Many women wouldn't describe the arrival of their period as the mental and physical highlight of the month. Yet it seems that this is precisely the case, at least in sport. This is demonstrated by a new study from University College London, published in the journal Neuropsychologia.
The research, to tell the truth, was born to discover whether the hormonal fluctuations linked to the menstrual cycle can influence in some way the risk of injury of female athletes. In fact, with the ever-wider diffusion of women's professional sports, the number of injuries suffered by athletes is also growing. And some research seems to indicate that the numbers are, at least in some sports, higher than what male athletes experience.
There are many possible explanations: it may be a question of training and technique, and of less attention on the part of coaches towards the risk of injury among athletes, all possibilities that cannot be ruled out given that women's sport is experiencing strong development precisely in these years, and therefore some of the experience gained some time ago in the men's sector may still be missing.
However, it cannot be ruled out that there is some biological specificity behind the injuries of female athletes. And one of the possibilities on the table is that it is precisely menstruation, with the many physiological changes that it imposes on the body, that modifies the performances of athletes, and therefore exposes them to greater risks of injury in some phases of the menstrual cycle.
To investigate the matter, English researchers recruited 96 male and 105 female athletes, of whom 47 were taking hormonal contraceptives (and therefore not experiencing menstruation). The participants underwent a battery of tests designed to measure their cognitive abilities and their reaction times, characteristics that according to the researchers can influence the risk of injury, especially in sports that require coordination and quick decisions, and in which they use balls or other objects to catch or hit while moving.
The tests were repeated 14 days later, in order to capture possible changes related to the phase of the menstrual cycle. And the results were somewhat unexpected. If no differences emerged in reaction times and accuracy between the two sexes, the situation was different among sportswomen. Women who did not take oral contraceptives achieved better results than others precisely when menstruating. And this despite the fact that they reported feeling down physically and in mood at that time of the month. On the other hand, the results of the athletes were worse during ovulation and in the final part of the luteal phase (the following one).
“The surprising thing is that the participants' performances were much better when they were on their period, which refutes what women, and probably society more generally, think about their abilities at that particular time of the month,” comments Flaminia Ronca , a researcher at University College London who participated in the study. “I hope this lays the foundation for a more constructive dialogue between athletes and coaches on the perception of their performances: how we feel does not always reflect our real conditions”.