Estrogen therapy improves sleep quality and enhances mood for many women with these symptoms. Regular aerobic exercise improves cognitive function, enhances mood, and promotes daytime alertness and nocturnal sleepiness. Weight gain and accumulation of fat from aging and inactivity are common among perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Aerobic and resistance exercise, which increase energy expenditure and lean-body mass, are the most effective ways to treat this problem. Another common accompaniment of the aging process is loss of muscle tissue and strength.
Many older women lack sufficient strength to remain functional and independent.
Resistance exercise is the most effective way to increase and maintain muscle strength. Hormone Replacement Therapy Hormone replacement therapy includes both estrogen and progestogen. Nearly all of the benefits result from estrogen alone. Progestational therapy should be added for endometrial protection in any woman who has a uterus but should not be prescribed for any woman who has had a hysterectomy. As described, estrogen therapy relieves vasomotor symptoms, prevents bone loss, reduces cardiovascular disease risk, relieves urogenital atrophy, and improves mood and sleep quality.