THE EFFECT OF MENSTRUAL CYCLE PHASE ON PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO A 6-KM TIME TRIAL: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Given the widespread perspective among women that the menstrual cycle (MC) may influence psychological responses and exercise performance, it is essential to explore these aspects in response to exercise. It has been found that the luteal phase is linked to less favorable psychological reactions during aerobic continuous exercise, whereas literature on the MC phase and its interaction with psychological responses to a time trial is limited to date. PURPOSE: Assess the impact of the MC phase on psychological responses to 6-km cycle ergometer time trial. METHODS: Nine eumenorrheic women (age = 19 ± 1 years; BMI = 23 ± 3; VO2max = 32 ± 5 ml/kg/min) completed exercise testing and identical 6-km time trials during menstruation, the luteal phase, and the follicular phase. Dependent variables of interest were time trial, pedal cadence, power, arousal, affect, enjoyment, motivation, exertion (RPE), and heart rate (HR). Factorial ANOVAs (phases x time) and one-way ANOVAs (phases) were conducted to compare responses. RESULTS: ANOVA revealed no differences among phases for performance variables, heart rate, arousal, enjoyment, motivation, or RPE (p > 0.05), but main effect of phase (p < 0.05) was observed for affect. Main effects for time were observed for cadence, arousal, affect, RPE, and HR (p < 0.01). While cadence, arousal, RPE, and HR increased from the beginning to end of exercise, affect decreased (p < 0.05). Participants arrived with higher affect during the follicular phase compared to the other phases. A lower affect during exercise was observed during menstruation compared to other phases (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary data demonstrate that psychological variables of affect were affected differently by the MC during time trial.