Does Menopause Hurt Athletic Performance? What Sports Medicine Says (BJSM)
Is the performance drop in your forties just getting older, or something else? A July 2026 editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine argues that the perimenopausal performance decline is real and independent of the normal ageing process: a distinct physiological event, not a slower version of the same curve. The same editorial pushes back on social media claims that certain exercise modalities are dangerous during menopause, saying those scares cause unnecessary stress and may promote worse practices, and it treats HRT as a legitimate performance consideration for athletes rather than only a quality-of-life treatment. If your training has changed and the explanation you were given was age, this is the evidence that says the explanation is incomplete.
Where this fits: Has Cortisol Made My Workouts Bad For Me?
Claims this source supports
- Performance decline in the perimenopausal years is real and independent of the normal ageing process - a distinct physiological event, not just 'getting older.'
- Social-media claims that certain exercise modalities are dangerous during menopause cause unnecessary stress and may promote dangerous practices.
- HRT is increasingly framed as a legitimate performance consideration for athletes, not merely a quality-of-life treatment.