Republished with permission from SottoPelle
Mood changes, sleep problems, anxiety and feelings of doom are common in women who are entering perimenopause. Lack of testosterone is often the cause of these symptoms, but strength training can help!
Perimenopause Often Triggers Anxiety
Yes, younger women naturally product the “male hormone” testosterone, but in general, the amount is only one-tenth of what a man normally produces. This is why women do not have the capacity to naturally develop the musculature that men can.
In fact, loss of ovarian function (menopause) causes a woman to lose at least half of her normal testosterone production.
Boost Testosterone Naturally with Strength Training
As a fitness expert and former personal trainer, I recommend that women suffering the anxiety and feelings of doom associated with perimenopause take up the following exercises, which boost circulating levels of testosterone:
High intensity interval training, such as:
- Intense and heavy deadlifts
- back squats
- leg presses
- bench presses
- kettlebell swings
- overhead presses
- if available, tractor tire flipping and sled pushing/pulling
These exercises cause a chemical chain reaction in the body that culminates in elevated levels of testosterone. But there’s a catch: The training must be intense, heavy and fierce!
Will strength training during perimenopause result in a manly looking body? That is unlikely. Remember that testosterone production drops during perimenopause. It is unlikely that any kind of exercise could skyrocket a woman’s testosterone levels—especially during perimenopause—to match that of a man’s. But the boosted production WILL have a youth-promoting effect, as this chemical messenger is a so-called youth hormone.
Strength training is a great way to prevent osteoporosis, too!
The Psychological Benefits of Strength Training During Perimenopause
When it comes to the common feelings of anxiety and depression as perimenopause gets underway, some of these blues could arise as the result of knowing that periomenopause has arrived. To some women, it signals bad things, namely the aging process, or the loss of youth, vitality and sex appeal.
If your patients are feeling depressed and gloomy about “the loss of youth,” remind them that they can regain some youth by getting strong and losing body fat. Fight perimenopause with intense and heavy strength training!
Would you like to learn about testosterone HRT for women?
Read: Pellet Implant Testosterone for Women – The Medical Studies and listen to the recorded webinar from SottoPelle, “Pellet Hormone Therapy, a Primer for Clinicians” (recorded April, 2017)
Written by Gino Tutera, MD, FACOG. The late Dr. Tutera, founder of SottoPelle, was internationally recognized as the pioneer and leader in the field of bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. For more than 40 years, he was a board certified OB/GYN who early in his career specialized in PMS, Menopause and other hormone imbalance issues. Dr. Tutera opened his first PMS clinic in 1982, devoting it solely to hormone replacement therapy.
After years of performing his own research, testing and analysis, he pioneered SottoPelle®, a remarkable method of natural hormone therapy based on his proprietary bio-identical pellet hormone delivery system.
The original post can be found here.
DID YOU KNOW? P2P lets you create, save and send custom HRT compounds from within the EMR!
