The Missing Stat in Women’s Sports: It’s Time to Track the Period
This article is part of the Pink Booth series — a safe space dedicated to the conversations women in sports have needed for far too long. Watch our first episode on YouTube 👉 Pink Booth Episode 1
Sports science has come a long way. Coaches and performance teams now track everything — heart rate variability, sprint speeds, sleep quality, muscle recovery, nutrition, and hydration down to the last millilitre. Billions are spent every year trying to find the one percent edge that separates good athletes from great ones.
And yet, for female athletes, one of the most fundamental indicators of health and performance is still being completely ignored.
Her period.
That silence is exactly what Pink Booth was built to break.
A Global Day. A Bigger Problem.
Every year on May 28th, the world marks Menstrual Hygiene Day — a global call to end the stigma, silence, and inequality that surrounds menstrual health. In sport, that stigma has real, measurable consequences. It is not just uncomfortable. It is costing us athletes.
1 in 5 girls aged 10 to 16 has considered quitting organised sport entirely because of period-related challenges.
Let that land for a moment. Not because of lack of talent. Not because of lack of desire. Because nobody gave them the tools, the language, or the safe space to talk about what their body was going through.
Why Girls Are Walking Away
The reasons girls step back from sport are rarely about the sport itself. When you look at the data, a clear picture emerges:
Pain that gets misread. Over 70% of young female athletes say menstrual cramps are the primary reason they avoid training. When a girl shows up to practice exhausted and in pain and nobody asks why, a coach can mistake struggle for laziness. That misunderstanding is enough to push young talent out the door permanently.
Fear that takes over. A staggering 91.5% of young athletes say they constantly worry about leaking through their sports kit during competition. That level of anxiety does not stay in the locker room. It follows them onto the pitch, into the pool, onto the court — and it affects everything.
Silence that isolates. Nearly 8 in 10 young athletes say they feel completely uncomfortable talking to their coach about their period. When the conversation is impossible, the problem becomes invisible. And invisible problems do not get solved
.https://risports.media/pink-booth-building-the-safe-space-women-in-sports-have-always-deserved/
The 28-Day Performance Cycle
Here is what most coaches are never taught: a period is not just a few days of bleeding. It is a continuous 28-day hormonal cycle that directly shapes how a female athlete’s body responds to training, how quickly she recovers, how strong she feels, and how high her injury risk runs.
Up to 87% of female athletes report that different phases of their cycle make them feel slower or weaker at certain times of the month. That is not weakness. That is biology — and biology can be trained around.
The Bleeding Phase is typically the lowest energy point. This is the time for lighter sessions, technical skill work, and active recovery — not personal bests.
The Power Phase, which follows immediately after the period ends, is when estrogen rises sharply, energy surges, and the body is primed for hard training, speed work, and strength building. This is the window to push.
The Endurance Phase, in the days leading up to the next period, brings a slightly elevated body temperature and potential bloating. Steady-state cardio and core conditioning work well here.
Training with the cycle rather than against it is not a workaround. It is smart sports science — and elite clubs around the world are already using it to reduce injuries and improve results.
The Iron Equation Nobody Is Talking About
There is another cost that goes largely untracked: iron.
Every day of active menstrual bleeding results in a baseline loss of approximately 1mg of iron. For runners, endurance athletes, and anyone in high-output training, that loss compounds quickly. Low iron means chronic fatigue — the kind that makes an athlete feel completely drained before the warm-up even starts, and that no amount of sleep seems to fix.
The solution is not complicated. It requires awareness, targeted nutrition — iron-rich foods, increased hydration, cycle-aware meal planning — and coaches who understand why it matters.
What Needs to Change — Starting Now
Pink Booth is not just here to name the problem. It is here to build the path forward. Three things need to happen across every sports programme that works with women and girls:
Educate coaches. Period literacy should be standard in every coaching qualification. Understanding the cycle means understanding the athlete.
Normalise the conversation. When menstrual health is treated as a standard health metric — like heart rate or hydration — the shame disappears. Athletes can speak up. Support can be given. Talent is retained.
Fix the fuel. Nutrition must respond to the cycle. Iron-rich foods during the bleeding phase, increased water intake to manage cramping, and adjusted calorie intake across the month are all practical, low-cost interventions.
The Booth Is Open
Pink Booth exists because these conversations are not extras. They are essentials. The well-being of women in sport — their health, their safety, their voice — is not a side topic to performance. It is the foundation of it.
This is our first episode. This is the beginning of the series. And if you have ever felt like sport was not fully designed with you in mind — this space was built for you.
Watch our first episode now 👉 YouTube — Pink Booth Episode 1 Follow us. Share this. Start the conversation.
Because when women talk, sport gets better for everyone.
