Female fertility seems to be affected when we practice sports at a level that concentrates all our energy. However, this doesn’t just happen to women — men can also lose testosterone.
Dame Laura is 32 years old and has dedicated herself to cycling for more than a decade.
In 2021 she became pregnant, but miscarried in November. Five months later, he had a ectopic pregnancyin which the embryo implants outside the uterus, requiring emergency surgery.
After reporting their experience, other athletes confessed to having gone through the same thing. Although miscarriage is common (one in eight known pregnancies ends before 24 weeks and many occur at a very early stage), Are athletes at greater risk of having some type of fertility problem?
Emma O’Donnell, exercise physiologist at Loughborough University, explains to the BBC that a baby consumes so much energy that the brain turns off reproduction if it thinks there is not enough energy available. This can happen to women who play a sport that drains all their energy. However, the right answer is: “We’re not 100% sure.”
“Amateur athletes are not aware of the fact how many calories they actually need to ingest to satisfy energy demand“, he guarantees.
Just below the hypothalamus is the “body’s hormone factory”, explains the physiologist — the pituitary gland. Normally, the gland releases hormones that travel to the uterus and ovaries to control the monthly menstrual cycle and the release of an egg, which makes pregnancy possible.
But if the hypothalamus is not satisfied, this process is interrupted and ovulation does not happen. “If we are not ovulating, we cannot have a baby. You can’t conceive because there are no eggs released,” says O’Donnell.
Fat in the body helps produce the sex hormone estrogen. “If sport is affecting body fat content, then there is clearly an effect on estrogen levels“, she says.
Disruption of menstrual periods and egg release is the most clearly recognized impact on a female athlete’s fertility, but This should be resolved as soon as they withdraw from the competitionemphasizes the physiologist.
Lauren Nicholls She was a netball player and, when her career ended, she had two children. “I know some of the players who are a little older — cfrozen eggs and made those decisions for their family at a later date“, it says. This is “because they are worried about their career.”
Furthermore, Male athletes are not immune to fertility problems either. Burning more energy than testosterone levels receive, causing sperm abnormalities and even erectile dysfunction.
Emma Pullen, sports exercise researcher in Loughborough, explains that research in this field is “playing catch-up” to the attention given to men’s sport. “We are seeing the repercussions of this with the increasing professionalization of women’s sports and with more female athletes than ever before.”
