I’ve run four marathons, but I never stopped to think about how my hormones or my period might affect my performance on race day. In fact, for the past 10 years, I’ve been taking birth control pills back-to-back to skip the bleeding, not wanting to deal with my period and my training. However, after I sat down to listen to Dr. Carrie Jones, chair of medical education at Rupa Health, a consultant and educator on the topic of women’s health and hormones with more than 20 years in the industry, I realized where I would have gone wrong with my training — and what I needed to do.
Speaking before a panel of experts, Dr. Jones explains the importance of being mindful of your menstrual cycle and hormones when training. Because of this, certain sessions should be adjusted to reduce the risk of infection mid-cycle, says Dr. Jones.
Turns out I’m not alone in my naivety – 2019 The study was conducted (Opens in a new tab) Researchers at St. Mary’s University in Twickenham, England, analyzed more than 14,000 members of Strava. 72 percent of the women said they had not received any education regarding exercise and the menstrual cycle.
But why is it important? Read on to find out why all women, no matter what they’re training for, should go on their cycle.
Note: This interview was conducted prior to the Roe v. Wade coup. If you’re concerned about the security of your period tracking app, here’s what a cybersecurity expert had to say about keeping your personal data private. Alternatively, here’s how to track your period without using an app.
How do female hormones affect their performance?
“Men have testosterone, and that’s their big hormone,” Jones said. “Women have estrogen and progesterone and testosterone and cortisol—the stress hormone as well as thyroid hormone, we have glucose and insulin. All of these hormones are like best friends, and they play really well together.”
So if one of our hormones is malfunctioning, the multiplication effect will be in all of those hormones. So you can’t be like, “Oh, I slept so bad last night, no big deal. I’ll drink more coffee and be fine,” because it depends on where you are in your cycle. It depends on how your glucose and insulin work. It depends, like how badly you sleep, which affects everything else in the body. And then you go out and train. So all of them, all the hormones in the female body can affect their performance.”
Why is it important for women to keep track of where they are in the cycle?
“I think in 2016 the US Olympic football team decided to take their bike and train specifically for their cycles and where they were, and that’s really important,” Jones said. “All humans have a 24-hour cycle — our cortisol works within 24 hours, so we wake up In the morning when it’s high and our cortisol level goes down throughout the day to allow us to sleep at night.Men get an extra boost during the 24 hour cycle because they get their testosterone, which is higher in the morning.For women, our cycle changes every day.So Every day, our hormone changes a little bit, so we have to use that as our superpower.
I will give you two examples. When we lead to ovulation, which is generally in the middle of our cycle when we release the egg, our estrogen is shooting really hard, supposed – we should – but it also makes our ligaments break down. So we’re not good at HIIT, we’re not good at box jumping, we’re not good at fast axes and we’re more prone to injury, especially in the knees.”
If you know where you are in your cycle, it will make you an even better rock star.
“The second example is if we’ve past ovulation and are nearing our period, but our progesterone is high. Our progesterone is our feeding hormone, everything will be fine. It’s our nesting hormone. But it also makes us clumsy. So, if you ever notice that you’re close From your period, dropping things, cracking things, bumping into walls, getting stuck, it’s because of progesterone – and that’s one of its effects on the body.
Now, if you know this about this hormone cycle, you can practice with it. If you’re at a time when your estrogen is high, don’t do box jumps, don’t do quick pivot breaks, just do other things. If you know you’re done on your cycle, you’ll be really, really, really practicing on the clumsy stuff – you’ll practice running around obstacles, or the fine motor skills of your sport, so that if you’re competing during this time in your cycle, you’ll be much better than anyone else. Because you were training not to be clumsy with progesterone at its highest. So if you know where you are in your cycle, it will only make you a better rock star. “
What would you say to athletes who, for example, worry about their period the night before a marathon?
Well, I hope I talk to them beforehand, just like you, and I can get them to start tracking and trying to figure out where they are in their cycle so that when they get to the day of the actual marathon, it can be like, ‘I got this because I’m going to do what I did last month, or before month of it. I know what I’m doing. I know I need extra magnesium. I know I need extra electrolytes. I know I need more sleep and take better care of myself.
“If we know where we are in our cycle, we can practice. The female body is designed around reproduction. Whether you want to get pregnant or not — that’s not the point. It’s like the body just in case, just in case, every month. When you’re in the second half. From your cycle, as you approach your period, your body goes into protection mode – “I’m going to give you extra water weight, I’m going to make you hungrier, I’m going to make you tired, I’m also going to raise your temperature a little bit so you’ll need to cool down more when you’re working out.” I’ll make you slower. I’ll make you go crazy. If you know this, as an athlete, you can switch your mindset and then practice with it. You can take extra supplements, extra electrolytes, or an extra nap.”
What about birth control – how does that play out?
“So birth control, there’s hormonal and non-hormonal,” Jones said. “The only actual non-hormonal contraceptive is the copper IUD. Lots of women really like it because it doesn’t have hormones, so you still have your period, and for other women it makes their cramps heavier, And a heavier menstrual cycle.With hormonal birth control we have an IUD, we have the pill, and then we have a ring.
“Some women do great on birth control. They love them, their bodies love them, they compete, and everything is fine. Other women don’t do well with birth control. They feel awful, have mood swings, have gut issues, gain weight, And they get spotting in the middle of the cycle, etc. Thus, it is very important to try and find out if the birth control method you are using is the right route for you.
“The second thing, once you start, you have to give yourself a runway. Because if you’re going to have side effects, and you get a big competition coming up in a couple of weeks or a month, you really don’t want to mess with your training schedule. For example, if you try Adding a pill or having an IUD inserted, and you absolutely hate it, can affect your performance.”
The myth is that you get your period and your sweat is ruined.
Remember, you don’t have to fight negative side effects. I would never have a woman suffer for three months, so why would anyone want to deal with three months of depression, sudden bleeding, or gas and bloating? It’s about tweaking and finding what works for you.”
Do your hormones follow the same pattern on birth control?
“When you take the birth control pill, the birth control pill takes over and cuts off the connection from your brain to your ovaries,” Jones said. “So it turns off your estrogen, turns off your progesterone, and then by default, it doesn’t stop testosterone but increases what’s called testosterone-binding globulin. So with birth control pills, the actual hormones your body produces are in a flat line, so you’ll look like What we call the first week of your cycle is all-time and flat-line.”
What is the biggest myth or misconception about hormones and female performance?
“The myth is you get your period and your sweat gets damaged,” Jones said. “You can use your period and your hormones as a superpower, you just need to know where you are in your cycle. And then, don’t forget your other hormones — don’t forget cortisol, which is your stress hormone, and don’t forget your stress hormone.” Sleep, and don’t forget your blood sugar, and your insulin.Know that as women, we are related to each other, I think, more than men.
“So if you’re feeling rested, it’s going to be a day off in all your hormones. So take good care of yourself — get good sleep, eat good food, don’t miss meals, hydrate, use electrolytes, stretch or do a longer cool-down. That the next day, you’ll be way ahead of the person next to you at the starting line.”
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