Perimenopause/menopause & regular exercise

[shootingstar]

Am curious to know if ladies here who cycle/exercise regularily experience great discomfort during their perimenopause / menopause? I know that this topic has been discussed and those who post tend to experience significant discomfort (ie. hot flashes, sweating, temporary memory impacts, heavy periods, etc.)

There's another group of women in this age bracket wondering if exercise helps reduce negative impact/discomfort of perimenopause/menopause.


I tried posting a poll but gave up.

So ..
Give your experiences, your age and state for the past few years how long you have been cycling/exercising regularily. (We all know that means several times per week.)

[Biciclista]

no great discomfort. Lots of hot flashes.
big deal.

[shootingstar]

I am in perimenopause and have been for about a year.

I just experience maybe 1-2 short flashes per month. Each flash is only 5-10 min. long and usually it happens when I've just woken up and am lying in bed still. I don't sweat at all, it just feels like a flush in my face. That's all.

My periods are just getting lighter. It's a long slow goodbye.

So minor that's even not worth it for me to fuss at all. I hope it's like this until post-menopause.


Have been cycling regularily for past 17 years.

[Biciclista]

sounds like you'll be fine.

[shootingstar]

this post isn't really about me..though I guess maybe it started some questions.

I'm on another forum, for boomer women.. A couple of them were wondering if regular exercise reduces great discomfort during this time in life. I'm sure there are articles from the medical community weighing in on this.

Well, in my dim memory...it may not be necessarily the case for some of us here?

[Miranda]

Getting ready to have my big four o here soon *sighs with mixed emotion*.

My mother (80yo) says it takes about 10yr to go "through the change". Guess I have some years to work through yet.

Well, as I was sobbing to my GF this last Friday at lunch (hello--start of period), it's like this... First, I cry a bucket for a day. Next, I bleed a bucket for a day, then things are quite light, and level off to "me" again.

I was not able to go to spin class, or ride outside on the "bleed a bucket" day. I've tried the Instead cup, but had too much cramping (prolapse issues my gyno said). Other tampons, etc. just don't cut it to be away from the bathroom that long. Bleah.

I've sobbed while pedaling before, but it still makes me feel better. I think exercise definately helps relieve many things from that time. I think the biggie is not to expect too much of yourself performance wise though. While my body is putting it's energy into golf ball production, it's tired... doesn't want to pedal so fast. That's ok... no crying about that one. Just know it's expected.

[divingbiker]

I'm 52, had a hysterectomy 3 years ago. About 4 months ago, I started having unbearable hot flashes and night sweats, to the point where I wasn't getting any sleep at all. I was (and still am) exercising daily (bike commuting, water aerobics, running, etc).

My endocrinologist suggested Estroven (a non-prescription combination of vitamins and black cohosh and some other stuff) and within two days all hot flashes stopped. I love this stuff.

[Crankin]

My peri-meno. did last about 10 years. When I look back, I started having symptoms in my late 30s. My periods were always awful, horrible cramps on day one and pms like crazy, even though I have been exercising since my early twenties. OK, I had been cycling for about a year, maybe two when my periods stopped. So, I wasn't riding tons, maybe 1,000 miles a year and still doing step classes, etc. I was 48. For the first year, I felt great. A flash once in awhile. Then, the flashes started coming more frequently, maybe ten a day. I noticed they were worse at work, where I couldn't control the room temperature myself. I had a bad one every morning when I got up, but most of the others did not last more than 30 seconds. I just dealt with it, splashed some water on my face from my water bottle I kept on my desk. My worse symptom was vaginal dryness and pain, despite the "desire" still being there. About 4 years ago, I got an E-string, which has cured that. My flashes are pretty much gone. I still get one once in awhile, but my attitude has been, "it's part of life," just go on. But they do last for years after your periods stop.
I think dealing with the pain of riding and other sports did make me mentally tougher to deal with the menopause stuff. I know a lot of people who just lost it at the first flash and went on medication.

[OakLeaf]

I'm 49, been in perimenopause for a couple of years, haven't had a period since March.

I only started having hot flashes late this summer. After I was diagnosed with benign proliferative breast changes, I eliminated hydrolyzed soy protein from my diet, and cut way, way back on unfermented soy and alcohol. Ever since then I've been getting hot flashes that are very brief but also very frequent. On average I probably have 5-6 a day, lasting at most 2-3 minutes.

It's too early for me to be able to say whether they'll get "bad" or not. But the women I know who complain most bitterly about their hot flashes, are the same ones who might make a show of exercising but refuse to actually exert themselves, theatrically mopping their brows if they get the slightest flush in their cheeks. Right now I'm guessing that it comes down to whether you view sweat as something natural, healthy and even (sometimes) fun, or as something to be avoided at all costs. So far my hot flashes are at best a brief respite from being freezing all the time; at worst "Oh, I'm sweating again."

But I know that I've got a long way to go and I might not feel so superior a couple of years from now

Edit: Oh, and I have yet to experience one while I'm doing cardio. Don't know if that's because my body's thermal regulation system works better when it's working hard, or whether I just don't notice it. I did have a flash during a Pilates workout last week. That was probably the most "interesting" one I've had so far

[Crankin]

I have only had 2 flashes while riding; one outside and one in a spin class. Yes, it was interesting.

[divingbiker]

Right now I'm guessing that it comes down to whether you view sweat as something natural, healthy and even (sometimes) fun, or as something to be avoided at all costs. So far my hot flashes are at best a brief respite from being freezing all the time; at worst "Oh, I'm sweating again."

Even if you're used to sweating hard, a really bad hot flash or night sweat is a horse of a different color. Hope you don't ever experience one!

[salsabike]

Right now I'm guessing that it comes down to whether you view sweat as something natural, healthy and even (sometimes) fun, or as something to be avoided at all costs.

Um...no. I am very active, love to sweat and always pour sweat when I'm working hard on the bike or when I was in dance class. And for a year or so I had hot flashes that felt just like someone was applying a blowtorch to my face. Believe me, whether you like to sweat---and whether you exercise---have nothing to do with that. It's a chemical event. Luckily, those don't seem to happen anymore.

[shootingstar]

Um...no. I am very active, love to sweat and always pour sweat when I'm working hard on the bike or when I was in dance class. And for a year or so I had hot flashes that felt just like someone was applying a blowtorch to my face. Believe me, whether you like to sweat---and whether you exercise---have nothing to do with that. It's a chemical event. Luckily, those don't seem to happen anymore.

Like a blowtorch...that's a good metaphor to help some of us who have not experienced the real significant hot flashes.

And I never knew menopause could drag on for 10 yrs.

Oakleaf: I still eat tofu dishes several times per month. But have never drank soymilk often at all.

[coyote]

I thought I was having hot flashes this past summer. Turns out that it really was just that hot, LOL! Now that we are having cooler weather my 'hot flashes' are gone.

[Dogmama]

Hot flashes are more like an internal heat. Just being hot is due to external circumstances. I get 8-10 in a 24 hours period. Night sweats are the worst.

Exercise can be a double edged sword. It definitely helps with anxiety & depression. It also reduces body fat. Women with lower body fat levels tend to flash more because estrogen is stored in body fat. Therefore, the dips in estrogen and resulting flashing are more pronounced in women who have lower body fat percentages.