Menopause and the mat
By Jo Spacey
October 24th, 2023
Menopause and the time leading up to it can be incredibly challenging emotionally, physically, and mentally. It can have a big impact on your daily life, your relationships, social life and work. As oestrogen levels start to fall during the perimenopause, many women start to experience symptoms like hot flushes, sleeping difficulties, brain fog and lack of energy. This usually starts around the age of 45, with most women reaching the menopause (when you’ve stopped having a period for a whole year) in their early 50s.
With women now living to 80+ years, we can expect to spend 30 years of our life post-menopause. So it’s important to empower ourselves to live our lives feeling the very best we can.
Movement is vital for health and wellbeing before, during and after the menopause. But the joy of moving can be lost, along with confidence and energy at this time. Pilates will help you to regain strength, confidence and enjoy moving your body again.
In a Pilates session, you concentrate on how you move and how you breathe. Your whole attention is focussed on precise and controlled movements that improve your strength, balance and coordination. Research shows that Pilates offers many health benefits and has a positive impact on your cardiovascular system, bone density, strength, weight management and also helps improve your mood. Due to a focus on the small stabilising muscles surrounding the pelvis, your pelvic floor will stay strong yet supple and elastic by working through a full range of movements.
It’s been scientifically proven that learning a new skill helps improve brain health. So, if you’ve never done Pilates before, you’ll have an extra brain bonus, as well as the benefits of exercise and concentration. If you’re a regular Pilates fan, then you could try adding weights or glute bands into your sessions to make them more challenging as you go through your menopause journey.
Pilates is a brilliant form of exercise at every stage of life. It helps you take back control of your mind and your body. And most important of all it’s fun!
Jo Spacey is a certified Pilates and Yoga Instructor, a Personal Trainer and Sports Massage Therapist. She’s also just started her own menopause journey