If you are in the correct demographic you may already feel like you're being tracked by a menopause marketing missile. Every second ad in your feed may be on a muted pink background and telling you that it can solve all your current issues. TBH, even putting 'menopause' in a headline seems like it may be SEO gaming at this point.

While there may be supplements or items out there that can help support you, it's unlikely any one is a silver bullet. Sorry. But, on the upside, you don't really need a silver bullet. You need to do what everyone else needs to do and take good care of yourself in whatever way is best for the stage of life and body you have.

With that in mind, we thought we'd try and post some interesting links and articles as we come across them. Two or three per post with links and short summaries.  All menopause related. All informative. No product shilling. 

First up, an article in Run magazine about the menopause and, obviously, running. But the advice is generally applicable to anyone with a movement practice. Nicely sequenced and it picks off a few of the objections along the way, such as spiking cortisol.  We're not sure when cortisol assumed the mantle as wellness’s favourite villain but it does seem to be everywhere at the moment. Spoiler: the article concludes it's not that bad.

Their recommendations on extending training cycles, so that you increase time between repeating the same training session, and prioritising recovery are useful for anyone training as they age. Their menopause specific training advice chimes with general contemporary training trends and it does seem to fit well with the issues around menopause.

Worth a read. Full article here. Seems to paywall after the first view.

Another interesting recent study looked at strength as we age. It used the ubiquitous grip strength as the data source for strength. It found that women aged 65 and over who reported ever having used MHT (menopause hormone therapy) had around 1.9 kg greater handgrip strength than those who had not (about 1 kg after adjusting for factors such as age, height, obesity and sedentary time). The gap appeared to widen with age, from roughly 2.5% at 60-64 to 14.3% at 80 and over, while no difference was seen in middle-aged women.

While you can't conclude from the study that MHT is a pathway to strength it is interesting. It could be that women with access to MHT are generally fitter, or it may be something else, but the findings are consistent with earlier work on oestrogen and muscle. Though prospective studies and randomised trials are needed before any conclusions can be drawn about MHT as a way to protect strength. 

Full study here

Note: We're not doctors, this is not medical advice. We're just flagging articles and studies you may find interesting.