WOMEN’S HEALTH WEEK - 2022
Menopause, Running and Me
Menopause is a natural biological event that happens to women and female-bodied trans and non-binary people. It is defined as the point when they have ceased to have periods for 12 months. Prior to this point, in what is known as peri-menopause, people may experience a wide range of symptoms, including hot flushes, night sweats, brain fog, mood issues, weight gain, anxiety and many, many others as the body’s output of hormones (particularly estrogen, progesterone and testosterone) fluctuates. Perimenopause can last for many years.
I was approaching my mid-40s when I decided to give running another chance. Like many folks, I had struggled with sports at school. I had been the wrong size and shape. I had little stamina and dyspraxia meant didn’t really enjoy any of the options on offer. Nor was there much in the way of positive engagement or encouragement for those of us for whom competition was a turn-off.
Despite various efforts over time, including a week-long charity cycle ride along the Nile and fencing competitively through my 30s, I never got particularly fit and I knew I was storing up trouble for my future.
The average age of menopause is 51, and it’s generally expected that peri-menopause will start at around 45, however, it’s becoming clear that this may actually happen significantly earlier than has been previously thought. Some people will also experience menopause in their 20s or 30s, while for others surgical intervention will cause immediate menopause.
I crashed out of my first attempt at the GFR Couch to 5K programme, in 2019, with a nasty ‘flu that left me fatigued long after I recovered. Combined with my daily commute to work in Edinburgh, it just wasn’t the right moment. To cap it all, that summer I had a hysterectomy which required three months of reduced movement to recover.
By the time I came back to GFR to start the Couch to 5K again in January 2020, I was seriously unfit. However I persevered, including through another bout of ‘flu (pretty sure it wasn’t COVID, despite the timing!), and with the help of the jog leaders and the encouragement of the other club members, I succeeded in graduating! Just in time to get locked down immediately afterwards.
But I’d found that I actually enjoyed running, and I continued to run solo throughout the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, which turned out to be of great benefit to my mental health.
As most menopause symptoms are related to hormone imbalances, the standard treatment is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which also helps to reduce loss of bone density and can help protect against dementia. But alongside this, exercise can be really helpful, helping to promote mental health, retention of muscle mass and bone density, and helping to control weight. There are even studies which suggest that running can help to reduce the occurrence of hot flushes!
The big problem is that we just don’t talk about menopause. Unlike puberty, which we’re generally given some overview of at school, menopause is at best left in dark and dusty corners. Far worse, the stereotype of the menopausal woman - sweaty, forgetful and irrational - has been the butt of jokes for years. Women seeking help from their GP, concerned they might be suffering from something akin to dementia, have been fobbed off with anti-depressants, or told that they are “too young” to be perimenopausal (as I was before my hysterectomy). Many others have been forced out of the workplace due to a combination of their symptoms and a lack of compassionate working conditions.
But things are changing and as part of that change, Jog Scotland has produced an excellent resource to help clubs support their members. It includes much more information about menopause than I have space for here and lots of useful links with further information.
You can find it here: www.jogscotland.org.uk/active-living/menopause-and-running/