Real quick—off the top of your head, can you name everything you’ve done today? If you’re reading this over your morning coffee, your list might be short: woke up, walked the dog, made breakfast, and sat down to catch up on Gennev’s blog. If you’re reading this on your commute home from work, it’s fair to say your list might be a little longer. No matter what’s on it, we’re going to guess there are a few things it probably doesn’t include:
- Breathe in, breathe out (repeat 22,000 times)
- Circulate blood to brain
- Make new skin cells to heal that cut you got shaving
- Convert this morning’s egg on toast to lipids, glucose, and amino acids
- Increase shivering rate for the office’s arctic temperatures (pause for hot flash)...
And thank goodness, right? If we had to add biochemical bodily functions to our to-do lists on top of everything else we juggle, we just might lose it. Luckily, we all come with built-in programming that handles many of those processes for us without any extra planning on our part: our metabolism.
The lowdown on metabolism during menopause
Wait, how does the metabolism work again?
Think of the metabolism as a sort of engine that runs two complementary processes:
Catabolism, in which your body breaks down nutrients to create energy (a process that includes burning calories)
and
Anabolism, which uses that energy to build and repair molecules in the body. These can go on to become new or healed tissue (for example, muscle growth after exercise).
When these processes are in sync, your body can do everything it needs to: breathe, digest food, circulate blood, regulate hormones, eliminate waste—all the things you’re glad to not have to put on your daily to-do list, because if all’s going well inside, they’re already getting done.
What’s going on with my metabolism during menopause?
To understand what can happen to your metabolism during menopause, it’s helpful to frame overall metabolic health as “the balance of nutrients and activity that supports the fundamental systems that run your body,” says Gennev's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su. She emphasizes that metabolic health is highly variable between individuals and depends a great deal on genetics, lifestyle, and personal risk factors. Supporting a healthy metabolism at any age requires understanding and balancing your body’s needs for fuel, movement, and rest.
Midlife ushers in unique circumstances for women, though. As we age, especially during the transition into menopause, the balance between those needs for energy, activity, and recovery starts to shift, and the body reacts accordingly. Dr. Dunsmoor-Su reminds her patients that this is not unusual. She explains that if you’ve noticed changes to your energy levels, appetite, body composition (i.e., where you carry your weight), or bloodwork (like cholesterol and blood sugar levels), you’re not imagining them; they can be a normal part of aging, to an extent, and a consequence of hormonal fluctuations starting even in perimenopause. (Fun, we know.)
If it feels like your menopausal body has a whole new set of demands lately, Dr. Dunsmoor-Su confirms that may not be far from the truth. Reacting to your body's changing needs is key for staying metabolically healthy, she says, and maintaining that nutrient-activity balance after menopause can require different proportions of nutrients, different types of exercise, and more attention to quality rest for optimal health.
This is by no means impossible, particularly if you’re not genetically predisposed to certain metabolic disorders (we’ll get to those), but you may already know that it can take a little extra patience, creativity, and support to make the lifestyle changes that will keep your metabolism thriving.
If patience and creativity alone aren’t getting you where you want to be on your menopause journey, let Gennev add the support. Make an appointment with a menopause-trained MD or RDN today.
Understanding metabolic syndrome during menopause
If some changes are normal, what kinds of metabolic changes during menopause should I be concerned about?
While everyone can expect some metabolic changes as they age, some people may be prone to metabolic disorders that can arise or worsen during menopause due to genetic and lifestyle factors. One example is a term you may have heard before: metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome describes a cluster of disorders, most related to your body’s ability to process insulin, that can raise the risk of Type 2 diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease. It’s commonly indicated by having three or more of the following biomarkers, which are considered out of range for optimal metabolic health:
- Fasting blood glucose above 100 mg/dL
- HDL cholesterol less than 50 mg/dL for women
- Triglycerides above 150 mg/dL
- A waistline of 35 inches or greater for women
- High blood pressure (130/85 or higher)
For those genetically predisposed to metabolic syndrome, menopause may be the time when these conditions begin to show up, affect your health, and become more challenging to treat.
Menopause strikes again. Why does this happen?
