The Dr Louise Newson Podcast - 055 - Exercise & the Menopause - Janette Cardy & Dr Louise Newson

Episode Date: July 7, 2020

In this podcast, Dr Louise Newson is joined by online personal trainer, life coach and corporate wellbeing trainer Janette Cardy. Janette is a GB athlete and founder of Janette Cardy Fitness and she chats to Dr Newson about the physical and mental effects of exercise. Dr Newson and Janette also discuss how to find the right exercise programme for you and they share some helpful tips on how to build regular exercise into your daily life. Janette Cardy's Three Take Home Tips: Get support - find a trainer, a coach or someone who can help guide you in the right way. Don't be persuaded to do exercise that you don't want to do. If you don't enjoy it, you won't stick to it. Find something that you love! Remember that there is no right or wrong! It doesn't matter if you go the wrong way or can't get in the same positions as others - it's your journey so enjoy it. Find Janette on Instagram: @janettecardyfitness Facebook: @JanetteCardyFitness www.janettecardyfitness.co.uk    

Welcome to the Newsome Health Menopause podcast. I'm Dr Louise Newsom, a GP and menopause specialist, and I run the Newsome Health Menopause and Wellbeing Centre here in Stratford-upon-Avon. So today with me I have Jeanette Cardi, who is a fitness presenter, who has linked with me a few months ago now, and I was very keen to record a podcast talking about her, about her background, but also we want to talk quite a lot about fitness as well. So welcome, Jeanette. Thank you. So tell me a bit about you and what you do, if that's okay. Yeah, so I've run my own

fitness company for 20 years. It's definitely, it's quite diverse. So we run fitness classes in the community. We run classes out of gyms. We also do personal training. And then we also do corporate wellness and kind of life coaching within that world and nutrition. So the whole body of health and fitness really comes together. So how did you get into doing that? Well, I've always been sporty and, you know, I was a runner and a swimmer when I was at school. And then when I left school,

I got a proper job and I worked in a bank and I hated it, absolutely hated it for three years. and then just decided that I needed to get back into fitness. And so I started working in a gym and then set up my own business. So from there really, so my passion has always been sport. And for someone who I'm not genetically sporty, and I sort of force myself to do exercise, and every time I do I feel better.

And as many of you know, who've listened to me before, know that I do quite a lot of yoga, which is very good I find both mentally and physically. But there are so many different types of sports. So how do you direct people or help them to know what's best for them? Because it's really important, isn't it, that we all find an exercise that suits us? Yeah, most definitely. I think it's important that you enjoy what you do.

So if you don't look forward to it or it's an effort every single time and you don't get that high from it, that endorphine high, then it's probably not the right exercise for you. You know, there's a lot of people that think it's great to go out and do a run. but there's a lot of people that don't, but it doesn't have to be open the door and run. It could be open the door and walk run or just walk. You know, everything can be modified to suit the person, but I think the key is to enjoy what you do. Yeah, which is really important because certainly I know that if I said to some of my patients, you need to start running 10 kilometres a day or even go for a long cycle ride and they haven't

been on a bike for 30 years, then that's completely irrelevant. And it's also about building it up, isn't it? So being realistic. And everyone's different, aren't they, and their stamina and exercise tolerance as well? Yeah, definitely. And I think it's not a competition. You're not competing against anybody else.

This is your own personal journey. And if you get outside and you're walking for 10 minutes and then the next time you go and you're doing 12 minutes, there's progress and you can see your progress. And that quite often ignites the fire and the passion, I think, because you can see that you are getting fitter whilst you're enjoying it. Yeah. And do you mainly deal with groups or individuals?

