Impact Of Menstrual Cycle Phase On Acute Psychophysiological Responses During High-Intensity Interval Training Exercise

Given the widespread perspective among women that the menstrual cycle (MC) has an impact on exercise training and performance, there is a need to consider the psychological responses to exercise of different characteristics across phases marked by fluctuations in sex hormone levels within the menstrual cycle. In in the setting of continuous exercise, it has been found that the luteal phase is linked to less favorable psychological reactions, whereas literature on the menstrual cycle phase and its interaction with interval training is limited to date. PURPOSE: Assess the impact of the menstrual cycle phase on affective and exertional responses to high-intensity interval exercise. METHODS: 25 eumenorrheic women (age = 22 ± 4 years; BMI = 24 ± 4; VO2max = 26 ± 6 ml/kg/min) completed exercise testing and identical 20-min high-intensity interval training (HIIT) cycle exercise during menstruation, the luteal phase, and the follicular phase. Dependent variables of interest were arousal, affect, enjoyment, motivation, exertion, and heart rate. Factorial ANOVAs (phases x time) and one-way ANOVAs (phases) were conducted to compare responses. RESULTS: ANOVA revealed no differences among phases for arousal, enjoyment, motivation, or exertion (p > 0.05), but main effect of phases (p < 0.05) was observed for heart rate. Main effects for time were observed for time in all dependent variable (p < 0.01). While heart rate, exertion, and arousal increased from the beginning to end of exercise, enjoyment and affect decreased (p < 0.05). A higher heart rate was observed during the luteal phase compared to other phases (p < 0.05). Motivation presented a U-shaped curve with lower values during exercise compared to pre and post. An interaction effect was observed for arousal (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Findings from the study suggest that psychological variables of affect, motivation, enjoyment, and exertion were not affected differently by the menstrual cycle during HIIT exercise, but interval-based exercise was capable of inducing changes in psychological responses across sessions.