Matteo Campagna
ITEN
Menu
Menu

In the competition period, women archers' menstrual cycles become less regular

1 study · 142 archers measured

The only data come from a questionnaire, and they should be read as such. At the 2019 Turkish championship, 142 women archers with an average age of 25 described their cycle twice: in general 53.5% called it regular, 21.8% sometimes regular and 24.6% irregular; for the competition period, 27.5% regular, 50% sometimes regular and 22.5% irregular. There is a shift, but it has a particular shape: the "regular" answers halve and the "sometimes regular" answers grow by almost as much, while the share calling it irregular does not grow. The two answers were not compared with a statistical test and come from the same athletes' recollection, gathered at a single point in time; the paper does not say what it means by the competition period or who was using hormonal contraception, and within the same table the age bands hold 39, 54 and 49 athletes for the first question and 30, 51 and 61 for the second. The link with competition stress is the author's hypothesis, which the study does not examine. Finally, the journal has questionable editorial standards: the registry reports the study but does not use it to decide the status, which remains not studied.

Also phrased as: "competitions upset the cycle"; "irregular periods during the competition season"; "competition stress and the menstrual cycle"; "menstrual cycle and the competitive season"; "cycle regularity in women archers"

In practice

Among athletes and their coaches it is often said that the stress of competition, travel and changes of routine upset the cycle, and that in competition weeks a period comes early, late or not at all.

Evidence

  • 2020
    Context Archers Published later

    Venue with questionable editorial standards: this result does not count towards the status. 142 women archers at the 2019 Turkish championship, average age 25.21, with a questionnaire already used in two earlier studies: in general the cycle was regular for 53.5%, sometimes regular for 21.8% and irregular for 24.6%; in the competition period 27.5%, 50% and 22.5% (Table 3, p. 199). In the competition period the answers do not differ by age (chi-square 5.21, p = 0.266) or by body mass index (0.88, p = 0.927); in general, irregularity rises among the 17 archers with an index above 25 (52.9%, p = 0.048). The comparison between the two periods is not tested, and within the same table the age bands hold 39, 54 and 49 athletes for one question and 30, 51 and 61 for the other.

    Effect of Menstrual Cycle on Sport Performance in Archers Questionable venue · Pelin Akyol

Status history

  1. 2020 Not studied The question is asked for the first time, in a questionnaire given to 142 women archers at the 2019 Turkish championship. In general 53.5% call their cycle regular, but for the competition period the share falls to 27.5%, and half describe it as only sometimes regular; those calling it irregular stay at around a quarter (24.6% and 22.5%). The two answers were not compared with a statistical test and they come from the same athletes' recollection. The journal has questionable editorial standards: the registry reports the study but does not use it to decide the status, which remains not studied.
Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). In the competition period, women archers' menstrual cycles become less regular (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/menstrual-cycle-competition-period

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_ciclomestrualeperiodogare,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {In the competition period, women archers' menstrual cycles become less regular},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/menstrual-cycle-competition-period},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Other claims in this domain

See all claims on health and recovery