The older you are, the higher the health risk.
Our life-course and the processes that age us, are actually, a really long process. I was mentioning this to the Founder of Australia’s Healthy Ageing Institute, Ken Baldwin, before the podcast that he recorded.
Ken has been trying to track me down to do a podcast for a while now, and I was so pleased that finally the planets aligned and we got it done!
I wanted to share my insights on how and why a woman’s menopause transition is so important for their health-risk as they move into post-menopause.
Like myself, Ken and his wife Karen, have worked with and for Exercise and Allied Health Professionals, for decades, helping them understand how to train their clients according to the stage of life their clients are in. This education used to be within the context of younger adulthood and exercise training, but today, Ken is a pivotal player in helping Exercise Professionals work with older adults.
The term ‘older adults’ is an interesting one. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) generally describes older adults as people age 65 or older, however, definitions of older adulthood vary. This was apparent to me when attending the WHO Conference on Healthy Ageing and Physical Activity back in 2016, where I noticed that academics were using the term ‘older adults’ and referencing people over the age of 50.
Interestingly, the use of this terminology from the age of 50 (rather than 65 years) includes women in their menopause and post-menopause transition.
However, no matter the semantics of the ‘older adult’ interpretations, what both Ken and I agree on, is that Exercise Professionals and Allied Health Professionals, need to understand the term ‘healthy ageing’ too. And this is where women are unique.
Millions of women globally find that their health is changing as they move through their menopause transition and it’s this information, including the role of ‘inflammaging’, that I wanted to bring to the attention of listeners in the podcast.
I hope you enjoy our discussion on this vital topic – Menopause, Inflammaging and Women’s Longevity: A new playbook for healthy ageing.
Physical Activity is a Key Determinant of Successful and Healthy Ageing
As the global population ages, physical activity has been found to be an important dimension of healthy ageing. That’s why, I bring your attention to this in the podcast. I also talk about cardiovascular fitness, another dimension of physical activity, that is important for women’s longevity.
In 1998, John Rowe and Robert Kahn wrote a paper on ‘Successful Ageing’. This provided a summary of one of the very first studies on the health of older people in America.
It’s interesting that these studies have only commenced over the lifetime of both Ken and myself! The MacArthur Foundation Study of Aging in America began in 1987.
It’s funny how, when I read studies on ageing research now, I position myself clearly in ‘where I was’ or ‘what I was doing’ back when the research started. I was a girl in my teens about to leave high-school and go nursing and venture out into the world.
Now, reflecting on this, the glaring observation is that ageing research has really only gathered momentum over my lifetime.
In their foundation study, Rowe and Kahn identified the maintenance of physical activity throughout life and maintenance of social, intellectual connectedness as the two most outstanding common features of the lifestyles of their subjects.
There characteristics were more prominent than any particular dietary patterns or the use of dietary supplements.
The thing is, this stance hasn’t changed today. In women’s health research, the maintenance of physical activity throughout life as well as social connectedness form the pillars of ‘health’ as we age.
Health and wellbeing in later life is not just about maintaining physical and mental health, but also about creating an environment that enables us to live our life to the full. This is where Exercise Professionals and Allied Health Professionals can play such an important role with their older clients.
With the world going into a huge age shift, the United Nations announced in 2020, that they were naming 2020 to 2030, the Decade of Healthy Ageing.
Ageing is a process that is long and slow and starts when we are younger, however, what is important, is that, for women especially, the mid-life menopause transition, may accelerate more rapid ageing – a process known as ‘inflammaging’.
Over the past 20 years, longitudinal studies of women traversing menopause have contributed significantly to our understanding of the relationship between the menopause transition and cardiovascular disease risk, as well as other changes around the body, including in muscles and bones.
That’s what I want to tell you about in the podcast, and for those of you in Australia and New Zealand, there is an Education Summit at the Healthy Ageing Institute in Australia next May. I, for one, will be there as an invited presenter.
You can register on the Healthy Ageing Institute Website.
Understanding menopause and women’s healthy ageing and becoming a Practitioner who specialises in this, is also the purpose of the MyMT™ 12 week Practitioner Course for Health Professionals.
There is also the Certified Menopause Weight Loss Coach Course, which is suited to any Exercise Professional and/or Nutritionist working with midlife women’s weight loss.
Dr Wendy Sweet (PhD)/ Member: Australasian & British Societies of Lifestyle Medicine
