Interventions for menstrual cycle health and symptoms in female athletes 🩸
A summary of the recent data on female athletes.
Interventions Related to Menstrual Health and Menstrual-Cycle-Associated Symptoms in Female Athletes: Implications for Recovery and Athletic Performance
Study Details
This new review compiled data from 5 studies to evaluate pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions related to menstrual health and menstrual-cycle-associated symptoms in female athletes 🔍
Examining their impact on…
🏆 Performance
🔋 Recovery
🫀 Functional capacity
😖 Symptom burden
Here are the key findings ⬇️
Key Findings
📊 Objective performance outcomes were inconsistent across the studies
🔋 Improvements were more consistent for perceived recovery, fatigue, soreness, stress and symptom burden
🩸 Menstrual symptoms may influence training availability, recovery quality and perceived readiness
💊 Oral contraceptive timing caused small changes in balance and handgrip strength, but most performance measures were unchanged
❄️ Total-body cryotherapy improved fatigue-related and recovery-related outcomes, but did not consistently improve performance
🧘 Daily mindfulness yoga improved perceived performance, stress and menstrual-related symptoms
🍫 Dark chocolate supplementation improved CrossFit WOD performance, cognition and muscle soreness in one small study
💊 Acetaminophen improved repeated sprint performance, mood, attention, perceived recovery and pain-related outcomes, but should not be viewed as a routine performance strategy
Conclusion
Most findings came from small studies with different methods, interventions and menstrual-cycle assessment approaches ⚠️
The best approach currently is to monitor symptoms individually and use targeted strategies rather than make blanket training or nutrition changes based only on cycle phase ✅
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42347460/
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