Finding the ‘I’ in Team | Event Recording & Resources

You can be an elite athlete + be healthy + have a normal menstural cycle

There are still many people and female athletes who think you cannot be successful in sport and have normal menstrual function. As a female athlete, it is essential to have a healthy menstrual cycle if you want to have a long, successful athletic career and to also protect your long-term health beyond competitive sport. The menstrual cycle should be considered a vital sign in women. Having a healthy cycle, meaning ovulation, a period, fluctuating hormones, and symptoms, which are mild and manageable, is a critical indicator of your health.

What is Hormonix?

• A still very new technology to measure female hormones in saliva.
• It aims to overcome the need for drawing blood to measure hormones.
• Athletes receive a kit with all they need to collect a saliva sample.
• An easy-to-use app reminds athletes to collect a sample at a specific time.
• The samples can be stored in a freezer before they are sent to the laboratory.
• Athletes also enter their symptoms in the app and can see the lab results.

The EIS has used the platform in a number of elite athletes so far. Dr. Burden’s philosophy is that any measure is only beneficial when it has a tangible practical impact on athletes.

Female athletes’ individual hormone profiles and menstrual cycles

• As sports scientists and physicians, we need to think beyond performance and fitness to compete in our athletes and consider their long-term health goals.
• Understanding their cycle gives athletes the evidence and tools to make better choices about their health, training, diet, recovery, and career. 
• Here is an example for this: An athlete experienced symptoms she felt were related to her cycle. She perceived them to have a negative impact on her performance. Thus, she monitored three menstrual cycles while recording her training load and subjective wellness. Her profile showed healthy hormone fluctuations and cycle lengths even with high training volumes. Furthermore, her symptoms were related to the phase of her cycle. This allowed the EIS team to develop strategies to reduce symptomatic cycles and gave her the confidence that she was healthy and able to compete at her best.
• Another important application of individual hormone profiles is the Relative Energy Deficit in Sport (RED-S) syndrome where athletes do not get enough energy from their diet to fuel their training. In female athletes, their menstrual cycle becomes irregular and periods may stop altogether.