Lacrosse - wellness and menstrual cycle
Description
Introduction: The purpose of this observational study was to assess the differences in wellness responses in Division 1 women’s collegiate lacrosse athletes who took hormonal contraceptives (HC) versus those who were naturally cycling (NC), and while menstruating and not menstruating. Methods: Female collegiate lacrosse athletes (HC n = 12, NC n = 11) completed daily surveys scoring their session ratings of perceived exertion (sRPE) and wellbeing via several wellness domains (1 to 5 in arbitrary units, AU): muscle readiness, energy, sleep quality, yesterday’s nutrition, mood, health status, and stress. Athletes also indicated their menstrual cycle status as “menses” or “not menses”. Data were collected for four months during their competitive season. Analyses compared differences between HC/NC groups and differences with menstruation on game and training days for their wellness and RPE. Results: On game days, athletes had higher energy scores when they were not menstruating/withdrawal bleeding (NC = 4.1 ± 0.3 AU, HC = 4.1 ± 0.3 AU) compared to when they were (NC = 3.9 ± 0.3 AU, HC = 3.9 ± 0.2 AU, p = 0.03), but there were no group differences. On training days, HC users had a higher sRPE (menses = 673.0 ± 104.6 AU, not menses = 669.1 ± 96.1 AU) than the NC athletes (menses = 561.8 ± 177.0 AU, not menses = 565.2 ± 98.2 AU, p = 0.006). Conclusion: With only energy showing a difference, this strengthens the concept that athletes adapted to physically stressful scenarios regardless of their menstrual cycle, but this may be nuanced for athletes competing in a team sport compared to individual sport athletes. An increased perception of exertion with HC users may be due to accompanying inflammatory responses and changes in fat mass and lean mass that often accompany HC use.