Both. So in the community, I run classes, fitness classes of all types, Pilates, yoga, hip type workouts. But also personal training is usually one to one. And then I coached triathlon as well. And that's from beginner level right up to, well, this year we've got eight people that are qualify for age group, Great Britain. So, wow. Yeah, it's really good. But they're all, you know, the older athletes and majority, I would say, 70% are female. And there's a lot to consider when you're writing their programs as well, because obviously we can't train maybe

as much as we used to be able to train. And some of us are going through the menopause and things. Yeah. And clearly, obviously, I do a huge amount of menopause work. And when people are perimenopausal and menopausal, often they find that their stamina reduces and their exercise tolerance reduces and also symptoms such as muscle aches, joint stiffness, just reduce motivation and lethargy, just being more tired, more fatigued, can really impact on exercise, can't it? 100%. I've experienced that myself. You know, I used to probably three years ago, I could train twice a day, every day, maybe one rest day a week. Now, I'm much kind of. I'm much kind of, kinder to myself and I am definitely in the perimenopausal stage and I do have joint ache

and I do lack motivation sometimes and but it's okay because I know that it will go it will pass so I've just learnt to be a bit kinder to myself and actually the sessions I then do are much more quality based and I enjoy them more as well yeah and I think that's really important isn't it that we don't compare ourselves with how we were necessarily 20 years ago. And also, like you say, it's not a competition. We need to work. And every day is different, whether we're menopausal or not. Some days we just feel happier in life.

And other days, it's a bit more of a struggle. But certainly, as many of you who are listening, know that the most important hormones for women, estrogen, but also testosterone, are really important for our muscles and our joints, as well as in our brain. And when these levels reduce or start to reduce in the perimenopause and reduce permanently in the menopause. and reduce permanently in the menopause, it can really affect people's exercise. And a lot of women who take HRT find that their exercise tolerance, their stamina improves.

And I have a lot of patients who are athletes or cyclists or they find that their performance has reduced their personal best times have gone down. And then taking the right dose and type of HRT has really improved that. And HRT is not for everyone, but for the majority of women, the benefits do outweigh the risks. So certainly to help with exercise, it can really make a big difference. Yeah, most definitely. Do you find that you have to change the exercise that people do as they get older, or is it more that they just change the amount that they do?

Yeah, both actually. So it's definitely when I coach the athletes, and I call everybody an athlete, whether they're, you know, just walk running. Because as far as I'm concerned, they are doing the best that they can do. and they're on their own journey, so to speak. And I think it's more about the communication. So sometimes, well, every single day, they will contact me by text or by an app

and let me know how they feel. And if quite often as athletes, or particularly if we've been an athlete, a very good athlete as a younger person, it's hard sometimes to pull the foot off the gas a little bit. So if somebody is there sort of holding your hand and saying, right today, I'm going to change this session and I want you to go and do half of it and do it at a lower intensity,

it kind of takes that decision away from them a little bit and that worry that comes with it. So what I would say is we do tweak sessions depending what they report back in with. And, you know, even if people have got young children, how they're feeling whether they actually got a night's sleep, then your training changes. Yeah. And I think that is really important, isn't it? because I think otherwise, especially women who are in their perimenopause and menopause, as I've already said, their motivations reduce, their pleasure of life reduces.

And sometimes we're a bit of an all or nothing. So if you can't do it properly, you think, well, I won't bother. There's no point. And actually, I've been doing some Joe Wicks workouts. We're now talking at the time of COVID in their lockdown. So I've been doing Joe Wicks with my daughter, who's only nine, just for half an hour in the morning. And it's only actually 20 minutes of exercise. It's nothing.

20 minutes would go very quickly if I was washing after doing the washing, but actually to have that time and, you know, I hate to admit it, but my thighs have been hurting a little bit since doing it because I'm doing a different type of exercise. And, you know, just doing a small amount is really good. But it would be so easy to say, I can't be bothered. You know, I've got work to do, I can't, you know. So I think changing the type of exercise, just being good about yourself is really important, isn't it?

