You can relieve menopause symptoms by walking. This is the perfectly natural way to treat the symptoms of menopause, without any negative side effects.
Brisk walking, according to research, helps relieve the menopausal symptoms of depression, stressful feelings and anxiety.
The research entailed following 380 women for eight years, who reported their levels of physical activity, along with menopausal symptoms.
The group who experienced the greatest relief of the menopausal symptom of stress, walked at 4 mph for 90 minutes at least five times weekly. However, this activity did not subdue hot flashes.
Nevertheless, the psychological symptoms that result from menopause can interfere with quality of life, and walking certainly wins over medications that can cause troubling side effects, and drugs can be very expensive if a woman does not have medical insurance.
I’m a certified personal trainer. If you haven’t been doing any exercise, then you can still begin a walking program right off the bat, assuming you don’t have any conditions that make walking painful. Make sure you wear walking shoes.
If you decide to use a treadmill, swing your arms, as you would if walking at the park. Swinging the arms gets the entire body moving in its natural way, and promotes correct posture.
A 4 mph pace is brisk, and it will be taxing for someone who has not been doing any exercise.
Let it be taxing, because this will force your body to adapt; the adaptation process promotes fat loss and improved cardiovascular function, not to mention many other benefits.
If you’re suffering from the menopausal symptoms of stress, anxiety and/or depression, and you’ve already been sticking to a walking program, try something in addition to the walking, like strength training.
I don’t recommend replacing the walking with strength training, because these are two entirely different types of exercise, and the human body should be exercised both ways: aerobically, and weight-bearing.
Another possible solution to your menopausal symptoms is to replace the walking with another form of aerobic activity, such as brisk pedaling of a stationary bike or elliptical trainer. Also try an aerobics class.
There are countless studies that show exercise helps relieve stress and anxiety. If you’re experiencing these as an apparent result of menopause, then commit to sticking faithfully to an exercise program.
Sometimes, just knowing that you’re doing something highly beneficial for your body, and trimming it down along the way, is enough to lift depression or take a huge bite out of anxiety and stress.
The study linking walking to the relief of menopausal symptoms appears in the January 2008 Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Last time I checked (and correct me if I'm mistaken), Denver does not have a walking club for women 50-plus; maybe this article will inspire you to start one!
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