workout Routine As You Age

As hormone levels change during perimenopause and menopause, women can experience many unpleasant side effects, from mood swings and night sweats to brain fog. But these symptoms don’t have to be debilitating. A variety of healthy lifestyle choices can help improve well-being and mood during this transitional time of life.

One of the most effective ways to feel (and look) better is exercise. Here, I’ll break down some of the changes to expect during menopause, how exercises can help counteract common symptoms, and what types to include in your workout routine. I’ll also share several other lifestyle changes that will help you feel your best throughout this process.

Understanding Menopausal Changes

During a female’s fertile years, her estrogen naturally fluctuates throughout the month, occurring in tandem with the menstrual cycle. But after about 3 decades of this cycle, women enter perimenopause, a process that lasts for years, and then menopause. Various changes, associated with decreased fertility, are happening in a woman’s body during these phases.

Most significantly, the fluctuations of estrogen in the body change from rolling levels to more dramatic spikes and dips. The high levels soar higher and lows become lower, compared to the previous levels experienced during a typical menstrual cycle. Because every organ of the female body has estrogen receptors, these declining levels can significantly impact the body’s functioning.

And that’s not the only change menopausal women are contending with. Progesterone, a feel-good, calming hormone, also begins to decline. As a result, women can feel depressed, anxious, irritable, or fatigued. They may experience weight gain, headaches, or brain fog.

As menopause progresses, symptoms may worsen. Hot flashes and night sweats can cause discomfort. Low mood, difficulty sleeping, and memory problems may persist. And hormonal changes can lead to challenges like vaginal dryness, lower libido, and urinary tract infections.

Why Is Exercise So Important During Menopause?

Keeping a regular exercise routine is important at any age, but during menopause it’s a must. Here are just some of the ways exercise can help counteract the unpleasant effects listed above:

Mental health: Exercise helps manage anxiety while boosting mood. Strength training is one of my favorite types of exercises, because it’s been linked to improved mental health, but all exercises generate feel-good endorphins. Exercise also lowers levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, in the body.

Heart health: Did you know that your heart can be adversely affected by the lack of estrogen being naturally produced by the body? Exercise, on the other hand, supports heart health. Your heart is a muscle, and like any other muscle, it becomes stronger when it’s forced to work during exercise.

Fighting weight gain: A lot of factors work against weight maintenance as we age. Not only are fluctuating hormones associated with weight gain, but everyone—both men and women—tend to lose muscle mass over time, which causes metabolism to drop. Exercise helps prevent weight gain in your later years.

Muscle and bone mass: A report published in the Journal of Mid-Life Health notes that exercise is key for the maintenance of muscle mass, and therefore for bone mass and strength, in menopausal women. Maintaining bone mass is especially important to help prevent osteoporosis after menopause.

Best Exercises for Menopause

Combine these 3 types of exercises to help reduce unpleasant menopause symptoms:

Strength Training

Be sure to commit to at least a couple of days of weight training each week during menopause and beyond. A 2019 article in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research noted that, among older populations, “resistance training is a powerful intervention to combat the loss of muscle strength and muscle mass, physiological vulnerability, and their debilitating consequences on physical functioning, mobility, independence, chronic disease management, psychological well-being, quality of life, and healthy life expectancy.”

If you’re not already strength training, you can start with my Beginning Circuit Training Routine. It includes 4 full sets with 12-15 reps of each of these exercises: bicep curls, goblet squats, dumbbell flies, lat pulldowns, step-ups, and abdominal curls. After you get used to this routine, you can increase the intensity and elevate your heart rate by doing bursts (like a short sprint or stair climbs) between each set.

In general, I recommend two 30-45 minute weightlifting sessions per week—one for the lower body (abs, lower back, and legs), and one for the upper body (arms, upper back, and chest).

Interval Training

In addition to strength training, try interval training for 20-30 minutes, 2-3 days per week. In interval training, you cycle through periods of moderate exercise followed by short bursts of intensity. For example, you may alternate 3 minutes of brisk walking or comfortable bicycling with 1 minute of sprinting or intense pedaling. Whatever activity you choose, start at a moderate pace for 3 minutes, followed by a burst of maximum exertion for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Repeat this cycle throughout the session, aiming for at least 4 bursts total.

Flexibility Training

While strength training and cardio get a lot of (well-deserved) attention, workouts that increase flexibility and balance are also great for menopausal women. Better balance will help prevent falls, which can be devastating for older women, especially when combined with osteoporosis.

Meanwhile, practices like yoga and meditation have been shown to improve brain health, focus, and thinking skills—helping to delay the effects of age-related mental decline. In other words, it’s crucial to keep our bodies and minds flexible as we age. Yoga, meditation, and mindfulness will assist with both.

Top 4 Lifestyle Changes for Menopause

Exercise is one key factor in counteracting the effects of menopause, but other lifestyle habits will help promote optimal well-being. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Reduce Hot Flashes

Avoid common triggers for hot flashes: caffeine, alcohol, spicy food, cigarette smoking, and stress. These all cause the blood vessels to dilate, which can help induce a hot flash.

2. Stick to a Well-balanced Diet

Fill your plate with plenty of fresh produce, plus clean protein sources and healthy fats, like those in avocados and nuts. And be sure to counteract menopause-related impacts on bone health by getting enough calcium and vitamin D. You may want to add these through supplements to help prevent osteoporosis.

3. Manage Your Stress

With so many changes happening within the body, menopausal women can experience low moods and irritability. That’s why it’s so important to add in practices that will help reduce stress levels. I love to start and end each day with meditation to set me up for success and wind down before bed. You can also journal to help process your thoughts and emotions, or start a daily gratitude list to count your blessings. You may even try acupuncture or diaphragmatic breathing. Experiment to find what works best, so that you have several stress-reducing tools ready whenever you need them.

4. Practice Sleep Hygiene

Hormone-related sleep disturbance is a common challenge in menopause—and lack of sleep can lead to higher stress levels, weight gain, brain fog, and numerous other symptoms. Make sure you’re creating the best possible scenario for slumber by adhering to sound sleep hygiene practices, such as:

• Arranging your environment—try a 60-68-degree room temperature, blackout shades or a sleep mask, a fan for cooling off after night sweats, and/or a white-noise machine
• Eliminating electronics in the bedroom and at least 1 hour before bedtime
• Taking supplements before bed, such as time-release melatonin, valerian root, magnesium, 5HTP, GABA, or inositol

Achieving Better Health During and After Menopause

While women face many challenges during menopause, exercise and other health-boosting steps can help ease symptoms. Fortunately, many symptoms do pass over time, and life can start to feel more stabilized once again. But, in the meantime, exercise and other lifestyle changes will aid you in getting through the process—and help you establish healthier habits for years to come.

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