Although most women find hot flashes more annoying than mood swings when it comes to menopause, the latter can still ruin your day to no end. Fortunately, there are various things that can be done to relieve them – and the best part is that they are easy to do.
Exercise tends to be the most effective and beneficial natural treatment for mood swings out there, though, since it can also help you ensure that your weight stays healthy the whole way through. (Weight gain happens to be another symptom that a lot of women experience during menopause.) Aside from that, exercise can also make you fell more energetic and help you fight menopausal fatigue at the same time. So, why does exercise help so much and which exercises should you follow to best regulate your mood swings?
Well, exercise can help you produce more endorphins, which are chemicals in the brain that can help ease any mental and physical pain. Since menopause isn’t actually painful, though, these extra endorphins can improve your mood for a few hours after you exercise. To produce as many endorphins as possible, you will have to follow several intense exercises for half an hour or more; but even moderate exercises can produce some great mood-enhancing benefits as you are going through menopause in your later years.
In fact, moderate exercises also come with other benefits for women: aside from mood swings and menopausal irritability, they can also relieve anxiety and stress. Although walking for half an hour won’t actually fill you up enough for a runner’s high, walking in itself can still do wonders for a woman’s stress levels during menopause. In fact, studies show that menopausal women who do light exercises during this stage of life end up experiencing less severe symptoms. Plus, they end up feeling less depressed and anxious, and more confident in themselves, too. Here are several tips on how to incorporate mood-boosting exercises into your life during menopause.
The first tip would be to start slow, especially if you were sedentary for quite a while before your menopausal years. Ideally, you should start with only half an hour of exercise a day. If you wake up in the morning feeling sore, though, then you have to slow things down even more. Remember: exercising too much won’t help your mood swings in any way. In fact, it might just make you feel crankier and backtrack into several other menopausal symptoms.
You don’t even have to exercise everyday. Ideally, you should only exercise for twice a week to start. Studies show that menopausal women who exercised twice a week actually experienced a lot of great mood-balancing benefits. If you’d prefer to exercise everyday, though, then make sure you only do light exercises. Also, make sure you take several days off every once in a while, so your body can take a break.
Try to get some variety into your exercise routine, too. Combining different types of exercises will ensure that you get the most physical benefits while having fun at the same time. This will improve your menopausal mood swings in no time. Good luck!
