Is my period normal?

This may seem like a silly question. But actually it’s a question that all women should ask themselves. In this article I will be discussing what actually is a ‘normal’ period, the different factors that affect the menstrual cycle, and how to spot that your period is not normal.

NHS England states that, between the ages of 12 and 52, a woman will have around 480 periods, or fewer if she has any pregnancies. The length of the menstrual cycle varies from woman to woman, but the average is to have periods every 28 days. Regular cycles that are longer or shorter than this, from 21 to 40 days, are normal.

So if a girl starts her period at 12 years old and has a period every 21 to 40 days until she is 52, she has had a normal menstrual cycle. How many of you reading this can say that this is you? I can definitely say that I am not normal, and I will be discussing why.

Amenhorrea is the absence of menstruation. Women who have missed at least three menstrual periods in a row have amenorrhea, as do girls who haven’t begun menstruation by age 15. Amenhorrea is problematic as it results in infertility, weakened bones, hair loss, and more. If you think you suffer from amenhorrea you should book an appointment with your doctor to discuss this.

For a number of years I suffered from amenhorrea without even realising it. I started my period about age 13 and suffered from severe PMS (period pains), so at age 16 I had enough and started taking the combined pill. I then had relatively pain free regular periods, or at least I thought so. During my late teens (16-20) I maintained a very low body fat, and excessively trained in dance and at the gym. However, as I was having a period each month I thought I was healthy. It was not until I met my coach in 2017 and she spotted the signs straight away. No doctor had explained to me that my periods were caused by the pill artificially and not by my body releasing hormones. So I decided to come off the pill (that I had been on for 6 years), and what happened… I had no period for over a year. All this time I thought my body was releasing an egg and that I was normal, but I wasn’t. My coach increased my food and I put on some body fat and muscle, and finally I had my first period in 7 years. Also I did not suffer from PMS as bad as my younger days as I was able to manage my symptoms. Since getting my period back in 2018 I have since had scattered months of amenhorrea, caused by competition prep, low body fat and stress, but as I was able to recognise the importance of having a healthy period, it was not long before they came back.

I am 24 years old and I have only had healthy periods for the past 2 years of my life. I have to thank my coach for spotting that I suffered from amenhorrea, and providing me with the support and knowledge to have a healthy period.

Factors that cause amenhorrea.

Contraception.

The pill, the implant, the coil, the injection. All of these contraception methods contain hormones that either stop your period all together or cause an artificial bleed.

Body composition.

The female body is a very smart but fragile system, and can adapt to different circumstances. If the females body fat drops too low the body will not release eggs to be fertilised. This is because the body does not have enough energy reserves to sustain a pregnancy, so a lack of period prevents this from occurring.

Hormonal imbalance.

Such as, Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS causes relatively high and sustained levels of hormones, rather than the fluctuating levels seen in the normal menstrual cycle. Thyroid malfunction, an overactive thyroid gland (hyperthyroidism) or underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism) can cause menstrual irregularities, including amenorrhea.

Excessive exercise. 

Women who participate in activities that require rigorous training, such as ballet, may find their menstrual cycles interrupted. Several factors combine to contribute to the loss of periods in athletes, including low body fat, stress and high energy expenditure.

Stress. 

Mental stress can temporarily alter the functioning of your hypothalamus, which is an area of your brain that controls the hormones that regulate your menstrual cycle. Ovulation and menstruation may stop as a result. Regular menstrual periods usually resume after your stress decreases.

So, after reading that it may now be clear to you if you have a normal period or not. If you have a normal period each month then it is definitely something to be happy about! But if you think your period is abnormal, hopefully this article explains why it is.

Again if you think you may suffer from amenhorrea please contact your doctor, however by eliminating any of the above factors that affect your cycle, you may be able to gain a healthy period all on your own.

I will be doing another blog all about my tips on how to reduce PMS symptoms and probably some more stuff about periods. Please contact me if you have any questions or if there is a topic you would like me to discuss.

Thanks,

Alicia Burke Coaching x

Sleep. How to improve your sleep quality, and why it’s so important.

