I’ve had your client’s menopause palpitations on my mind this week.
According to new research, menopause palpitations are more common than women think. [Carpenter, Sheng, et al, 2022].
As the authors noted, ‘compared with the abundance and breadth of research on menopausal vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes) and sleep, there is a relative scarcity of research on menopausal palpitations. However, up to 42% of perimenopausal women and 54% of post-menopausal women report having palpitations.’
Although 44%–87% of women aged 40–59 years living in America believed their palpitations required treatment, a systematic review found no Level 1 evidence for managing menopause palpitations. This and other evidence suggests palpitations in peri- and post-menopausal women are common yet relatively understudied in comparison to Vasomotor Symptoms (Hot Flushes).
As such, the authors contend that, like other symptoms, they may be normalized and/or trivialized, as they have mostly been attributed to psychosomatic (e.g. anxiety, stress) determinants, rather than cardiac causes. (Carpenter et al, 2022).
This is a shame, because when it comes to menopause-related palpitations, (yes, your clients need to get their Doctor to check them out), there is something that the Sports Medicine doctors might not be sharing with the menopause Doctors …. and that is, that when women are low in iron, or over-training with all the exercise they are doing which impacts magnesium and calcium uptake in muscles, including cardiac muscle – these situations may lead to palpitations too.
There are also other factors that impact palpitations, including:
- low body fat levels,
- inadequate calorie intake from fasting
- chronic insomnia
- stress (past and present)
- anxiety and,
- inflammation.
Menopausal palpitations are described as loud, racing, or skipped heart beats, flip-flops, fluttering, or pounding that occurs with or without dizziness and/or lightheadness.
They are associated with demographic, clinical, symptom, and quality of life (QOL) factors states the Journal of Women’s Health (Carpenter, Tisdale et al, 2020).
Whilst your clients need to have them checked out with their Doctor, you might also suggest that they get bloods checked for Vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, potassium and of course, B12 and iron levels.
All of these nutrients are important for women’s cardiac health as they move through menopause. I’ve written about this HERE.
Feelings of anxiety are distressing for your clients. I know this myself, so the evidence on slow breathing is important for you to teach your clients. 6-10 breaths per minute and diaphragmatic breathing is best.
I describe how to do this below. I just wish that I knew to do this type of breathing when I was feeling anxious and overwhelmed at work and was experiencing palpitations.
Yoga helps, so does meditation, but if your clients don’t enjoy these activities, then other forms of breathing-related exercise helps to reduce anxiety, including swimming and walking. I talk about this below.
The Physiological Effects of Slow Breathing on Anxiety and Cardiovascular Health as Women Age
To achieve these positive benefits, women need to slow down their rate of breathing to 6-10 breaths per minute, with an increased tidal volume (inspiratory and expiratory capacity) achieved by diaphragmatic activation.
Nasal breathing is also considered an important component of optimised respiration for health. [Russo, Santerelli & O’Rourke, 2017].
Lungs are Ageing as Women Move Through Menopause:
Which MyMT™ Education Course Will You Choose?
From a biological point of view our menopause transition means that the reproductive hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, are declining as part of our ageing.
We all know that puberty is the period when oestrogen and progesterone first arrive, so in effect menopause is the opposite or the book-end to puberty.
As I mention in my online Masterclass on Menopause, your client’s menopause symptoms is their body attempting to compensate for the changing balance of hormones as all of the reproductive hormones decline in midlfe.
Sometimes, those same hormones end up fighting each other instead of adjusting. But every one of their symptoms is reversible if the right lifestyle changes are put into place, which then allows the female body to adapt to its ‘new normal’ as it ages.
This is what 12 week MyMT™ CPD Practitioner Course teaches you – all the scientifically evidenced step-by-step lifestyle strategies which help you to understand how to help your clients to work with their changing hormones in menopause and post-menopause, not against them.
For those of you who aren’t ready for the 12 week course, then there are shorter self-learning courses for menopause weight loss coaching and an introduction to the physiology and psychology of behaviour change for midlife women and this is tailored to those of you who are Health Coaches.
If you have any questions, then please contact, Georgia, the Course Convenor, on georgia@mymenopausetransformation.com
My video below explains a little bit about me and how I came to set up My Menopause Transformation Lifestyle Programmes.
Dr Wendy Sweet (PhD)/ MyMT™ Founder/ Member: Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine.
References:
Carpenter JS, Sheng Y, Pike C, Elomba CD, Alwine JS, Chen CX, Tisdale JE. (2022). Correlates of palpitations during menopause: A scoping review. Womens Health (Lond). 18:17455057221112267.
Carpenter, J. S., Tisdale, J. E., Chen, C. X., Kovacs, R., Larson, J. C., Guthrie, K. A., Ensrud, K. E., Newton, K. M., & LaCroix, A. Z. (2021). A Menopause Strategies-Finding Lasting Answers for Symptoms and Health (MsFLASH) Investigation of Self-Reported Menopausal Palpitation Distress. Journal of women’s health, 30(4), 533–538. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2020.8586
Carmody JF, Crawford S, Salmoirago-Blotcher E, Leung K, Churchill L, Olendzki N. Mindfulness training for coping with hot flashes: results of a randomized trial. Menopause. 2011 Jun;18(6):611-20.
Herawati I, Mat Ludin AF, M M, Ishak I, Farah NMF. Breathing exercise for hypertensive patients: A scoping review. Front Physiol. 2023 Jan 25;14:1048338.
John JB, Chellaiyan DVG, Gupta S, Nithyanandham R. How Effective the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Quality of Life in Women With Menopause. J Midlife Health. 2022 Apr-Jun;13(2):169-174.
Ma, X., Yue, Z. Q., Gong, Z. Q., Zhang, H., Duan, N. Y., Shi, Y. T., Wei, G. X., & Li, Y. F. (2017). The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 874. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874
