Exercise Before Menopause is Essential for Optimal Health

Exercising before menopause is important for women to develop capillaries in their muscles as capillaries are likely to grow after menopause.

Small blood vessels present in the muscles of women after menopause are less likely to grow compared to young women, according to a new study.

The research study is published in the Journal of Physiology.

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‘Exercising before menopause is crucial for women to develop muscle strength. After menopause, capillaries do not grow as much as in older men or younger women. The difference in the blood vessel growth may be due to the presence of estrogen.’
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Exercising before menopause is important for women to develop blood vessels in muscles for muscle strength.

Aging and physical activity influence blood vessels differently in men and women. The difference is largely related to the female sex hormone estrogen.

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

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The researchers examined capillaries, the smallest blood vessels in the muscle. The number of capillaries in the skeletal muscle can vary. It is mainly based on how much the muscle is used, like during exercise.

Capillaries play an important role in skeletal muscle. They are crucial for skeletal muscle function, physical capacity and health because the capillaries take up nutrients and oxygen in the muscle.

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Loss of capillaries in muscle can affect insulin sensitivity and lead to the development of Type II diabetes.

The researchers studied older women above 60 years old and young women around 25 years old.

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The participants underwent a series of physical tests, and a small sample from their thigh muscles was collected.

Blood vessel cells and muscle cells were isolated from the biopsies for further analysis. The older women performed cycling training three times every week for 8 weeks.

The women were tested for several parameters before and after the training. Thigh muscle samples were obtained after the training to analyze capillary number and proteins.

The women were tested for fitness and several other parameters before and after the training. After the training period samples were again obtained from the thigh muscle and used for the analysis of the capillary number and specific proteins.

The researchers observed that there was no increase in capillaries when aged women completed a period of aerobic exercise like cycling, in contrast to what has been repeatedly observed in young and older men.

Aging results in loss of capillaries in the muscle in both men and women. However, it can be counteracted in men by being physically active. Women do not attain capillary growth as readily as men do.

"Another aspect that is worth highlighting is that many people doubted that older women could handle such intensive training. However, the women, who conducted the cycle exercise training (spinning training) 3 times per week for 8 weeks, with heart rates over 80% of maximal heart rate for more than 60% of the time, were excited and handled the training without problems. This underlines that the popular view of how hard women of that age can train should be revised," the researchers said.

Source-Medindia