Yeah. And one of the things we were talking before we recorded was about how, at the moment exercise is changing for a lot of people because we are in this very uncertain time as we're recording so gyms have been closed we're not allowed to be in groups anymore and hopefully this isn't going to last long but actually i think it's making people think differently isn't it about how they exercise hopefully they're exploring the fresh air a bit more which has got to be a good thing certainly i live near a park and the number of people i see running or cycling giving a good distance, they're cycling and running on their own, but actually they're outside. So that's good,

isn't it? Is that something you would encourage? Oh yeah, definitely. And I think more so at the moment than ever, your health and your fitness and your mental state is something that we really need to be on top of. So we've set up, for instance, a online community fitness program and we're doing eight live sessions a week. But if they can't make the lives, they're still on there so that they can do them whenever they want to. We've got over 100 people in that community within the last 10 days. So you're absolutely right. It's about people feeling that they're doing something. They're taking some control. There's still that community feel, but also they're accountable. And we've made it very, very accessible for everybody very, very cheap. And let's be honest, gyms aren't always cheap.

And so I think this could be something that actually people enjoy doing. doing and we'll keep doing. Yeah, I think people will change. Like you say, I used to be a member of a gym before I got too busy to go. But sometimes I think, gosh, I've been swimming once in two months, so that's cost me, you know, lots of money. And what a waste. And I could be doing that, you know, spending all that money going out, being with my family, doing something different. And I think we're all adjusting with doing a lot more online. We're certainly, I'm doing a lot of Zoom meetings and Skype and whatever. And actually doing even Joe Wick's, exercise makes you realize that there's a whole new world out there and you don't have to feel

alone. And I actually get quite scared going to the gym. I don't like putting on Lycra being judged, being in a group. I'm not very coordinated. So if it's a new class, I know I'll just, and actually I was doing a yoga class at the gym before I left and people started recognizing me. And that's awful because they had this conception that I was going to be amazing at yoga. And when I wasn't doing a proper posture, I just thought this is awful. I do not like being judged. So actually to do it in the comfort of your home home, it's good and it's less restrictive, isn't it? Because we're all busy and we all work on different times as well.

So I'm sure you're probably finding that people are going in at different times to watch your sessions. Yeah, yeah, they are. So tomorrow morning we have a 7 o'clock upper body workout just for 30 minutes. And we'd probably, you know, get 20, 25 people on that. But the rest, maybe not all of them, but I would say probably another 30, 40 people will do that later on. that day or later on in the week. And they know it's there and they can see me. I mean, we're doing some with Facebook and we're doing some with Zoom. And this morning I've had three one-to-ones on Zoom. And actually, I would say it's better than in a gym because you get more

done and you can really see the alignment, you know, from the hip right down to the foot. So it's not something I would have ever considered doing before. But I think that's, for some of my clients who are particularly busy as well and not having to travel half an hour to get somewhere. And I think that makes real different. Certainly, I do. I'm very fortunate. I have a yoga studio in my clinic.

So I do on a Wednesday morning, I have a yoga lesson for an hour and a half. And then I have a quick shower and I carry on working. And then I do another session at the weekend, but I can flip my mat out at home. So I don't have any dead time, which, like you say, if a gym is 10, 15 minutes away, and then you've had a cup of coffee with your friends.

It adds another hour, doesn't it? it to your day. So this is a very effective way of exercising. And I strongly feel, you know, we're all busy and it's very easy to say, I haven't got time to exercise. But it's so important, isn't it, that we can incorporate it into our days. Yes, definitely. I think emotionally, mentally, you know, I know that throughout this period of being isolated, I've had a couple of, probably a couple of hours every couple of days where I felt anxious and a little bit uncertain. and I know the exercise doesn't just help me physically. It helps me mentally.

