Periods and Parents: Parental Support for Menstrual Cycle Shapes Adolescent Girls’ Experiences in Sport

Menstruation (also known as a period), as normal as it is, can be a big concern for adolescents, especially when they experience it for the first time (menarche) at about 12-13 years of age. When it comes to sports or physical activity, menstruation and the menstrual cycle (MC) can become an additional challenge. Athletes have reported experiencing a variety of mental and physical barriers throughout their MC, such as abdominal cramps, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), anxiety about getting caught off guard, leaking, and a general distraction.

According to a Youth Sport Trust survey in 2024, more than half of girls aged 14-15 years perceive their period as a barrier to participation in physical activity or sports. Periods, being a taboo topic, are not openly discussed, so adolescent girls turn to their mothers (mostly) and other female family members to help learn about and manage their MC and period. Years of research has shown that parents form a crucial support system for young athletes, which can have negative and positive consequences within their sporting career. Therefore, it is important to understand how athlete-parents might be involved in managing their daughters’ MC, and how this might impact the athletes’ engagement in sports. To answer these questions, as part of my MSc Sport Science degree, I interviewed 16 varying-level (local to international level) athletes from around the world (i.e., from the UK, USA, India, Canada, etc.) who played different sports (e.g., high jump, football, cricket, volleyball). The participants, as adults who had continued to play sports since childhood, reflected on their experiences during adolescence, which I will discuss in the remainder of this blog.

The impact of parental support

Depending upon the support received or not received from parents to help manage their MC, the adult athletes recognised positive and negative impacts on their engagement in sports. Some athletes, however, perceived that parental support for MC made no difference in their engagement in sports because they did not face any significant challenges due to their MC or believed that their love for sports prevailed over any such challenges.

The single most important positive impact of parental support was that adolescents did not miss out on sports due to proper knowledge about menstruation, its practical aspects, and management strategies (i.e., sanitary products, medication, etc.). This meant that they were comfortable with the different aspects of MC and could thus engage in sports fear-free and with a positive outlook on menstruation. Athletes who went on to play at the national and international levels believed that they would not have reached a high level in sports if they had missed out on sports earlier due to MC-related challenges.

Many athletes believed that they missed out on sports or felt uncomfortable playing sports during adolescence because they lacked knowledge about the benefits of exercise/sports during their period, and the different available menstrual products (e.g., tampons). Not receiving enough support or information regarding using tampons might have led one girl to quit her sport, gymnastics. Some still struggle to speak about MC/period, within a sporting environment, e.g., with a coach, well into adulthood, because of the taboo ingrained within them since childhood.

Thus, how parents help manage their daughters’ MC can have a crucial and lasting impact on the daughters’ engagement in sports.

So, how can parents provide optimum support for MC?

Below are some of the key messages from the participants I interviewed.

1. Don’t hush-hush it or avoid it – Have open conversations about periods and MC at home and disregard any taboo or superstitions associated with it. Fathers should be actively involved in helping manage MC, thus normalising periods and ensuring a relaxed environment at home.

2. Educate and empower – Make sure adolescents are well-informed and well-prepared for their period and its related challenges. Educate your daughters on menstruation and associated symptoms, the biology of the MC, available menstrual management strategies (i.e., menstrual products, pain medication, and contraceptives), while also correcting any MC-related misinformation their daughters might have.

3. Listen and acknowledge – Listen to what your daughter has to say about their experiences and avoid rushing to fix things. Instead, acknowledge and provide emotional support. Remember, experiences of periods/MC differ a lot between individuals – one may not feel any physical or emotional symptom, while another may be suffering from intense abdominal cramps and low mood.

4. Encourage physical activity – Don’t look at ‘period’ as something that makes one weak, and help your daughters understand that too. Encourage physical activity during periods, while also acknowledging that they may not be able to perform their best during this time. Practical support, like ensuring access to toilet facilities and menstrual supplies, can help support participation in physical activity during their period.

5. Providing autonomy – Whether it’s choosing to participate/not participate in sports during periods, or choosing between the different available pain management strategies (such as hot bags, painkillers, and contraceptives), and sanitary products – adolescents value autonomy. Let your daughters choose what’s best for them, but of course, you can make sure these choices are not harmful by consulting with a medical practitioner.

6. Consultation with someone knowledgeable – Since many athletes face period-related issues, such as delayed periods or no periods (which may indicate an underlying condition like RED-S), but often do not know who to turn to about it or if it is actually something to worry about, it is crucial to encourage your menstruating daughters to talk to/seek help from someone who knows what is normal/not normal in sports in the context of MC. This could be a gynaecologist, a menstrual health expert, or an experienced female athlete.

Final thoughts

My research highlights the need for parental involvement in managing their daughters’ MC to improve sports engagement and the numerous ways in which parents can involve themselves to provide optimum support. Parental involvement can help menstruating athlete-daughters feel confident in how they manage their MC, ensure a positive outlook towards their periods, and a continued and fear-free engagement in sports. 

About the author

Madhu is a recent graduate in MSc Sport Science from the University of Lincoln (UK) and will soon be starting as a funded PhD student at the University of Manitoba (Canada) within the EDGE in Sport & Physical Activity Lab. Her research interests lie in female athlete health and wellbeing, especially within the adolescent population. Madhu also hold a Master’s degree in Human Physiology from the University of Calcutta (India). Madhu’s two Master’s degrees enable her to understand health and wellbeing from a diverse perspective, with her interest gradually shifting from physiology to psychology and sociology. You can find some of Madhu’s insights into women in sport through her Instagram handle @neophyte_practitioner. You can also contact Madhu through her email - bhattac8@myumanitoba.ca

Blog editor: Dr Tess Flood

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