
How ready are you for a healthy menopause? Perimenopause is the time to listen to the changes your body is asking you to make, so you are ready to stay healthy and well through menopause. Whole-person exercise treats three of the main changes that happen in not only your body but all parts of your well-being.

1. Tell your body you want to keep muscle mass through perimenopause and into menopause
In perimenopause and menopause, women lose muscle twice as fast as at any other time in their life.
While we can focus on taking supplements from vitamin D, and calcium and getting enough protein, these will not tell your body to hold on to muscle mass AND tell it how you want to function as you age unless you are doing quality strength exercises.
2. Treat Internal and External Stress with the Complete Cure to Chronic Stress
As symptoms start to show up such as hot flashes, changes in eyesight, sleep, you have more internal stressors to deal with in daily life. Add to that the external changes that happen at this time in life usually, parenting teens, job advancement, aging parents, just to name a few.
The combination of internal changes and external changes means the stress state is more likely to be triggered more often during your daily life. Having more in-the-moment resources to get you out of the stress state in your toolbox is key for preventing the chronic stress state that makes menopause symptoms worse.
Mindful movement is the complete cure for chronic stress. Knowing how to move in ways that release the ready-to-move tension in your body clears the stress state and allows you to spend more time in the Well State.
3. Embody Connection During Perimenopause with Whole-person Exercising
With all of these internal and external changes, the relationships that once supported you can change as well. This is the time to realign your support system. By using exercise to shift out of the stress state, you are better equipped to keep relationships strong. Using exercise as a time to foster meaningful relationships with people you care about is another way to strengthen connections.
That can be exercising with people who bring you joy, like walking with friends. It could also be connecting the purpose of exercising to being able to enjoy activities with your family and friends as you age.

In this stage, losing strength, stamina, and mobility can keep you from enjoying activities with people you care about. It leads to disconnection, adds to stress and can worsen symptoms in menopause.
Intentionally connecting your Core Why, what matters most to you in life right now, to what you are doing for exercise keeps it meaningful and keeps you ready to stay engaged with activities and people that bring you joy.
One member of Exercising Well just took up ultimate frisbee again after 20 years off from the sport.
“I would not have even attempted doing an activity I had not done in 20 years if I had not been doing strength and stretching exercises!”.
That is the power of whole-person exercising. It keeps you confident and connected to having fun and enjoying life for as long as possible. It creates an embodied mindset shift about getting older because your body is letting you know you are strong and capable.
These three simple steps from whole-person exercising can make perimenopause a time that you proactively get ready for a healthy menopause and beyond. Take this invitation from your body and your life and move your way into enjoying the benefits of being older and wiser by having greater whole-person health as you age.

Be ready for a healthy menopause by doing whole person exercising through menopause. Learn how with the step-by-step programs at @Exercising Well!
Sources:
Larsson L, Degens H, Li M, Salviati L, Lee YI, Thompson W, Kirkland JL, Sandri M. Sarcopenia: Aging-Related Loss of Muscle Mass and Function. Physiol Rev. 2019 Jan 1;99(1):427-511
Agostini D, Zeppa Donati S, Lucertini F, Annibalini G, Gervasi M, Ferri Marini C, Piccoli G, Stocchi V, Barbieri E, Sestili P. Muscle and Bone Health in Postmenopausal Women: Role of Protein and Vitamin D Supplementation Combined with Exercise Training. Nutrients. 2018 Aug 16;10(8):1103.
Taylor-Swanson L, Wong AE, Pincus D, Butner JE, Hahn-Holbrook J, Koithan M, Wann K, Woods NF. The dynamics of stress and fatigue across menopause: attractors, coupling, and resilience. Menopause. 2018 Apr;25(4):380-390.