Nearly 1 in 4 female high school athletes experience menstrual irregularities or period loss, known as amenorrhea, due to factors such as overtraining, underfueling, and stress, according to recent research by medical institutes. For many student athletes, the act of balancing early morning practices, challenging workouts, and rigorous workloads means warning signs of amenorrhea go unnoticed until stress fractures and energy deficiency set in. While often ignored, period loss for athletes signals a hormonal imbalance caused by insufficient energy available for the body to use, most likely from not consuming an adequate number of calories.

P.E. teacher and athlete Sheri Mulroe said period loss has been redefined in recent years based on new discoveries.

“It’s rampant in the running world, not just women, but people who get their period,” Mulroe said. “It’s called Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport. They changed it because it used to be called the Female Athlete Triad Syndrome, but they were seeing a lot of men who were under-fueling themselves and having a whole host of issues with injuries and all kinds of metabolic problems.”

A senior track athlete, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, said she has experienced period loss during intense parts of the season, but didn’t know who to talk to about it. 

“I had my cycle before the season, but then as soon as the season started, I lost it for the entirety of the season until the summer,” she said. 

The anonymous senior said myths in the media can lead athletes to underfuel their bodies.

“A lot of girls have misconceptions that eating less is going to make you faster, because you’re lighter, so I think a lot of girls try to restrict their diet during the season or follow specific diet plans,” she said.

Mulroe said attitudes toward female athletes and athlete health have changed immensely over the years. 

“It is happening right now,” Mulroe said. “It’s mind-blowing how it’s just been in the last few years, and they’re looking at women’s health in general from the beginning when you’re a young teen and you get your period, but they’re also looking at the tail end, like when women are going toward menopause and losing their period forever, and what the repercussions on the human body are.”

Senior and former track and cheer athlete Talia Boneh said she has struggled to balance sports with other time-consuming activities, often resulting in negative impacts on her health.

“When you’re in a really high time-limit environment, the first thing you sacrifice is your personal health and things that you feel aren’t important, but in reality, they really are,” Boneh said. “When I was in season, I would definitely find myself sacrificing my sleep or sacrificing my lunches to go study in the library.”

Boneh said she could feel the effects of not taking care of herself through changes in her mood and energy levels.

“When you’re not fueling yourself properly, and you’re not listening to yourself, then you definitely feel that in your mood and your academic and athletic performance,” Boneh said. “It becomes not as fun when you feel yourself losing the balance and inner harmony that you need.”

The anonymous senior also said she felt the effects on her body when losing her period.

“I would get injured a lot,” she said. “Before races, I wouldn’t eat due to stress, and I think I noticed changes in my energy levels as soon as I started taking the sport more seriously.” 

Mulroe said it is important to approach conversations with those struggling by putting ourselves in their shoes and having empathy. 

“It’s really about trying to take a holistic look at yourself as an athlete and how important it is to fuel your body,” Mulroe said.

Looking back, Boneh said she would have made significant changes in her lifestyle to reduce negative effects on her mental and physical health. 

“It would have been really helpful to understand how important (sleep is), because the first thing a lot of people and student-athletes sacrifice to reach a goal is their sleep,” Boneh said. “I wish I didn’t sacrifice so much sleep, because I think that causes a lot more long-term issues than people think.”

Boneh said she advises those struggling with menstrual irregularities to prioritize their self-care routines.

“Set non-negotiable hours of the week where you know you’re going to get enough sleep or eat a really nice meal with your friends,” Boneh said. “Having pre-set non-negotiable times really helps, because you remember that you have this goal for yourself that you really want to reach, so you’re less incentivized to break it.”

Boneh said having a supportive environment surrounding her in her sport helped her take better care of herself and her body.

“Back in cheer, it was always very important for everyone on the team to be fueling themselves, and everyone there was really nice because there was a good culture of making sure everyone was fueling themselves and taking care of themselves in such highly physically demanding environments,” Boneh said.

Mulroe said she hopes people continue to talk about the topic of amenorrhea more to remove barriers surrounding conversations about athletes’ menstrual health.

“The more you talk about it, the more you’re de-stigmatizing it,” Mulroe said. “Because everyone knows someone who gets a period. It’s not like it’s a once-in-a-blue-moon thing.”

The anonymous senior also emphasized the importance of educating athletes about menstrual health.

“I think a lot of people don’t see (losing your period) as a negative outcome, because obviously it’s not fun to be on your period,” she said. “They should be taught more about what actually goes on in your body and the long-term consequences it can cause.”

In the future, Mulroe said coaches should regularly check in on their athletes to ensure they are properly fueling their bodies.

“I think it should be baked into the coaching curriculum for everybody, it’s not just for girls, but for everybody,” Mulroe said. “Just asking on the regular, what’s your nutrition looking like?’, or ‘What’s working for you?’, and maybe phrasing it in a way that’s not like, ‘I’m checking on you in particular,’ but more like, ‘I care about you.’”