AL Gondi
Delayed menarche means delayed onset of monthly periods. Girls who participate in sports usually experience delayed menarche for at least a year or two than other sedentary girls.
Consequently, there is a lot of concern that sports activity may adversely affect sexual development and reproductive functions.
There have been divergent views on whether delayed menarche is as a result of participation in sports. However, statistics show some association. It is, nonetheless, a fact that the relationship is due to selectivity.
Girls with delayed menarche are more likely to engage and succeed in sports. This is due to the fact such girls maintain pre-pubertal body habits longer. These are slender physique, narrow hips, long legs and low body fat composition that may be advantageous in sports like athletics, swimming and gymnastics.
On the other hand, their male counterparts have no evidence of delayed pubertal development associated with sports participation.
BOYS
The boys encounter the situation in a manner exactly opposite that of girls and mature early.
Sports such as football and basketball that mainly involve boys tend to favour early maturers who are temporarily stronger, heavier and taller than girls of the same age.
If there is extreme delay in menarche rather than between one to two years which is not in tandem with family history of age at menarche, then there are other factors that come into play. These include deprivation of nutrition or disorders of the hormonal system.
Once in awhile when there is delayed menarche or secondary amenorrhea (the disappearance of periods after menarche has occurred), it is often thought that the female athlete has not attained or maintained a critical level of body fat required to initiate or maintain menstruation.
However, there is no scientific evidence of a particular level of fat required to initiate or maintain menstrual functions.
These menstrual disorders in puberty are probably due to ‘energy drain’ where energy intake is inadequate to meet energy demands and this causes hormonal imbalances, which is an adaptive mechanism for the body to respond and conserve energy.
ENERGY CONSERVATION
The conservation of energy is contributed by low body fat, high intensity of training , physical and emotional stress, nutrition that is below required levels, history of previous menstrual irregularities and eating disorders.
Apart from affecting development of reproductive functions, delayed menarche has no effect on ultimate fertility but can, however, affect bone density.
The athlete with secondary amenorrhea can have progressive and irreversible low bone density . The loss of bone density makes the athlete liable to stress fractures initially, but can later lead to osteoporosis.
The athletes with delayed menarche also have a delayed bone development and carry more risk of developing stress fractures or becoming adults with curved spinal bones (scoliosis). This has been noticed in young ballet dancers and gymnasts.
Failure to achieve normal bone density for age due to delayed menarche or amenorrhea is of particular interest and concern for teenage girls because adolescence is an important and a critical period during which almost half of the bone density is developed.
It also causes peer pressure when the athletes of the same age have had menarche. This can impart psychological stress, thus increasing the duration of delayed menarche. Teenage girls therefore require guidance and counseling.