And it just kind of settles my mind a little bit. Yes. So for me, I do go into companies and talk about mental health and well-being. And it is something that we have to address. And it is something that we need to take seriously. So talk us through then. So for some of you listening, exercise, how can that improve your mental health? You know, a lot of people, and traditionally we've always thought it's all about physical health.

isn't it? But just talk me through, how does it improve our mental health? For a start, you're doing something for you. And I think that's really important because quite often, as we've said there, everybody's so busy rushing around and giving usually to other people, you know, and being pulled left, right and centre. So that's key. But also quite often, and this is the feedback that we're getting actually from the lives that we're doing, is that they're having to concentrate completely on what we're saying and what we're doing and what they're doing, that the thoughts are slowing down, you know, the overthinking. And so they're actually just enjoying that moment.

So whether that's a 20 minute workout or a 40 minute workout, they're in that zone right there. And it just stops them overthinking things. That's definitely something that's being fed back to us in this last week or so. it's slowing the thoughts down and the worry. Yeah, and I think we're also busy, aren't we? And if we do have any spare moment, we're always grabbing for our phone and we're just checking or looking at our emails. And it's very different to even 20 years ago when we could actually sit down and relax.

There's always distractions. So I'm sure, you know, you're right, just having something that's, and it's also we feel guilty. And I think certainly a lot of us who are perimenopause or menopausal or at that age where we're pulled by our children and our relatives, our job. jobs, our partners, and actually to do something ourselves feels really selfish, you know, but actually, like you say, if you're doing something that's got positive benefits, then it's fine to be selfish in exercise as well. And it doesn't have to be long, does it?

I mean, what would you say would be a good, for someone who wasn't particularly sporty, how much exercise a week would you sort of recommend? Yeah, I think the guidelines there are so vague, But I think realistically, if you just want to try and get active and not necessarily lose weight, but just feel that you're moving more freely, then I think three lots really, three times 20 minutes a week. It's not long really, is it? It's not long at all, like you say. You know, what sometimes I suggest to people in the past is if they like their favorite TV program, you know, if they put that on, so even if it's a soap, realistically that's 25 minutes and if they worked out whilst that was on just even doing some

basic stretching then they're still enjoying watching their soap but they're actually you know exercising and moving at the same time but yeah you're right we waste what is a good tip really I would suggest is that you schedule exercise into your day just like you would a meeting because if it's not you know top of your list to do it if it's still a little bit of an effort to do it, then it will be the thing that will be dropped. Yeah, absolutely. So if you can put it in and you know, if you know, like I know, I know, I exercise better in the morning. I like to get it done. I don't like to think, oh, I've still gone to do it at nine

o'clock at night. You know, find what works for you. There's no right or wrong with that, but it's just finding the right exercise and finding the right time. Absolutely. And you mentioned before about endorphins. Just explain what are endorphins and how do you? they work in our body? Yeah, so your endorphin is like a chemical reaction really when once your heart rate increases and your blood flow, it actually gives you a physical and emotional high when you actually feel that you're, you're more relaxed, you feel calmer, but you feel like a positivity within is really how I would describe it. Yeah. And that feeling can be quite addictive, can't it? It can, yes. Which is good because then the more you do it, the better you feel.

You have more happy hormones, as you say, in your body. And then it has this feedback that you want to do more to get that feeling, which has got to be a good thing as well, hasn't it? And what I was going to also ask you is that, as I'm sure you know, women who are menopausal, because of the low hormone levels that occur in our bodies forever, we have an increased risk of osteoporosis. So around one and two women after the age of 50 will develop, osteoposis, which is very scary because osteoporosis of the spine and the hip when it leads to fractures can really affect people's quality of lives. So the advice really is that we do weight-bearing exercise, but that's quite hard sometimes to get weight-bearing exercises done, especially through our spines, where osteoporosis can be very common. So are you able to just talk me through a few

pointers, really, to help people if they want to try and do exercise to help their bone density and strength. Yeah, so weight bearing is definitely things like walking, running, maybe an aerobics type class, but it doesn't have to be that. It can actually be, you could combine, say, a walk around your garden and then some mobility exercises, so loosening up through the spine. There's so much choice down there. Yeah, so it is a version of high intensity interval training. but not doing the high intensity, you know? And so you are getting some weight bearing, but then you're getting the mobility.

