Exercise before menopause is important to optimise health in later years

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-09/tps-ebm092220.php

News Release 22-Sep-2020
The Physiological Society

The small blood vessels in muscles of women after menopause are less able to grow compared to young women, according to new research published today in the Journal of Physiology. This means exercising before menopause is all the more important for women in order to develop blood vessels in muscles, and thus the ability to develop muscle strength.

Recent studies have shown that there are some substantial differences in the way the blood vessels, which influences susceptibility to conditions like heart disease and stroke, are affected by aging and physical activity between women and men, a difference which to a large extent is related to the female sex-hormone, estrogen.

Estrogen is protective of the heart and blood vessels in women for about half of their lives, but, at menopause, there is an abrupt permanent loss of estrogen, leading to a decline in the health of our blood vessels.

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