Does your menstrual cycle affect your ability to exercise?

Does your menstrual cycle affect your ability to exercise? Or, are you interested in understanding it better? Dr Alice McNamara is currently doing her Sports Medicine Research into menstrual cycle tracking and elite female athletes. During the last few weeks, she has been involved presenting to the Victorian Institute of Sport Athletes and Coaches with their Sports Medicine team led by Dr Susan White.

A few summary points:
• Female athletes have a monthly indicator of health; their menstrual cycle.
• Everyone is different, and getting to know it can give you more control.
• If it affects your sport, it is likely that it can be managed better. We would love to help.
• And, we think 1 in 5 female athletes have seen a change in their menstrual cycle during COVID!

If you are interested in this topic and would like to discuss it further, please call (03) 9770 2398 to book an appointment with Dr Alice.

Pictures: Dr Alice competing.

#MPsportsphysicians #morningtonpeninsula #Mornington #Frankston#narrewarren #Berwick #sports #athlete #sportsphysician #Exercise 

 

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IRON DEFICIENCY

Iron deficiency is much more common in athletes, particularly female athletes.

Menstrual blood loss is one factor, but we also use iron in muscle growth and repair.
This is not a problem if your dietary intake can keep up, but red meat is the best available source of iron and it can be hard to eat enough. Vegetable sources are harder to extract the iron from, putting vegetarians at more risk.
If your iron stores go low enough, you can end up anaemic. In general, athletes don’t get to this stage as they present with fatigue much earlier than that or are diagnosed on blood tests before symptoms start.
In the general population, iron stores of 20 – 30 are considered adequate. In athletes , we aim for 50 to account for the demands of training and everyday life.

 

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