Because as you've said so many times there, that we are so busy, but we're on our phones, our posture is more like this. So we need to open up and lengthen through our spine and loosen as well. So yes, I do believe that the weight bearing is crucial and there's evidence to back that up,

but it's also about being freer. I think that's a really good exercise because certainly not only, do our bones become less dense. We also have something called psychophenia where our muscle mass reduces as well so that muscles that are supporting our bones become less developed and less strong. So if a person does have a fall, they're less likely to get protection from these muscles. And I think we're all so rigid because we spend so long sitting, either sitting curved on our computers or our phones and our necks are down. And actually, I've just been the last few weeks

every morning when I dry my hair, I've been just doing some little bending and sort of almost mini squats really, because I'm thinking, well, this is five minutes of dead time where I'm otherwise just standing still, so I might as well, and I do feel a bit crazy doing it. But I think, actually, that's quite good. And as I get older, I should be doing more things or, you know, when you're cleaning your teeth, do your pelvic floor exercises, anything that keeps us moving. And like you quite rightly say, the spine, just, you know, while we're waiting for the kettle to boil, just twisting and, you know, stretching up, doing. very simple exercises can make a huge difference if they're done repetitively, can't they?

Definitely. And that's all those points you've just said are actually the ones that I do give to my clients. So if the kettle's boiling in, I get them to squat. When they're brushing their teeth, I try and get them to balance on one leg. So all of those things are very useful. Because the other thing that I've found over the years is that people can be avid gym goers and they can go, you know, five times a week. But actually their lifestyle is not that active and they park as close as they can to the front door, you know, and then they go in and do a workout. Actually, those people are not that healthy, some of those. It's the ones that are active throughout the day. So using the stairs rather than the lift. Getting off the bus, maybe a stop early and walking that little bit further. Those

are the people that are going to be healthier. So it doesn't have to be all or nothing. We join a gym and we go five times a week. It doesn't need to be that. It's much more being mindful of what you're doing in your daily life. Yeah. And I think that's so important, isn't it, that we keep being active. Because otherwise people, some of my patients will say, yeah, no, I'm really active. I exercise and I go to the gym, like you say, and do a class. But the rest of the time, they're really sedentary. Whereas the people, or certainly my patients who are fitter are the ones that are generally active, they're always on the go. But they also have time to relax. And it was interesting, you said at the beginning of the recording about you still have rest days. And it is important, isn't it, for our bodies to

recuperate and relax as well. Definitely, because I know that if I just keep training, I get bored very easily. And I'm so, you know, sport has been part of my life, but I still get bored of it. But also our muscles and our tone and our definition doesn't actually come. during the training. It comes when we rest. So if we constantly keep pushing our bodies, A, we're going to break them, B, we're going to give up because we're just going to get bored or so tired from it. So I take that rest day or rest days and then I really look forward to going back on it the next day. So that's key for me. That's really important for people to know so they're not pushing themselves too much and then not seeing the results that perhaps they want. And then

You mentioned about diet and obviously diet is so important and good nutrition. But should we be exercising on an empty stomach or what would you say about eating an exercise? Yeah, that's a good one. So there was a program a few years ago and the research on that was that men for fat loss, I'm not sure whether it's changed, but this was the last thing I heard was that if they trained on an empty stomach, then they benefited from it. but women less so. I think the key is depends what you're training and what you're training for.

Because if, say, for instance, I'm training somebody to run a marathon and they've got a long run to do that day, if they're running on empty stalls, then they're not going to be able to perform. They're not going to get the distance in. Their body will break. and they're not going to enjoy that session. So it does depend what you're training for. But I personally always, always eat. I like to build my body.

