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What is RED-S? What are the symptoms? How is it different from the female athlete triad?Many people have a hard time grasping that you CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be chronically living under your energy/caloric means relative to your activity levels.
Let’s talk about why and how this becomes an issue…
WHAT IS RED-S?
RED-S is the result of insufficient caloric intake and/or excessive energy expenditure.
Consequences of RED-S: It can alter many physiological systems of the body, including metabolic health, menstrual function, bone health, immunity, protein synthesis, and cardiovascular and psychological health.
Perhaps you’ve previously heard of the Female Athlete Triad, which was known for affecting active women who were under-eating and suffered from low bone mineral density and menstrual dysfunction. RED-S has essentially been adapted from the Female Athlete Triad as a more comprehensive model that depicts the negative implications of low energy status in physically active men and women.
NOTE: RED-S can occur from both the intentional OR unintentional under-consumption of calories. RED-S is often the result of not enough calories, often paired with intense exercise & poor recovery.
Not only does RED-S have negative implications on various systems of the body (as shown in the image above), it’s also known to impair sport performance via increased injury risk, decreased training adaptations, decreased strength and endurance, etc.
IMPACT OF RED-S ON PERFORMANCE
Ever heard of someone losing their menstrual cycle after a lot of weight loss, dieting too long, or an eating disorder? Or by the same token, becoming hypothyroid after years of chronic exercise or extreme weight loss?
Simply put, when the body is not getting enough energy (calories) relative to the amount of energy it’s expending (caloric burn), the body compensates by taking various actions to conserve energy.
Does any of this sound familiar?
- Chronic dieting
- High intensity training / high training volume
- More caloric expenditure than caloric intake
- Slowed" metabolism
- Cold intolerance
- Muscle cramps / weakness
- Difficulty losing weight
- Poor gut health
- Irregular or missing periods
- Thyroid issues
- Low sex drive
- Injury prone
- Sickness prone
- Constant fatigue
- Exhaustion
- Loss of appetite
- Decrease in strength / plateau
- Difficulty losing weight
- General aches and pains
- Poor sleep quality
When RED-S is left untreated, we often see it impair various systems of the body such as:
- Reproductive health: Disrupted menstruation (missed or abnormal periods) in women AND/OR low libido in men
- Bone health: Increased risk of stress fractures and early onset osteoporosis
- Immunity: More infections and illnesses due to decreased immune function
- Metabolism: Thyroid function is impacted and metabolic health essentially down-regulates
- Cardiovascular health: Low heart rate causing dizziness and the potential for long-term heart damage
- Psychological health: Moodiness, depression, and anxiety
So, how do we combat this?
- Enough food for performance and recovery (yes, carbs too)
- Periodized programming (fancy way of saying training intensity should vary to allow for adequate recovery)
- Rest days & quality sleep
Need help ensuring you're eating enough and optimizing recovery relative to your activity levels? Questioning if your training programming is actually conducive to your goals? Our team of experts can help! Learn more about our online health coaching by clicking here!
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