What is PCOS?

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal disorder that affects up to 26 percent of women age 15 to 44. PCOS occurs when your hormones are out of balance due to the growth of small cysts on your ovaries. It often leads to a variety of troubling symptoms. There is no cure for PCOS, but knowing you have the condition is crucial. Making positive lifestyle changes can help in managing PCOS. Regular exercise has incredible benefits that go way beyond weight loss for women with PCOS.

Weight loss is an important treatment strategy as it improves practically every parameter of PCOS. Since exercise burns calories, it can be a helpful tool to aid weight management. Although PCOS can make weight loss difficult, losing even the smallest amount of body fat, around three to four percent, could significantly impact your symptoms.

It’s not uncommon for women with PCOS to gain weight. Approximately 50-60% of women with the syndrome are overweight or obese compared to 30% of women in the general population

Benefits of exercise for PCOS management

Weight Loss: Weight loss is a crucial treatment strategy as it improves almost every parameter of PCOS. Women with PCOS are more likely to gain weight due to the excess production of insulin in the bloodstream. Insulin resistance affects up to 70 percent of women with PCOS and is at the center of many PCOS symptoms. Exercising can improve the function of insulin in the body and help regulate insulin levels. Exercise can also be a helpful tool to aid weight management, and even losing a small amount of weight, around five to ten percent, can significantly impact your symptoms.
Cardiovascular Health: Women with PCOS are more likely to have high cholesterol and triglycerides, high blood pressure, and develop atherosclerosis. Regular cardio exercise is essential for women with PCOS as it strengthens the heart muscle and significantly lowers the risk for these complications. Exercise can also help increase your levels of HDL ‘good’ cholesterol.
Regular Ovulation: Period irregularities, including infrequent and completely absent periods, are also symptomatic of PCOS. Exercise may support regular ovulation as moderate-intensity exercise has been found to improve ovulation, and improvements weren’t dependent on the type of exercise, frequency, or length of a workout session.
Improved Mood: PCOS can take its toll emotionally, and women with the condition are more likely to develop symptoms of depression. Regular exercise can be helpful for people with mild to moderate depression and is an effective strategy to improve mood. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, which are hormones that promote feelings of wellness. This can help manage stress and alleviate some symptoms of depression.
Improved Insulin Sensitivity: Strength training involves using resistance bands, weights, or your own body weight to build muscle. This training type can help you build healthy muscles and bones, and slow weighted workouts can help regulate insulin levels. Slow weighted workouts can reduce the ‘stress hormone,’ cortisol. Having high levels of cortisol for a prolonged period can increase insulin. So it’s important that PCOS women manage their stress levels through a combination of sleep, nutrition, and physical activity.
Sleep quality: Exercising can help you sleep by reducing stress and anxiety levels, increasing body temperature, and releasing endorphins. This can promote relaxation and make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. Good sleep is essential for women’s hormones because it helps regulate the production and release of hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and cortisol. Poor sleep quality or sleep deprivation can disrupt hormonal balance, leading to symptoms such as irregular periods, mood swings, and weight gain. Consistent, quality sleep is crucial for maintaining optimal hormonal health in women.

Living with the symptoms of PCOS can take its toll emotionally. Increasingly, research suggests women with the condition are more likely to develop symptoms of depression. Regular exercise can be helpful for people with mild to moderate depression and is an effective strategy to improve mood. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, which are hormones that promote feelings of wellness. This can help manage stress and alleviate some symptoms of depression.

Here are some exercise types to consider for PCOS:

Strength training: Strength training involves using resistance bands, weights, or your own body weight to build muscle. This training type can help you build healthy muscles and bones. Increasing your muscle mass could help you burn more calories at rest, helping you maintain a healthy weight. Lifting weights helps you build muscle, which keeps your metabolism moving even after your workout.
Slow weighted workouts: Slow weighted workouts reduce the ‘stress hormone’, cortisol. Having high levels of cortisol for a prolonged period can increase insulin. So it’s important that PCOS women manage their stress levels through a combination of sleep, nutrition, and physical activity. Intense strength training or resistance training isn’t necessary; just 30-45 minutes of slow weighted workouts, 3-5 times a week can be a game-changer in keeping stress at bay!
Yoga – There’s evidence to suggest that yoga can improve anxiety, hormones, menstrual cycles, and metabolic parameters in women with PCOS – more so than some intense exercises like HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training). As well as its stress-busting powers, yoga is perfect for muscle strength and stretching, which aids weight loss and builds muscle mass in a holistic way. Recent evidence suggested that yoga may improve anxiety, ovulation, hormones and metabolic parameters, all of which are critically important for managing PCOS. Beyond this, yoga also appears to have a favorable effect on cholesterol and insulin levels in women with PCOS. Yoga was found to be considerably more effective than conventional physical activity in improving insulin resistance, glucose, and lipid values amongst adolescent girls with PCOS.
Pilates – Much like yoga, Pilates is a great way to relieve stress. It’s also a very light form of resistance training, which helps you burn calories, maintain a healthy body weight, and build lean, strong muscles. Women with PCOS are prone to low moods and fatigue. Doing both yoga and Pilates regularly can regulate hormone and energy levels due to the relaxation benefits that both activities have on the body. They are uniquely rejuvenating exercises as they balance energy levels, promoting both energy and rest.
Walking – Walking is arguably the most effective form of exercise out there. Whether it’s around the block or on a treadmill, just 20 – 30 minutes of walking per day can cut down the risk of chronic diseases and improve your PCOS symptoms.

If you’re not a regular exerciser, the prospect of launching into an intense exercise routine may be overwhelming. It’s important to note that exercise needn’t be strenuous and draining to be effective; it should be an activity that you can seamlessly weave into your daily routine.

In conclusion, regular exercise can combat several PCOS-related issues, such as weight gain, glucose metabolism, and fatigue. Exercising can also aid quality sleep, and reduce stress levels, which can help to regularize periods, improve your fertility, and ease symptoms like acne, hair loss, and unusual facial hair growth. Women with PCOS should prioritize regular physical activity to manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

While exercise won’t fix PCOS, it can provide some relief to its symptoms. Regardless of the exercise type, intensity, or duration, any exercise is better than none. Building movement into your daily life is an effective way to keep your body and mind healthy with PCOS.