Staying physically active is one of the best things you can do for your body during the perimenopause, menopause and beyond. But for many of us, it’s often the hardest healthy lifestyle measure to fit into our busy lives on a regular basis.
Find out why exercise matters, what type of activities are good at this stage of life and how much you should be doing to ensure you gain the all-important future health benefits.
Benefits of movement and physical activity
The science on this is indisputable – being physically active on a regular basis helps you lead a healthier and happier life. It will lower your risk of developing many chronic conditions, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and some cancers.
Regular physical activity can also boost your self-esteem, mood, sleep quality and energy levels, help you stay a healthy weight, and reduce the risk of depression and dementia.
These benefits are especially relevant to women around the time of the menopause. Another crucial benefit of exercise is that it helps prevent the bone loss that speeds up after menopause.
What type of exercise should I do?
The most important answer to this is do anything active that you enjoy as you’ll be more likely to stick to it regularly which is crucial to reap the health rewards.
It’s good to do a mix of different sorts of exercise if you can, as they help in different ways:
Aerobic exercise – the kind to get the blood pumping and you breathing faster includes activities like brisk walking or jogging, cycling, swimming, dancing, racquet and ball sports, and simply climbing the stairs. This type is good for your general health and especially your heart and brain health.
Weight-bearing exercise is anything where you’re holding your own body weight, this excludes swimming, or activities done in lying or sitting. Weight-bearing activity is good for your bone strength especially when it impacts through your joints. Examples are most racquet and ball sports, brisk walking and running, or even doing some star jumps or squats on the spot. Changing the direction of movement and having bursts of more intense and then lighter movement periods is also beneficial for your bone strength.
Strengthening exercise is where your muscles work harder than usual and you use them against some form of resistance such as using your own body weight (think press ups), weights or resistance bands. When your muscles pull on your bones it helps them respond by renewing themselves and increasing their strength over time as your muscles pull harder. Using weights, for example at a gym, has been shown to be the best type of strengthening exercise for bone health.
Read the Royal Osteoporosis Society’s advice on Exercise for Bones for more information specifically for bone health.
Other popular types of strengthening exercise for women are yoga and Pilates and these will also work wonders for your balance, flexibility, and core strength including your pelvic floor.
If joining a gym for classes or organised sports are not your thing, there are plenty of workouts, yoga and Pilates sessions you can do for free via online videos in the comfort of your home.
How much exercise should I do?
If you’re under 65 and otherwise well, current NHS guidelines recommend 150 minutes of physical activity a week through a variety of different ways. This equates to around 20 minutes if you’re aiming for daily exercise, or 3 sessions of 50 minutes a week if you’re aiming for longer stints of exercise.
Remember this can include activities like walking, gardening, or hoovering too, so you may be doing more than you think already.
You can read more about the Government’s exercise guidelines here.
For your bone health, aim for 50 moderate impacts through your joints a day (this could be just jumping, skipping, doing squats, or jogging on the spot). And for strengthening exercise, sessions lasting 20-30 minutes, 2-3 times a week on non-consecutive days is ideal.
Getting started
If you haven’t exercised for a while, the prospect might feel overwhelming. It may help to think about just moving more rather than formal organised exercise and start small with some gentle walking and build from there.
Try various activities both on your own and in group settings, inside and outdoors, and find what you really enjoy.
You may find it helps to exercise with a friend or listen to a podcast or energising music to distract you and keep you going for longer.
There are also plenty of helpful apps to start exercising if you need structure, feedback, advice and reminders to keep with it.
If your menopause symptoms are hindering your ability to exercise such as fatigue and aching joints, try and gain improvement with HRT first to optimise how you feel physically and improve your motivation. You may find it becomes easier to be more physically active when your symptoms improve.
When I’m not exercising
Just as important as how much exercise to do is what you do when you’re not exercising. Modern life has meant it’s common to spend 7 hours or more of your day sitting down.
Research is now showing that sitting down (or lying down) for lengthy periods is detrimental for your health, even if you’re managing to do the recommended amount of exercise per week.
The Department of Health and Social Care has described inactivity as a ‘silent killer’ so if you work at a desk, or enjoy watching TV, being online, or doing hobbies in sitting, think about regular breaks for getting up and doing other activities in standing that require more movement.
Last updated: June 2026
