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Waikato researcher delves into 'taboo' topic of periods in elite athletes

Lisa-Marie Karlseng Utland of Norway Women U23 and Kristin Grubka of United States of America USA Women U23.

A Waikato University researcher is delving into the 'taboo' world of self-tracking periods in elite athletes, with a hope it will enable optimum level performance. 

Dr Stacy Sims from the University of Waikato's Adams Centre for High Performance told 1 NEWS she is helping with the adaption of the mobile phone app, FitrWoman, which looks at training and nutrition based on changing hormone levels. 

However, elite athletes' menstrual cycles usually differ as they can be on a cycle of anywhere between 20 days and three months. 

"The nutritional and training information that comes out currently with the Fitr App is appropriate for the general population, but not for the elite population," Dr Sims said.  

The intention is to see athletes meet their full potential, a move which Dr Sims said could definitely help elite Kiwi competitors. 

She has been researching female athletes for most of her academic career and comes from an elite athlete background herself.

However discussing elite athlete menstruation "is still a taboo", she says. 

Sometimes rooms Dr Sims speaks to about athletes' menstruation are left with "red faces and laugher" after she gets them to say the word 'period' to each other. 

"If you can't talk about it with your peers, how can you talk about it with your athlete," she said. 

"Imagine going up to an older male school coach and being like, 'Hey, I have my period in five days', they don't really want to know that."

She said the period tracker can help broach conversations about periods with trainers and coaches. 

"Just by tracking your cycle... you realise how you feel in certain points in your cycle... [for example athletes may realise] 'Oh well maybe it's because I'm five days away from my period is why I can't lift as much or I'm not as fast, it's not my fitness, it's my physiology."

"[Periods in sport] are not an issue, except for the taboo-ness."

She said once the cramping and bloating effects had been mitigated, sporting performance actually can improve during menstruation, however many athletes resort to using the oral contraceptive pill to manipulate their cycle so they don't have it for a major event.

"The onset of bleeding is because estrogen and progesterone has dropped. Women will feel good either the day before, the day of, or the day after their period starts and that depends on how fast the estrogen and progesterone drop back.

Dr Sims said that low phase is where things is where many woman can access their aerobic and anaerobic systems at a greater range.

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