I know I get more from the session. I've got more energy and I'm going to enjoy it more. So for me personally, it's a no. Yeah, I think it also depends, isn't it? Because we're all so different and there's a lot more now about restricted time eating and having a longer fast. And some people are fine. My daughter got up this morning and went for a cycle on an empty stomach,

whereas I could never have done that. Whereas actually doing yoga, it's better to have been at least an hour since eating before exercises. Certainly I wouldn't want to do a headstand if I had a full stomach. It wouldn't be great. So I guess it depends on the intensity, like you say, the duration of the exercise. And I used to do a lot more road cycling when I had more time.

And certainly it's really important to snack while you're exercising because you reach this wall where you, it's really difficult after two or three hours of cycling. So it all just varies, doesn't it? But it's eating the right foods that will fuel us in the best way, isn't it, as well? I think it's really important. Yeah. And particularly if you are doing a high intensity type exercise to fuel afterwards to make sure that you do have some carbohydrates and some proteins after that. And again, there's a lot of advice that you should have to do it within a 30 minute window. I'm not sure that that's completely necessary. But really within 60 minutes would be ideal to have something.

Yeah. And certainly there's a lot now, obviously there's a lot more people who are vegan or who are not eating as much protein as they were. But there's a lot of supplements, aren't there, that people can buy. I don't know what you think of them, but some of them quite scare me. But what's your thoughts? Yeah. I probably get asked this quite regularly. And I always encourage everybody to try and get their nutrients from the food, ideally. I'm not somebody who is an advocate for taking supplements, but if somebody really wants to do it, then I'm not going to, you know, persuade them otherwise, but it's not for me, definitely. But saying that, you know, I am perimenopausal and I've had a tough 12 months, to be honest, and I've always been on the border of being anemic. I am anemic, but

probably about three or four months ago, I was really, really suffering. And it's transpired that I am very, very anemic. And so now I've got iron tablets and also I'm lacking in vitamin D. So I'm taking those. But even taking those for me is quite, you know, it's quite uncomfortable. I've preferred to get it from my food. Yeah. Yeah. And I think for a lot of us, we can get enough from our food, but certainly if someone has a deficiency. So, for example, an iron deficiency, which can be very common, especially periods are heavy, in women, then replacing with iron can be very good. And vitamin D is recommended.

It's a sunlight vitamin that we don't get enough of living in the UK. So the government guidelines are that we take them. And I think if anyone's going to take supplements, it should be done with some really good advice because they're expensive as well. So we have to be really careful what we're spending our money on and make sure that we know the sources and we know the reason for having them. And certainly there's a lot of women I see in my clinic sometimes who come with carrier bags of supplements that they've tried to try and improve various symptoms. And a lot of this isn't evidence-based. So you just have to be careful

what you take. Well, that's been really interesting. Thank you ever so much. And I'm hoping it will encourage people to maybe think differently about how they exercise and going forward, how we can improve and optimize the exercise that we do. So before we finish, Jeanette, Do you mind just giving me three sort of tips for people who are a bit worried about exercise and maybe want to increase or improve the amounts of exercise that they're doing? I think get support. So maybe get a trainer or a coach. Get some support so that you're guided in the right way.

That would be the top tip. Also then don't be persuaded to do exercise that you don't want to do. So if you know that running's not for you, then don't do it because you're not going to stick to it. So find something that really makes you feel happy. What else? Just remember really that exercise is about there's no right or wrong. It doesn't matter if, say, you do go to an exercise class and you go the wrong way or you can't get into the pose that somebody else can. It doesn't matter.

This is your own personal journey and just enjoy it. for what it is. Brilliant. I think that's so important. I think knowing that exercise isn't a competition, it's almost quite selfish, like you say, but in a positive way and just feel good about anything that you do that keeps your body active. So thank you ever so much for giving up your time today. It's been really interesting. So thank you. Thank you. For more information about the menopause, please visit our website www.w.menopause doctor.com.uk. Thank you.