Who is at Risk of Female Athlete Triad?
In an age of cut throat competition, athletes are dominated by a desire to maintain a cutting edge over their opponents. Female athlete triad is one of the new additions to the list of illnesses connected with sports that the intensified training programs which are the hall mark of the latter half of the twentieth century have introduced.
What is Female Athlete Triad?
Female athlete triad is an umbrella term used for the simultaneous occurrence of the mutually accelerating diseases like osteoporosis, a disease which leaves bones prone to fractures, amenorrhea or menstrual disorders and eating disorders like anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.
How the Female Athlete Triad Works?
Overtraining without adequate periods of rest coupled with a need to maintain low body mass may result in eating disorders and depletion in bone mineral ratio (BMD). The end product is osteoporosis which is a disease that leaves bones more vulnerable to fractures. Connected with eating disorders and increased production of stress hormones is the fluctuating menstrual cycles marked by depletion in estrogen levels which is also crucial for bone mineral density. In other words all the three markers of female athlete triad constitute an inseparable triad which should be addressed simultaneously.
Factors Contributing to Female Athlete Triad
Factors contributing to female athlete triad are psychological and physiological.
Psychological Factors
Psychological factors contributing to female athlete triad include the pressure to maintain peak performance owing to a variety of reasons. The pressure from teammates, family, and coaches leave the athlete in a must win condition which may result in serious psychological problems related to stress like anxiety or depression. In addition to the pressure to maintain peak performance the athletes may also be motivated by a desire to look good as well of which a low body weighty is a basic criterion. Even in sports where looking thin is not an essential prerequisite female athletes may be driven by purely external considerations, risking diseases like female athletes triad.
Physiological Factors
Physiological factors contributing to female athlete triad are mainly depleted glycogen storage levels owing to high intensity training, depletion in calcium intake leading to a decrease in bone mineral density (BMD), decreased levels of estrogen owing to excessive training and weight loss.
Symptoms of Female Athlete Triad
Symptoms of female athlete triad involve the following:
- Weight loss
- Persistent fatigue
- Recurring fractures
- Fluctuations in menstrual cycle
- Loss of appetite
- Inability to control appetite
- Inability to focus on performance
- Decrease in optimum level of performance
- Decreased heart rate and blood pressure.
Who is At More Risk of Female Athlete Triad?
Generally people most vulnerable to female to female athlete triad are young female athletes engaging in a high intensity training program coupled with a need a maintain low body weight. Usually the following categories of athletes are at more risk of female athlete triad:
- Gymnasts who are driven by a need to maintain low weight
- Endurance runners
- Skating athletes
- Athletes of ball games taken in by a new wave of looking nice.
Though female athlete triad is marked by unnerving list of symptoms and ailments, detection at an early stage can lead to cure. However having gone through the causes of the disease, it is in the interest of aspiring sports champions to focus on a healthy training and diet to evade the problem altogether.