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Abstract
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Severe physical activities of professional female athletes can cause serious health problems. Researchers believe that physical exercise is an integral cause of irregularities in menstrual cycle. The present study attempted to investigate the effects of professional athleticism on menstrual irregularities of elite swimmers. Statistical population of the present study included 220 elite swimmers of East Azerbaijan province of Iran in the year 2014. 80 subjects were selected as convenient samples and filled out the questionnaire of physical characteristics and types of menstrual disorders along with the Sharkey physical activity index questionnaire. The data collected through these questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS 21 computer application. In order to evaluate naturalness of data distribution, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was conducted and the relationship between severity, length and amount of exercises with the age at which swimming activity began and the menstrual disorder, the Spearman Correlation coefficient was applied in the significance level of P<0.05. Findings revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between the age of beginning the activity and the beginning of menstrual period and amount of activity and menstrual disorders (P<0.05). However, the study failed to find a significant relationship between length of activity and menstrual disorders (P>0.05). In conclusion, it seems that sports exercises increase Prolactin dramatically and retards ovarian maturation by follicle stimulating hormone all of which result in late beginning of menstrual period.
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