8 Ways to Make Walking in Menopause MORE Beneficial

Walking in menopause isn’t just exercise — it’s your secret sauce for boosting body and mind! With a few fun tweaks, make every step turn into a memory-boosting, fat-burning powerhouse.

Slip on those sneakers. Tune in while taking a walk! This episode is all about making walking in menopause more beneficial!

Walking 40 minutes three times a week increases Hippocampus(memory central).

A 2011 study on older adults at the University of Colorado, published in the Journal Neuroimage, proved this! The hidden gem – you can walk at any pace you like. There’s no minimum exertion level for this to happen.

Walk short vs long

So much research I’ve shared previously showed that intermittent breaks really matter more.  Breaking up sedentary time with 2-5 minute movement breaks reduced post-meal blood sugar spikes by 17%.

Walk after meals

10 minute walks after meals had a more positive impact than a single long walk. Especially when it comes to blood sugar, belly fat and insulin resistance, more studies show! And yes, after is better than before. But if you’re debating between before or not at all, yes go! You will make walking in menopause more beneficial this way by directly supporting blood sugar balance and combating insulin resistance.

Go a different route or backwards

Dr Ellen Langer, the Mother of Mindfulness, was the first female professor at Harvard and she’s done some notable research in aging, mindset, and placebo. She shared the idea of creating habits – have us all operating automatically. Instead, she said the secret is noticing. Truly being mindful.

More Fun Ways to Make Walking in Menopause a Total Game-Changer

Walk and talk (therapists now walk)

Need a little therapy? If not with an actual therapist but a friend. There’s science to show the combination of walking outdoors (possibly even at a track) and talking is beneficial. Throw into the mix sunshine and you have three powerful serotonin producers, for a feel good session to rival antidepressant and anxiety meds.

I’ve been known to take my phone and call a friend and talk through a 45 minute walk when life gets crazy.

Amplify the learning opportunity

Students who learn best, do. Learning any material while moving can boost your retention of it. The trick is to find activity and content you can focus on.

Walking makes it easy and listening to a podcast that's educating you - whether on the benefits of walking (this is truly meta if you’re walking right now) or you’re learning about how to organize your closet or why essential amino acids are important. Students who move retain up to 76% compared to 37% while sitting.

Weighted vest

Using a weighted vest can increase the metabolic costs, relative exercise intensity, and loading of the skeletal system during walking.

A study of trail runners concluded that between 5 and 10% the physiological and mechanical changes were significant. Meaning that at 10% additional load, there could be a considerable amount more stress on your system and your mechanics may also be altered. If you weigh 140 lbs and are using a weighted vest, you might be best starting for short periods of time with between 7 and 14 lbs, being careful not to do much time with 14 lbs until well adapted.

And Finally—The 8th Way To Make Walking In Menopause More Beneficial

Add intervals

Do this last one with conscious planning. It’s not always “more is better.”

Many midlife and older women were born into the “harder or more is better” thinking. It can be hard to lose this. But if you never go easy, you’re fooling yourself to think your “hard” effort is actually your capacity.

To make walking more beneficial in menopause you’ll want it all: short and moderate and longer walks. You’ll want brisk and leisurely paced walks. But at the core of the majority of benefits from walking is just do it, daily, for a cumulative effect of movement that occurs several times a day.

Are you interested in a virtual training that accumulates in a virtual “event”?

Maybe a Flipping 50 walk on the same day, in different parts of the world.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on Flipping 50 Facebook Group.

Resources:

Flipping50 Membership:

https://www.flippingfifty.com/cafe

Glucose Monitor:

https://www.flippingfifty.com/myglucose

Other Podcasts You Might Like:

The Effects of Walking on Health:https://www.flippingfifty.com/walking

Best Walking Tips to Help You Ditch Stress and Lose Weight:https://www.flippingfifty.com/walking-tips

21 Walking Tips:https://www.flippingfifty.com/walking-tips-2

Power of Walking:https://www.flippingfifty.com/power-of-walking

5 Walking Workouts You’ll Run to for Better Results:https://www.flippingfifty.com/walking-workouts

7 Walking Mistakes that Prevent Weight Loss After 50:https://www.flippingfifty.com/walking-mistakes Should You Hold Weights While You Walk?:  https://www.flippingfifty.com/walking-with-weights

Take a Walk with Kathy Eklund:https://www.flippingfifty.com/take-a-walk

Walking off Weight in Menopause:https://www.flippingfifty.com/walking-off-weight

References:

Mendez Colmenares A, Voss MW, Fanning J, Salerno EA, Gothe NP, Thomas ML, McAuley E, Kramer AF, Burzynska AZ. White matter plasticity in healthy older adults: The effects of aerobic exercise. Neuroimage. 2021 Oct 1;239:118305. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118305. Epub 2021 Jun 24. PMID: 34174392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118305

Ferrer, M. E., & Laughlin, D. D. (2017). Increasing College Students’ Engagement and Physical Activity with Classroom Brain Breaks: Editor: Ferman Konukman. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 88(3), 53–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2017.1260945

Engeroff T, Groneberg DA, Wilke J. After Dinner Rest a While, After Supper Walk a Mile? A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis on the Acute Postprandial Glycemic Response to Exercise Before and After Meal Ingestion in Healthy Subjects and Patients with Impaired Glucose Tolerance. Sports Med. 2023 Apr;53(4):849-869. doi: 10.1007/s40279-022-01808-7. Epub 2023 Jan 30. PMID: 36715875; PMCID: PMC10036272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01808-7