Why you need to change your workout routine in perimenopause

As we age, we need good functional strength exercises that are challenging muscles to build up those muscle fibers. Photo: Pexels

(Lauren Finney Harden/ Well + Good) — You’re experiencing telltale symptoms like hot flashes, irritability, trouble sleeping, and weight gain, and even hot ears or itchy breasts. But you’re not old enough to be in menopause, you think—and you’re still getting your monthly cycle, for that matter.

It could be perimenopause, the period before the cessation of your menstruation, says nurse practitioner Daniela Ezratty, MSN, ACNP-BC, of Ezratty Integrative Aesthetics in Atlanta, where she treats many women of perimenopausal age. Usually, this starts somewhere around age 40, but it can come as early as 35 for some. “Perimenopause is when there’s a drop in estrogen and progesterone, but you’re still getting your period,” she says. Once you’ve stopped having a period for a full year, then you’ve officially entered menopause.

The changes in your body that come along with perimenopause can be frustrating, and you might be tempted to counteract the symptoms with exercise. But what’s happening on a biological level can’t be controlled by defaulting to the same workouts you might have done in your 20s or early 30s. (…)

Categories