The good news is that running can help mitigate symptoms.
You’re a new runner, and with any new exercise routine comes occasional soreness in your muscles and perhaps your joints. And because you’ve been upping your activity level, you may also feel more fatigued than you used to.
Or maybe your sleep patterns have changed. Your body could just be adjusting to your new program…But, if you’re a woman of a certain age, you could be feeling symptoms of perimenopause.
Women can start feeling symptoms of perimenopause as early as their mid-30s. Cameron Elmendorf, a board-certified Chinese Medicine practitioner (NCCAOM) and runner in Boulder, Colorado, explains how the estrogen and progesterone hormones regulate many of our body’s systems. “Once they start naturally declining,” she says, “things can kind of get a little bit haywire.”
Those changing hormone levels can cause any combination of the following symptoms:
- Irregular periods
- Fatigue
- Sleep disturbances
- Mood changes
- Joint and muscle pain
- Hot flashes
- Headaches
- Belly fat/weight gain
- Increased visceral fat that can lead to health issues
- Vaginal and bladder problems
- Decreased libido
- Loss of bone density
- Changing cholesterol levels that can lead to heart disease
Navigating symptoms as a runner can be tricky. Perimenopausal symptoms may overlap with the effects of training, or, perimenopausal symptoms like headaches, pain, and poor sleep can interfere with your running routine.
Elmendorf, who gives talks about perimenopause with Western family nurse practitioner Jessica Muniz, says that running can help manage symptoms. “Movement, exercise, and running, in particular, is great for hormone regulation and balancing,” says Elmendorf.
“It not only gets your endorphins and your dopamine and serotonin flowing to make you feel better, but running increases blood flow through the musculature, which helps build muscle. Strong muscles help detoxify all of the metabolites of hormones.”
“Running also keeps you sane,” she adds.
Aside from continuing to run through perimenopause to help manage symptoms, build muscle, improve bone density, and give your mental health a boost, Elmendorf suggests the following:
Lift weights.
“Even heavier weights than you did when you were younger,” says Elmendorf. “Building muscle can help ward off a lot of diseases.”
Don’t kill yourself with cardio.
“A 30-minute walk/run is great, and plenty of cardio for perimenopausal women,” she says.
Up your protein.
Anyone moving into a new sport needs to increase their protein intake. “But getting a good amount of protein can be really, really helpful in hormone balance,” says Elmendorf. Amino acid building blocks help rebuild the muscle you're breaking down when you start running, she explains. “And protein is even more important during perimenopause and menopause. It helps regulate hormone levels.”
Get good sleep.
“Having good sleep hygiene, like getting a screen out of your eyes before going to bed, not having stressful conversations before bed, turning down the lights, quieting the voice—just bringing your nervous system down, helps with sleep,” she says. “And sleep is so important for feeling good through our body’s changes.”
Nourish yourself.
“Nutrition is a big piece for managing perimenopause,” says Elmendorf. Eating healthily and getting enough protein, and maybe adding herbal supplements (under guidance) like Ashwagandha, Macha, CoQ10, and alkaloids can maintain hormone health.
Talk with a practitioner.
Anyone experiencing perimenopausal symptoms should see a practitioner—whether that be an acupuncturist like Elmendorf or discussing the possibility of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) with a Western general practitioner
Awareness of health.
“The biggest thing,” says Elmendorf, “is to have a heightened awareness of your health through the perimenopausal years.”
