Cycling and exercising in the middle of the menstrual cycle is not only easier, according to new Australian research reported by Reuters, but women burn more fat than at the beginning of their cycle.
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Definite differences as cycle progresses According to the report, researcher Leanne Redman from the University of Adelaide's Exercise Physiology Laboratory studied how varying hormone levels affect exercise patterns in women.
A group of young, healthy women with normal menstrual cycles were given exercises to do in the first week after menstruation and then again in the week after they ovulated.
Although the women reached the same levels of fitness during the two stages of the study, the report states that the women used different types of metabolism to perform the exercise.
The women burned more fat for the same amount of exercise in the second half of the menstrual cycle, while they found the exercises easier to do and quicker to recover from.
"Women will often come in and say they feel tired and sluggish and headachy at the beginning of the month," Redman told Reuters. "On those days when they're not performing as well, even though they're achieving the same level, they're finding the exercise a lot harder."
"At the beginning of the month, both oestrogen and progesterone are low, and that's when performance wasn't as good. In the second half of the cycle, when both hormones are high, that's when we're getting an increase in fat metabolism," Redman concluded.
Future weight maintenance treatment? Redman explained to Reuters Health that her reason for focusing on hormone levels was that in menopause, levels of oestrogen drops, and women frequently find that they can't keep weight off.
"If we can somehow quantify the level of oestrogen needed to burn off fat, one day down the track we can have a 'wonder pill' not for weight loss, but for weight maintenance," she told Reuters.
Redman is continuing her study to research the impact of synthetic hormones such as those contained in the oral contraceptive pill. - (Health24)
Cycling and exercising in the middle of the menstrual cycle is not only easier, according to new Australian research reported by Reuters, but women burn more fat than at the beginning of their cycle.
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