Exercise and an active lifestyle

Menopause is the perfect time to renew your commitment to physical fitness. Walk, ride your bike, take up yoga or some other activity that interests you. Science confirms that regular exercise delivers physical and emotional benefits to women dealing with the symptoms of menopause. It reduces stress, helps with weight management, helps prevent osteoporosis by building bone and muscle strength, and contributes to a general feeling of well-being. A balanced exercise program includes both weight-bearing exercise (such as brisk walking, low-impact aerobics, and/or weight training) and stretching.

If you haven’t been exercising regularly, start slowly and build up. Accumulate 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week. Minutes count – add it up 10 minutes at a time.

The Public Health Agency of Canada recommends you choose a variety of activities from each of these three groups:

• Endurance. These are continuous activities that make you feel warm and breathe deeply. They increase your energy, and improve your heart, lungs, and circulatory system.
• Flexibility. This includes gentle reaching, bending, and stretching. These activities keep your muscles relaxed and joints mobile, and allow you to move more easily and be more agile.
• Strength and balance. These include activities like lifting weights, or other resistance activities. They help improve balance and posture, keep muscles and bones strong, and prevent bone loss.

See the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines for adults aged 18-64, and 65 years and older, for more information.