You may have thought about how getting your period on your winter ski holiday could ruin your week on the slopes. But did you know that skiing itself has the power to mess with your menstrual cycle?
Here are a few questions to consider Gynaecologist Dr Molly McBride, founder of slannyc. High altitude exposure is known to influence various aspects of female reproductive health, including menstrual cycle regularity and hormone levels. Dr Claire Merrifield, GP and medical director at Selph, says very high altitudes of around 4,m above sea level can affect the hormonal profile of a normal menstrual cycle. Practically, this means that periods may be shorter or longer or more irregular, although women on a short skiing holiday at high altitude are unlikely to notice any significant changes.
The UIAA says that your period might be affected by several other factors during a skiing holiday, as your environment and behaviour are radically different from normal. The cold, exercise and jet lag can all interfere with your cycle. Period pain, for example, has been found to increase with exposure to cold. During a day of skiing, you can burn thousands of additional calories, and significant weight loss in a short space of time can lead to heavy periods or periods stopping.
The cold, exercise and jet lag can all interfere with your menstrual cycle file photo. Female recreational skiers are more likely to experience injuries to their anterior cruciate ligament ACL in their knee during their menstrual cycle, according to a study in the journal of the French Society for Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology.
Such injuries are more than twice as likely during the pre-ovulatory phase when the ovaries mature eggs in preparation for ovulation than the time immediately after ovulation.
