Nutrition and Menopause
Menopause is the end of a woman’s menstrual cycle, or the lack of menstruation for more than 12 months which is most commonly accompanied by changes in the hormonal profile. Those changes include a decrease in estrogen and progesterone as well as an increase in FSH (helps control menstrual cycle and stimulates the growth of eggs in ovaries) and LH (also helps control the menstrual cycle and triggers the release on an egg in the ovary).
Common symptoms of perimenopause (the time leading up to menopause, average time being 4 years) include:
Irregular periods
Hot flashes
Sleep disturbances
Weight gain
Hair thinning
Headaches
Decreased libido
Breast tenderness
Worsened PMS
Common symptoms of menopause include:
Night sweats
Hot flashes
Depression
Insomnia
Frequent urination
Dry skin
Increase cholesterol
Fatigue
Anxiety/irritability
There are multiple lifestyle changes that are associated with menopause. The first being a redistribution of the female fat pattern and changing to more of a male fat pattern. This doesn’t necessarily mean weight gain, but a rearrangement of where your fat was distributed before (most commonly from butt and thighs to midsection). Other lifestyle changes includes the rate at which muscle protein breaks down in the body. Because estrogen is an anabolic hormone and there is a decreased estrogen count during menopause, there becomes less anabolic events in the body. Muscle protein breakdown is an important aspect of rebuilding muscle, increasing muscle mass, and adaptation to the proper training. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s impossible to accomplish these things during menopause, it simply makes it more challenging.
The third lifestyle change in the body during menopause includes having a larger stress response. There is less DHEA and cortisol in the body, which work together to balance out short and long-term responses to stress which in turn increases the stress response as opposed to being able to control it. Thermoregulation in the body is most commonly in the thermoneutral zone, regulated between the sweating zone and the shivering threshold. During menopause, it bounces between the shivering, sweating, and thermoneutral zone much more regularly, and the thermoneutral zone shrinks.
The last lifestyle changes of menopause include worsening of sleep because of a decrease in melatonin in the body, increase water retention in the body, and an increase in osteoporosis (estrogen is important for bone health). With these lifestyle changes, there are a few helpful swaps you can make in your lifestyle to help balance the changes that have occurred:
1) Ensure adequate protein intake and distribute it throughout your day evenly (closer to 1g per pound of bodyweight)
2) Limit fructose consumption (not necessarily fruit, but more so added sugars)
3) Drink cold water with electrolytes to support thermoregulation
4) Include tart cherry juice to help increase sleep naturally
5) Train for power and hypertrophy to support muscle protein breakdown and muscle gain
6) Focus on a whole foods diet, limiting processed and high calorie items
Citation:
Hormone Graph: https://www.lecturio.com/concepts/menopause/
