After the troublesome experience of menopause, women are relieved when they reach the post-menopause stage as many of those troublesome symptoms gradually decrease and disappear. However women are at the risk of a number of health conditions such as osteoporosis and heart disease due to the lower levels of estrogen.
Estrogen, a hormone, modulates a myriad of molecular pathways related to blood vessel function and skeletal muscle function. However due to estrogen loss at post-menopausal stage women are deprived of the positive impact of estrogen, impairing the ability of vascular and skeletal muscle pathways to function effectively.
A research study from the University of Copenhagen recently examined the role of exercise in compensating for the loss of estrogen in postmenopausal women.
Previous studies have shown that in women there is a clear decline in age-related vascular and muscular skeletal structure and function after menopausal transition. The decline in vascular function is accompanied by impaired blood flow to skeletal muscle during exercise. However the role of estrogen versus age for impaired blood flow caused by exercise has not been understood due to the large age difference between pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women in previous studies.
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For this study, 36 middle-aged pre and post-menopausal women who were only a few years apart participated in a 12 week high intensity training which included cycling. To determine the effect of exercise on the women’s muscles and blood vessels, the research team conducted a series of physiological tests. They also took tissue samples from the thigh muscles to understand the molecular changes taking place.
The high intensity training induced changes in leg vascular function and skeletal muscle function in both the pre and post-menopausal women, but the greatest effect was seen in postmenopausal women. They also noticed that the blood flow response cause by exercise is preserved in the early post-menopausal stage.
The researchers conclude that the study points to possible signalling pathways at a cellular level which may be the reason for higher sensitivity to physical activity in post-menopausal women.
Women recently post-menopausal have similar or greater vascular and muscular skeletal benefits from physical activity as those who are pre-menopausal.
Therefore, the researcher suggest that getting physical exercise early in the post menopause stage will benefit women and negate the ill effects of estrogen loss to health and aging.
We all know that exercise has many benefits at any age or life-stage and exercising at the post-menopausal stage can oppose the negative effects of estrogen loss.
Source: Journal of Physiology
