Menstrual cycle tracking isn't a new tool. In fact, this practice dates back thousands of years. But, only recently has the importance of menstrual cycle tracking merged into sport and exercise – and now golf!

The benefits of menstrual cycle tracking

As a female athlete, tracking your menstrual cycle can benefit both your health as well as your sport participation and performance[1]. It can help you:

 

Everyone's menstrual cycle is unique and often changes throughout our lives. By keeping track of your menstrual cycle, you can learn what's typical for you in terms of cycle length, period length and blood flow, as well as common symptoms.

A regular menstrual cycle is a healthy sign from your body that everything is working correctly. Keeping track of your menstrual cycle can help you spot any differences to your norm that might need attention, like missed or heavy periods. Reminder: If you notice anything different or have questions, it's a good idea to talk to your doctor/GP.

Keeping track of your menstrual cycle can help you better anticipate when future periods might occur. This could be useful in the lead-up to key golfing competitions by helping you to be prepared.

Tracking your menstrual cycle over time might help you to identify individual patterns, like when you might get symptoms or changes in your golf performance and training. Knowing this can help you reduce any negative effects and make the most of any good ones!

You can keep track of your menstrual cycle using: A phone app designed for menstrual cycle tracking, a calendar or a pen and paper.

Whatever method you pick, it's important to stick with it! Start by tracking your cycles for at least three months in a row. This will help you to discover your patterns (if there are any) and what's typical for you.

What to track across your menstrual cycle

When tracking your menstrual cycle, several key factors are essential for gaining insights into your reproductive health, overall well-being, as well as your athletic performance. As a female athlete you might chose to track all or some of these metrics.

The number of days from the first day of your period to the day before your next period begins. Helps you predict your next period and identify any changes that might occur, such as cycle lengths that are shorter or longer than usual.

How many days you bleed during your period and how heavy your flow is, from light to very heavy. You can also note any spotting/bleeding between periods. Helps you prepare for future periods by knowing how long they usually last and how heavy they are. It also helps you detect any changes that might happen in length or flow.

Keeping track of signs of ovulation, such as changes in cervical fluid, body temperature and ovulation predictor kit results can help you better estimate if and when ovulation might be occurring. This can help to give you more accurate insights into your cycle, such as predicted phases. This can also assist you with getting pregnant or avoiding pregnancy.

Log if and when a symptom occurs across your menstrual cycle as well as the severity of each symptom. Helps you see if there are any patterns in your symptoms across your menstrual cycle. By understanding when symptoms occur and the severity of them you can then proactively find ways to manage them.

You can map your performance data (e.g., golf results, specific metrics such as driving accuracy and greens in regulation as well as training data) onto your menstrual cycle data. Over time, you might be able to identify trends across multiple cycles.

Next steps

It’s pointless to collect all this information if you don’t look back on it. Once you have at least three months of cycle tracking data it might be a good time to sit down and review this.

When reviewing your data, you’re looking to see if you can spot any patterns, such as any reoccurring symptoms in each cycle, etc.

Once you’ve identified any patterns (if any), it's time to put strategies in place to either reduce any negative effects or make the most of any good ones! For example, can you use any symptom strategies to get ahead of your symptoms and limit any negative effects.

It's up to you whether you share this data or not, but if you wanted to and felt it was important, you could share this with a coach, parent, doctor, etc.

References

[1]Carmichael, M. A., Roberts, A. H., Donaldson, A., & Clarke, A. C. (2024). Implementing menstrual cycle tracking: a pilot concept mapping study investigating considerations of coaches, support staff, and female athletes. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.