Angie Harmon Talks Adjusting to Menopause, Life After 50: 'Your Body Just Isn't Yours Anymore' (Exclusive)

Going through menopause has been quite the roller coaster for Angie Harmon.

The Rizzoli & Isles actress, 51, opened up to PEOPLE about how her body hasn’t been feeling like her own since hitting her 50s and going through menopause.

“The thing that I hate the most is when you're going through menopause, your body just isn't yours anymore,” she tells PEOPLE while explaining the changes and symptoms she’s experienced.

“The workouts that you used to do, they don't work anymore. And I love salt so much, and I swear to God, if I even smell it, I wake up the next morning and my eyes are almost swollen, closed. My face is four times its size,” she said. “I mean, I have to think about all of these things now that I didn't used to have to think about.”

Harmon says there are even times her face gets so “puffy” and “gross” that she doesn’t recognize herself in the mirror.

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In addition to the changes in her body, Harmon admits that her energy levels have started to decrease and she’s just been accepting it.

“I think the beauty of being in my fifties is that I definitely have those days where I don't feel like getting out of bed,” she says. “I'm exhausted. I just want to lay there and read a magazine about fashion or decorating and that's it.” 

“I'll get up and make my daughter’s lunch and get her to school and do the whole thing and blah, blah, blah,” she adds. “But I feel like I'm coming back home and it's one or two things, either laying down or working out. Whichever way the scale tips that day, that's where I go and I don't feel bad about it.”

As she tries to adjust, Harmon said that she’s turned to hot yoga to regulate the bodily changes that have come with menopause.

“I started hot yoga… and I mean you literally sweat out of your eyeballs and it is awesome,” said the Baywatch Nights star. “Hot yoga. I'm telling you, you get in there and you just sweat. I used to be a runner. I used to do all that stuff and I do still, but it just doesn't do what it used to do to my body.”

“It's just a StairMaster and hot yoga and three to five pound weights if I'm feeling really good that day,” Harmon continued.

“I've just become this hot yoga sort of walking woman. I was like, what, how did I get here? But on the other hand, it works, so okay, I'll do it. At this point, it's like they told me to drink my own urine and I'm like, alright, well is it iced? Is it room temp? How are we doing this here? Let me know,” she quipped.