Join Date: Jul 2008 Training, Diet, and the Menstrual Cycle
Mods, move this (or delete) if improper for these forums.
There's a lot of discussion of the hormonal effects of various
training regimens and dietary choices on hormones: insulin,
cortisol, testosterone, etc. However, any mention of the effects
on the perhaps most popularly known hormonal cycle--menstruation
--go lacking. So, here it goes FOR SCIENCE! First, let's
establish a basis. Menstruation is actually pretty poorly
understood in the medical community. Sure, it's known why it
happens, but the workings behind the details--what determines
length, heaviness of flow, pre-menstrual syndrome symptoms,
whether PMS even occurs--all of those are pretty much a mystery.
Why do some women get cramps and others don't? Why do some women
experience severe moodiness or heightened libido and others are
as steady as the ocean on a calm day? Why do some women start
menstruating at 8 and others at 14? You would think somebody
would be studying these things, but as