Not solely does menopause carry sizzling flashes, temper adjustments and bone density loss, it additionally brings destructive adjustments to coronary heart well being.
“There’s an enormous shift that occurs there. We lose our pure estrogen ranges, and with the lack of pure estrogen, our entire cardiometabolic profile shifts for the worst,” Freaney stated.
“I attempt to counsel my feminine sufferers that the years round menopause are actually a time of accelerating cardiovascular threat, and we have to go into that decade of life in essentially the most optimum cardiovascular well being to brace ourselves for this transition that’s going to inevitably come to each girl,” she stated.
Round menopause, your blood strain will increase, your LDL ldl cholesterol (also called the dangerous ldl cholesterol) goes up and your HDL ldl cholesterol (your good ldl cholesterol) goes down, in response to Freaney. Your fats mass goes up whereas your muscle mass goes down, she added. Your sleep and temper worsens, too, which might have downstream results on train and diet — as a result of who needs to go for a motorcycle trip after an evening of dangerous sleep?
“There’s an entire batch of issues that occur collectively that, when taken in full, create an general riskier cardiovascular surroundings for a lady,” Freaney stated.
“A number of this individuals don’t notice it’s going to occur, and they also haven’t gone into the menopausal years optimizing for it,” she famous. For those who can deal with power coaching to construct muscle mass and setting good cardiovascular train habits and diet habits, you’ll be extra outfitted to deal with these adjustments and counteract them, Freaney stated.
And, that is true irrespective of when you’re in menopause, post-menopausal or pre-menopausal — it’s by no means too early or late to make a change.
This text initially appeared on HuffPost.