Birth Control Pills and Running

Photo: jupiterimages

Given that birth control pills have a wide range of well-documented side effects, including bloating, mood changes and sluggishness, all of which can affect your quality of life to varying degrees, it seems reasonable to assume that your daily dose of hormones could also impact your running performance. A study released earlier this year led by researchers at Texas A&M seemed to give credence to the idea that the pill takes a toll on physical performance, finding that women who took birth control pills developed 40 percent less muscle mass than women who did not.

I wondered exactly what role the pill plays in running performance and went to Rebecca Battista, associate professor at Appalachian State University in the Department of Health, Leisure, and Exercise Science. "Most of the literature around the menstrual cycle and performance is all negative," says Battista. "And while there's little agreement on the impact of the pill, it doesn't seem to benefit or hurt performance," she says.

That's good news unless you're feeling tired and uninspired during your running workouts and convinced the pill is to blame. "Sluggishness could be a side effect of bloating, making you feel heavier and slower or it could even be a psychological effect," says Battista, who reiterated that that she doesn't believe there's any evidence to show that the pill improves or hinders athletic performance. She does acknowledge, however, that not only are hormone levels difficult to measure, but there are many different types of pills available today that release different amounts of hormones and that these factors may affect studies looking at the issue.

One area in which the pill actually may do some good is in protecting women from knee injuries, which plague female athletes four to eight times more than their male counterparts. Around the time of ovulation, ligaments can become more lax, making active women more prone to knee injuries. A study from the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine found that women who were taking birth control pills had less knee displacement than women who weren't taking the pill and tighter knee joints are less susceptible to ligament tears and injuries.

If you do feel like your pill is doing more harm then good, the best thing you can is to "document what's going on," says Battista. "Write down the issues you're experiencing and when they're occurring in your cycle, then talk it over with your doctor," she says. The pill may not be to blame, but the more you can record how you're feeling and performing, the closer you'll get to finding an answer.

Find more surprising facts about birth control pills.