Dr. Stacy Sims

The bleed pattern is so important for people to understand because that's how we have a true inherent identification of stress. So we see changes in the bleed pattern as well as the length of the menstrual cycle itself when the body's not adapting to stress. And stress isn't just our daily life stress. It's exercise stress.

The bleed pattern is so important for people to understand because that's how we have a true inherent identification of stress. So we see changes in the bleed pattern as well as the length of the menstrual cycle itself when the body's not adapting to stress. And stress isn't just our daily life stress. It's exercise stress.

Yes.

Yes.

Working out too much, not eating enough is the big one. We've done some really interesting research looking at recreational female athletes. So people who go to the gym three or four times a week, right? They're not training specifically for anything but life.

Working out too much, not eating enough is the big one. We've done some really interesting research looking at recreational female athletes. So people who go to the gym three or four times a week, right? They're not training specifically for anything but life.

And they tend to fall into some of these trendy diets like fasted training or maybe they're eating too low carbohydrate because they're on a low carb, high fat or high protein diet and they're missing on the carbs. And again, that interrupts the hypothalamus. So we call it low energy availability.

And they tend to fall into some of these trendy diets like fasted training or maybe they're eating too low carbohydrate because they're on a low carb, high fat or high protein diet and they're missing on the carbs. And again, that interrupts the hypothalamus. So we call it low energy availability.

When someone isn't eating enough for the hypothalamus to say, yeah, all of our systems can work and we can adapt to exercise. So we see on the upwards of 55% of recreational female athletes in a low energy state or subclinical low energy state, and it comes out as changes in the bleed cycle or a missed period.

When someone isn't eating enough for the hypothalamus to say, yeah, all of our systems can work and we can adapt to exercise. So we see on the upwards of 55% of recreational female athletes in a low energy state or subclinical low energy state, and it comes out as changes in the bleed cycle or a missed period.

That's why I tell women, look, if you're tracking, you can do sessional RPE, but really track that bleed pattern and the length of the cycle. Because if you start to see changes in the length and changes in the bleed pattern or just changes in the bleed pattern, it's an opportunity for you to take a pause.

That's why I tell women, look, if you're tracking, you can do sessional RPE, but really track that bleed pattern and the length of the cycle. Because if you start to see changes in the length and changes in the bleed pattern or just changes in the bleed pattern, it's an opportunity for you to take a pause.

Say, what have I done from a training perspective or a sleep perspective or somehow increased my stress that my body's not adapting well? Because if we do that first, then we don't get into a clinical position of amenorrhea, which is no menstrual cycle and poor bone health and psychological issues and things that all come with endocrine dysfunction.

Say, what have I done from a training perspective or a sleep perspective or somehow increased my stress that my body's not adapting well? Because if we do that first, then we don't get into a clinical position of amenorrhea, which is no menstrual cycle and poor bone health and psychological issues and things that all come with endocrine dysfunction.

When we see bone, it is driven by estrogen and progesterone and interplay between estrogen and progesterone. We see a peak velocity or a peak bone mass hitting around the time we're 20-ish, and then we'll start to degrade it if we're not creating multi-directional stress on the bone through jumping, through resistance training.

When we see bone, it is driven by estrogen and progesterone and interplay between estrogen and progesterone. We see a peak velocity or a peak bone mass hitting around the time we're 20-ish, and then we'll start to degrade it if we're not creating multi-directional stress on the bone through jumping, through resistance training.

And if we start to lose bone density and we become osteopenic or osteoporotic, meaning we have very thin bones, they break easily. And it's really, really difficult for someone who is in their reproductive years to be able to do all the things they want to do if they don't have a really strong, robust skeletal system.

And if we start to lose bone density and we become osteopenic or osteoporotic, meaning we have very thin bones, they break easily. And it's really, really difficult for someone who is in their reproductive years to be able to do all the things they want to do if they don't have a really strong, robust skeletal system.

Yes.

Yes.