Cabre Hannah E, Gould Lacey M, Redman Leanne M, Smith-Ryan Abbie E
Reproductive Endocrinology and Women's Health Laboratory, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA.
Independent Researcher, Advance, NC 27006, USA.
Metabolites. 2024 Jun 21;14(7):347. doi: 10.3390/metabo14070347.
The effects of female sex hormones on optimal performance have been increasingly recognized as an important consideration in exercise and sport science research. This narrative review explores the findings of studies evaluating the effects of menstrual cycle phase in eumenorrheic women and the use of hormonal contraception (oral contraceptives and hormonal intrauterine devices) on metabolism, muscular strength, and recovery in active females. Ovarian hormones are known to influence metabolism because estrogen is a master regulator of bioenergetics. Importantly, the menstrual cycle may impact protein synthesis, impacting skeletal muscle quality and strength. Studies investigating muscular strength in eumenorrheic women report equivocal findings between the follicular phase and luteal phase with no differences compared to oral contraceptive users. Studies examining recovery measures (using biomarkers, blood lactate, and blood flow) do not report clear or consistent effects of the impact of the menstrual cycle or hormonal contraception use on recovery. Overall, the current literature may be limited by the evaluation of only one menstrual cycle and the use of group means for statistical significance. Hence, to optimize training and performance in females, regardless of hormonal contraception use, there is a need for future research to quantify the intra-individual impact of the menstrual cycle phases and hormonal contraceptive use in active females.
女性性激素对最佳运动表现的影响在运动与体育科学研究中日益被视为一个重要的考量因素。本叙述性综述探讨了评估月经周期阶段对月经正常女性的影响以及激素避孕法（口服避孕药和激素宫内节育器）对活跃女性的新陈代谢、肌肉力量和恢复情况的研究结果。已知卵巢激素会影响新陈代谢，因为雌激素是生物能量学的主要调节因子。重要的是，月经周期可能会影响蛋白质合成，进而影响骨骼肌质量和力量。研究月经正常女性肌肉力量的研究报告称，卵泡期和黄体期之间的结果不明确，与口服避孕药使用者相比无差异。研究恢复指标（使用生物标志物、血乳酸和血流量）的研究并未报告月经周期或使用激素避孕法对恢复的影响有明确或一致的结果。总体而言，当前文献可能受限于仅评估一个月经周期以及使用组均值来确定统计学意义。因此，为了优化女性的训练和表现，无论是否使用激素避孕法，未来都需要开展研究来量化月经周期阶段和激素避孕法对活跃女性个体内部的影响。
