Exercise - The Menopause Prescription for Health.

The National Institute on Aging recently reported that "if exercise could be packed into a pill, it would be the single most widely prescribed, and beneficial, medicine in the nation."

Exercise is a top recommendation for many conditions common to menopausal women - heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, arthritis, backaches and depression. Some studies also show that exercise reduces the frequency and intensity of menopause symptoms.

The most recent study of exercise and menopause symptoms included more than 1,300 Swedish women. In this clinical trial, 15 percent of sedentary women complained of severe hot flashes, compared to only five percent of those who regularly exercised.

However, the vast majority of menopausal women never fill this exercise “prescription.” Here are a few reasons beyond hot flashes on why you should exercise;

_ Regular exercise drops blood pressure, cholesterol and obesity, which results (according to the American Heart Association) in a 40% less risk of dying of cardiovascular disease. That’s right - a whopping 40 percent drop in your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
_ Strength training and weight-bearing exercise help prevent the painful disease osteoporosis, which affects millions of postmenopausal women and elderly men.
_ Exercise helps control blood glucose levels, keeping diabetes in check.
_ Exercise improves endurance, muscle strength, joint flexibility and range of motion for arthritis sufferers.
_ One of the most important factors in back/spine health is overall fitness and muscle tone. If you want to get rid of a aching back, try cardiovascular fitness to maintain the bone mass that's important to a healthy spine.
_ Consistent exercise greatly reduces depression and anxiety disorder. Exercise also increase feelings of well-being, improves self-image and improves the ability to handle stress. Create a natural “high” through exercise instead of a drug-induced high to combat depression and anxiety disorders.
 

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