Female Hormones/BC | Uphill Athlete

Female Hormones/BC

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #65868
    Angeliena Kam
    Participant

    Just listened to your UA podcast about female hormones and training. Really great. Coach Carolyn, you mentioned you have knowledge about birth control’s effect on the body. Can you direct us to any resources for further reading? (I’m on an IUD and do not have a menstrual cycle, and I’d like to learn more about how this impacts women)
    Thank you!

  • Inactive
    Anonymous on #65875

    Hi Angelina,
    Here’s a place to start.

    Kelly McNulty is doing great work on the topic currently. Unfortunately, as this paper concludes, since this topic has been ignored for so long, there isn’t sufficient research compiled yet, so there are not agreed upon recommendations:

    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-020-01317-5

    She also has an Instagram and podcast called “The Period of the Period” educating on the topic of female reproductive physiology in sport.

    One thing to look out for is that if you are on an oral contraceptive and do not have a period, should you develop overtraining syndrome or REDS (relative energy deficiency in sport), you won’t get the first tell tale sign of losing your period. Mina Leslie-Wujastyk is a pro climber who is speaking out about this issue:

    https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/relative_energy_deficiency_in_sport_-_a_cautionary_tale-12345

    Dr. Stacy Sims, the top expert on female physiology in sport, recommends against oral contraceptives, saying they are risky and may inhibit performance, but again, there is not sufficient research at this time to give proper guidance. Let’s look forward to that changing!

    Dr Stacy Sims book ROAR is also a fabulous resource for women and training.

    Participant
    Angeliena Kam on #66092

    Thank you, these are all helpful links. Great resources! I hope more info about IUDs come out!

    Inactive
    Anonymous on #66097

    Yes me too. Sadly we are so far behind on the study of women’s reproductive health and birth control its maddening and then add in sport performance and well there’s just not much out there, though the times are changing so here’s to all those individuals at the forefront pushing for more answers!

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.