In this article, I will be discussing why a good night’s sleep is vital for physical health. The most common issues that cause disordered sleeping. And my top 3 remedies for a peaceful night’s sleep.

If you are reading this and you have excellent quality sleep 7 nights per week, you are a minority. The majority of people, me included, suffer from poor sleep quality. Most people need 6-8 hours of sleep for optimal function. This is not only to feel rested enough for the next day, but because our body goes through important functions when we are asleep, such as;

• Producing its own muscle-building hormones, including human growth hormone (HGH).
• Blood flow to your muscles increases, and tissue growth and repair occurs.
• During REM sleep, the muscles relax, which can help relieve tension and reduce symptoms of certain types of chronic pain.

These processes that happen during sleep are vital for recovery and well-being. If you partake in regular exercise it is even more important that your sleep is adequate. As when the body goes through these processes it is essentially healing itself and preparing for whatever is thrown its way. If sleep is not adequate, all of the training to build muscle or lose fat could be wasted.

How can I fix my broken sleep?

There are a number of reasons that cause problems with sleep such as: Restlessness. Poor sleep etiquette. Unsuitable surroundings. Sleep walking. Lack of sleep patterns. Night terrors. Just to name a few.

How you are able to fix your sleep is dependent on the problem. So I will go through 3 of the best potential cures for disordered sleeping, that have helped me.

Creating a positive sleeping environment.

This means clearing out anything that distracts from sleep, e.g. phones, TV switched off, no clutter in eye line. If someone suffers from an overactive imagination (often people suffering from night terrors/ sleep walking), they may find that the body stays in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep for an extended period. If there are objects in eyesight that are cluttered or promote stress, this could be the trigger. The room should be dark and cool; Your body releases chemicals to relax the body and mind in these circumstances, and if the room is too light your brain does not switch off. Creating a positive sleep environment could help anyone suffering from disordered sleeping, as often this is the cause of the problem. So if needed invest in some black out blinds and re-shuffle your room to create a peaceful environment.

Sleep sprays and essential oils.

This is one of my favourite sleep fixes. I suffer from night terrors and restless sleep, and have sought out many remedies to no avail. The only thing that helps me to relax and fall into a deep sleep is a sleep spray with lavender, or using an essential oil blend. You can buy sleep spray’s online and they are very cheap, but just make sure that it has lavender in it. The scent of lavender works as an anxiolytic (an anxiety reliever) and as a sedative, to increase relaxation and calm, and help bring about sleep.

Taking a bath before bed and keeping the bedroom cool

A warm bath is relaxing anyway, as during bathing blood flow to the muscles is increased helping them relax and repair. But that is not the reason having a bath will help you get to sleep. When your body temperature rises in the bath and then subsequently cools, your body thinks that it has gone from daytime to night and releases sleep hormones. You should keep your bedroom cool to promote a relaxing environment and allow your body temperature to drop and stimulate sleep.

There are my top 3 fixes for disordered sleep. I hope that this article helps at least one person suffering from poor sleep. If you know of anyone that would benefit from reading this, feel free to forward it to them or share on your social media.

If you have any further questions about sleep and any of the associated issues please email me aliciaburkecoaching@gmail.com

Why did I join the gym? An overview of my first years of training.

As this is my first ever blog post I thought I would start with my story. Starting from the very beginning before I joined the gym, right through to my first job in a gym. I think/hope it will benefit some of you from hearing what I have been through, and the choices I made; as I have met so many of you in my job that have been through similar scenarios, and I just want you to know that I understand the struggles that arise in the first years of training.

I am going to talk about things that I have not been comfortable telling people before, but I think it is a good thing to be open and honest about the things that make you the person you are today! 

I started dancing at age 3 and I cannot remember a time when dance was not a massive part of my life. I am a very competitive person, and I thrived in competitions.

I was still actively competing in Irish dance when I started college and no matter what I ate (and I ate poorly), I was always lean. But during this time I went from dancing about 8 hours a week, to dancing 6-8 hours a day 5 days a week. And at first I felt amazing as it was something that I loved doing, but after a while my body and mind couldn’t handle it anymore.

