Maintaining Your Monthly: How to keep your cycle despite intense physical training
Many of you know that Your Monthly was created after I developed a deeper understanding of what it means to be without a regular cycle when I lost my period when training and completing an ultra-marathon in 2017. I had already been working with women for several years but did not have lived experience of an absent cycle. Running is very important to me and my well-being, but equally so is my monthly so when training for a marathon this time around I was determined to do it differently.
I hope these tips help you to reflect on your own physical activity habits and give you some guidance for maintaining your monthly when completing intense training whether it be for an event or just a personal challenge.
Stop weight/body checking
We know that moving your body has benefits far beyond physical health but it’s not our fault that we can get caught up in weight change/shape change goals when increasing our physical activity. Society and diet culture BS has taught us that weight loss should be the “reward” for our increase in training and so if the scales don’t move when we are working hard we can feel disappointed or driven to have the reward we were expecting. Body checking habits such as weighing yourself are dangerous because it creates room for negative body image. If you are training hard and the scales don’t move are you more likely to exercise through an injury (not a good idea) or reduce your calorie intake, and thus ovulation and therefore your monthly are at risk of ceasing (remember your brain needs sufficient fuel to give ovulation the green light each month). Focus on non-weight related goals with your training. For me it was a reduced recovery time after long runs but you could also consider speed, strength, confidence, energy – the options are endless.
Change the timing of your training
Cortisol is a stress hormone that naturally peaks in the morning and tappers off towards the end of the day so you can make the hormone melatonin and fall asleep. Cortisol is higher in the morning because its giving your liver a nudge to release some glucose to essentially begin the waking up process each day. When we exercise (especially forms of exercise such as HIT training, weight lifting or running) we release adrenaline, another stress hormone. If you are completing the majority of your training in the evening you will therefore have higher levels of stress hormones in the evening than desirable which will not only make sleep more difficult but will also provide feedback to your brain that “it isn’t safe out there”. Stress hormones tell your brain that your life is in danger (it doesn’t know your running to train, not running away from a tiger) and can result in ovulation being down regulated. If you exercise in the evening consider moving more sessions to the morning. A simple trick to make sure your stress hormones follow the pattern your body is expecting (levels highest just after we have woken).
Honor Hunger
It sounds simple right? You’re hungry, so eat! I wish it was that simple. So many of us have been taught that hunger is to be avoided or we question our body when it asks for food at times we deem to be abnormal or more often than “usual”. If you are training you WILL be more hungry and you need to fuel that training.
Carbohydrates, you need them
Carbohydrates get such a hard time in popular media but they are essential for period health. Women are not small men. Read that again. Women need sufficient carbohydrate intake to have a regular period because in absence of carbohydrates your body engages other fuel sources which result in ketone production. Ketones are the only other fuel source (other than glucose from carbohydrates) that can cross your blood brain barrier and fuel your brain. Humans only made ketones when there was limited access to food but now we make them when we embark on the latest diet trends (I’m looking at you Paleo, Keto and fasting). If you are exercising or training hard the amount of carbohydrates you need increases as your muscles need glucose for fuel. Cutting out or reducing this food group is one sure fire way to increase your risk of injury, increase the time you need to recover from exercise and will chase your period away in no time.
So there we have it gorgeous, my top tips for maintaining your monthly when significantly increasing your physical activity. Learn to see your period as a secret weapon for performance (oestrogen makes you stronger and faster!) and give it the attention it deserves when training.