TORONTO - The hormonal fluctuations of menopause can be a physical and emotional roller-coaster for many women going through this inevitable transition in their lives.
Women who are experiencing "the change," which marks the end of their reproductive years, may be coping with symptoms like hot flashes, weight gain, lower energy levels, mood swings and irritability.
Menopause is the moment when a woman has had no menstrual period for 12 consecutive months, while perimenopause is the time period leading up to this milestone, according to the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada's Menopause and U site, a key component of their menopause education and awareness program.
While symptoms may occur earlier, most women experience physical and emotional changes of perimenopause in their late 40s or early 50s when their monthly cycle starts to change, estrogen and progesterone production becomes unpredictable and the number of stored eggs in the ovaries decreases, the society says.
While there's no quick fix to help alleviate symptoms, a Toronto-based company which specializes in fitness for people over 50 has teamed with a multidisciplinary group of health practitioners in taking a full-spectrum approach to help women deal with menopause.
Vintage Fitness and PhysioPlus Health Group joined forces to develop "Take the Pause out of Menopause," a six-week program incorporating both exercise and educational components.
It includes experts giving lectures on various subjects, including sex, nutrition and treatments, highlighting both natural options as well as hormone replacement therapy. It also explores hands-on treatments that may be needed to treat aches and pains that arise.
The launch of the program on Monday will coincide with World Menopause Day, designated by the International Menopause Society in collaboration with the World Health Organization.
"I think the most common thing that we've seen in our clients and patients is that they all seem to be discouraged and frustrated and confused as to how to best manage their symptoms," said Michelle DeMarchi, founder and director of PhysioPlus Health Group.
"They get a lot of conflicting information from all sorts of different health practitioners in different locations with different philosophies, and it's really difficult to get a cohesive approach."
DeMarchi, who is a physiotherapist and osteopath, will be speaking about exercise injury prevention.
Physical fitness will be another key program component. Participants will break a sweat during each of the exercise sessions, which are slated to take place three times a week, with workouts lasting either 30 or 45 minutes.
Various stations will be set up in a circuit offering different exercises, including abdominals, stability, strength training and cardio to get at all of the muscle groups, DeMarchi said.
"A component of their program should include stretching and flexibility exercises but a component should also include strengthening which should include weight-bearing exercise as well," she said. "It's really a combination of the stretching, mobility and strengthening they need to do, all with a proper warm-up."
DeMarchi said individuals don't have to join an expensive gym or break the bank to have access to the equipment they need. You can do it at home with some small free weights, elastic bands for resistance and a stability ball, she said. As for cardio, individuals can opt for a bike, treadmill or head outside.
Vintage Fitness founder Erin Billowits said women gain an average of two to four kilograms during menopause, much of which settles at the midsection, and they may find they themselves having a hard time losing the weight.
Kegel exercises, which help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, will be a component of the workout program, along with pelvic floor curls and side lying abdominal lifts with the stability ball.
"When a woman goes through menopause, because of the hormone fluctuations that are happening in our body, there is often weakening in the pelvic floor and so that can cause things like stress incontinence which is embarrassing for women," Billowits said.
The workout program also aims to build strength with exercises including squats with bicep curls.
"When women train on their own, they tend to overtrain the muscles they can see in the mirror which are in the front of their bodies," she said. For example, shoulders, chests, abdominals are typically overtrained -- often with the wrong exercises -- while the back, butt and hamstrings are undertrained, she said.
"It just imbalances their body, and so I want to make sure that it's very balanced, that there's enough in the back body as well as the front body for strengthening."
Billowits said it's much easier to maintain good health through proper exercise and eating habits, than to try to reverse unhealthy habits later down the road.
Women should be doing some form of exercise at least six days a week and should start weight training now, Billowits advised.
"You gain bone density up to 35. At 35, you start to decrease it. So for the women in their early 30s, in their 20s, they should be weight training two to four times a week."
Billowits said benefits include maintaining bone density, which is reduced if someone has osteoporosis. Weight training will also help to increase the basal metabolic rate so that more calories are burned at rest, she said.
"It doesn't have to be a weight training class, it could be using their own body weight as resistance, it could be using tubing as resistance or hand weights," she said. "There's lots and lots of ways to do it but they should be doing some weighted work."
Depending on the intensity, a half-hour for weight training will probably suffice. As for cardio, for a leisurely walk, put in about an hour. For a jog, 30 minutes will do, she noted.
DeMarchi said ultimately the goal is for women to feel fitter, stronger and healthier, while walking away with the tools and knowledge to manage their symptoms effectively.
"It's not just about what are they going to get during these six weeks. They're going to be able to take that knowledge and apply it to their life afterwards as well."
