MOTOR CONTROL, COGNITION, AND HORMONAL LEVEL DURING THE MENSTRUATION PHASE IN HIGHLY TRAINED FE- MALE ATHLETES
Résumé
INTRODUCTION: Around 50% of female athletes use hormonal contraception (Martin et al., 2018). However, it is currently unknown if fluctuations in sex hormones either during the normal menstrual cycle (NMC) or during combined oral contra- ceptive intake (COC) influence motor or cognitive performance in female athletes. METHODS: Therefore, we tested 22 trained female athletes 3 times: 14 with NMC (tested during the early follicular phase vs. follicular phase vs. luteal phase) and 8 with COC (tested during no hormonal intake vs 1st week of intake vs 3rd week of intake). Estradiol (E2) and testosterone (T) levels were assessed, as well as cognitive performance (tests on spatial cogni- tion, memory, and reaction times) and motor performance (countermovement jump and grip test). RESULTS: Motor and cognitive performances were stable across the menstrual cycle for both groups of participants (ps > .05). A group effect was found for some performances (higher grip strength for the COC group; greater memory span for the COC group, ps < .05). No correlations were found between neither hormonal concentration in E2 or T and motor or cognitive performance, nor between the variation in hormonal concentration and performance (ps > .05). CONCLUSION: As previously described in the literature (Smith et al., 2024), there is no obvious variations in either motor or cognitive performance across the menstrual cycle in trained athletes. Moreover, fluctuations of E2 and T, which are sup- posed to impact performance, are not related to the performance of highly trained athletes. More studies are necessary to understand if a high dose of training might overcome the usual impact of sex hormones on performance. References Martin D, Sale C, Cooper SB, et al. (2018). Period prevalence and perceived side effects of hormonal contraceptive use and the menstrual cycle in elite athletes. Int J Sports Physiol Perform; 13: 926–932. Smith ES, Weakley J, McKay AKA, McCormick R, Tee N, Kuikman MA, Harris R, Minahan C, Buxton S, Skinner J, Ackerman KE, Elliott-Sale KJ, Stellingwerff T, Burke LM. (2024). Minimal influence of the menstrual cycle or hormonal contraceptives on performance in female rugby league athletes. Eur J Sport Sci.; 24(8):1067-1078.