There’s a lot we’re still learning, but from a physiological standpoint, some conditions that contribute to metabolic syndrome during menopause can be due to hormonal changes. Hormones like estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and insulin are just a few of the key players in the metabolic processes that your body needs to function. When their levels fluctuate during perimenopause and menopause, it can lead to a cascade of consequences that can include:
- Increased insulin resistance and difficulty removing glucose from the bloodstream to regulate blood sugar
- Changes in sleep habits which impact appetite and energy levels
- Changes in bone density, muscle mass, and body fat quantity, type, and distribution
- Increased inflammation in multiple organ systems, including the cardiovascular system
These changes also often come along just as midlife throws its curveballs: you hit a career high with a big promotion, but it leaves less time to fix healthy home-packed lunches. Your kids and aging parents are somehow both keeping you up at night. Staying active has gotten harder as your family’s schedule has gotten busier. You have global news, celebrity gossip, and life updates from everyone you know at your fingertips 24/7. And you’re supposed to be able to clear your mind and de-stress just like that?!
Between the onslaught of hormonal changes, physical symptoms, and lifestyle stressors that can make those symptoms tougher to manage, it's no surprise that menopause is the time when disorders like metabolic syndrome may start to come out in full force. This is concerning because without intervention, conditions like insulin resistance and inflammation can get worse. These in turn can raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, thyroid disease, and even cancer—all good reasons to take metabolic syndrome seriously.
Staying metabolically healthy during menopause
It’s important to keep in mind that menopause doesn’t automatically come with a side of metabolic syndrome despite the increased risks due to hormone changes, and there are steps you can take to start improving your health and metabolic function at any time. This is true during perimenopause too, when many women first notice body composition changes or get unexpected results from lab work—sometimes the first signs that metabolic shifts might be taking place.
It can be disconcerting when these changes and symptoms come along, so we always encourage women to seek support from providers who are knowledgeable about menopause.
If you have specific concerns, or want some guidance about what to prioritize, chat with a doctor or Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. They’ll help you make a plan that might include diet, regular exercise, and lifestyle changes to reach your desired goals. Your doctor may also discuss hormone therapy and medication, if appropriate, and both providers can discuss the impacts of the various treatments that may be available to you.
Gennev clinicians in action
Helping patients find long-term solutions for their unique health concerns during menopause requires thoughtful detective work from Gennev MDs and RDNs. Like other Gennev clinicians, Melissa Burton, RDN, looks well beyond standard lab work to take a holistic look at all factors that could be contributing to her patients’ symptoms.
Though Gennev RDNs don’t order lab work, they work closely with MDs and patients to get all the necessary information for a thorough intake. When Melissa begins working with a new patient, for example, she may recommend they have their doctor order labs like a complete cholesterol panel, which measures LDL cholesterol levels alongside HDL and triglycerides, and tests that measure glycemic control over a period of months instead of hours, which may give her more information than a single fasting blood glucose test.
She’ll consider vitamin and nutrient deficiencies; low levels of Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, and iron—to name a few—are common culprits of many symptoms that can crop up during midlife. She’ll also ask her patients about stress, sleep, and other lifestyle factors, and have them keep a thorough food journal to keep track of what they eat and when. All these details help Melissa get a complete picture of what may be going on for her patients metabolically, so she can craft a plan to help them manage their symptoms and health conditions.
Dr. Dunsmoor-Su adds that Gennev patients can talk with an MD about their risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, particularly if there’s a family history of those conditions to consider. She also encourages patients to explore whether hormone therapy could play a role in reducing certain troublesome symptoms during menopause and the long-term health risks associated with them.
I’m ready to support my menopausal metabolic health. Where do I start?
Feeling motivated? You don’t have to figure it out alone. Check out our tips for the best exercises for metabolic health, read up on dietary tips for hormonal weight gain from Gennev’s Registered Dietitian Nutritionists, or incorporate more delicious anti-inflammatory foods for a simple change you can make right away.
Your metabolic health wasn’t determined in a single day, though sometimes it can feel like menopause wreaked havoc on it overnight. Whatever you’re going through, even small adjustments are worth it for your long-term well-being. If you’re eager to learn more about how to keep your metabolism healthy during menopause, reach out to a Gennev menopause specialist to get started with a personalized care plan.
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