I was going straight from a full day of dancing at college, to my dance school for 2-3 hours, and then home where I would fall asleep in the bath I was that shattered. It was not only the physical strain but also mentally. As with competing you have to have a really tough skin, and be able to take hits. Before then, this wouldn’t bother me, but as I got older I let it affect me. I ended up losing a lot of self-confidence, and quit competitive dance. 

So now I had given up on one of the most important things of my life, I had a big hole that needed filling. I was not in a good place mentally and I needed something to occupy my mind. So I decided to join my local gym (an overcrowded and huge exercise4less). I chose the gym because I wanted to improve the way I looked, to build my confidence back up. Looking back, I am grateful that I decided to join the gym, but my reasons for joining at that time were not healthy ones. Being in front of a mirror each day in college, wearing sports bras, leotards, little shorts, and constantly being surrounded by other people to compare yourself to; was the reason I joined the gym. I did not see how tiny my body was, and that I did not need to lose any weight. (p.s. I had no periods, and did not understand the importance of that, but I will be discussing that in another post).

My gym routine for a long time was; go to a class, then go on a piece of cardio equipment for an hour or so during the break in the timetable, then do another class, then finish off with abs. Each gym session would be about 3 hours long, and it’s hard even for me to believe that I did that, but I did! After a while my confidence in the gym skyrocketed and I booked a session with a personal trainer. At Exercise4less you could just put your name down for pt and then a trainer would contact you; I ended up with an ex-army sergeant who was very scary and big :0. He is someone that I would’ve never picked myself, but he showed me around the weights area where I had never been, and taught me some weighted exercises. 
 

I changed my routine around and instead of going on the cardio equipment in between classes, I started to do just 1 class and then the exercises he taught me. This snowballed into me falling in love with weight training! I started talking to all the other people in the weights area and made friends (even though I was the only girl), and I don’t think I have ever loved the gym so much. I looked forward to going every day (yes 7 days a week), and it became my life. 

Even though I was training and dancing every day, and burning a lot of calories, I believed (like a lot of girls), that I should eat less to maintain a small figure. Now that I was at a point of being comfortable in the gym I thought I would focus my attention on my diet, so I downloaded Myfitnesspal and started to track my food. I had not yet learned about calorie deficits or surplus’, so I just tried to eat as little as possible. It might be a shock to you all that know me now, as I love my food! But as a 16/17-year-old girl I really put my body through it. At one point my mum became concerned and took me to the doctors to get weighed and measured, and it makes me cringe writing this now, but I was quite happy when it measured me underweight. The doctor told us both that if I lost any more weight, then I would be getting referred. But I 100% did not want that label in college, and I avoided losing any more weight. It took a lot of years for me to become comfortable with eating and not feeling guilty or fat, and that is why now I am such an advocate of enjoying food guilt-free!
 

Being the only girl in the gym meant I would attract a lot of attention, good and bad (which is why I probably don’t bat an eyelid at men in the gym now). And part of this attention was being told that I should be entering bikini bodybuilding competitions. From what I know now, back then I should’ve never been considering competing in physique. I was not ready physically or mentally, but the encouragement spurred me on and I looked into it. This was only a few months before I was due to leave for university, and it came down to either going to uni in London or staying home and starting with a prep coach for a competition.
 

Now we all know what decision I made, and thank god I did. I wrestled with the idea of prepping for a show whilst studying my degree but decided that it would be too much of a commitment. During 1st year I battled again with over-exercising in the gym and dancing, and this time I BURNT out. So I made a decision to take some time off the gym during my 2nd year of uni, which demonstrates just how far I came from that 16-year-old who was addicted to the gym.

By the time I was comfortable in the gym again was just before 3rd year when I decided to do my first exercise qualification. Becoming qualified to teach people to train felt amazing, and I was hired by the university gym to run classes. In 3rd year I taught exercise classes and also decided to extend my knowledge in dance science and anatomy by writing my dissertation on something I felt passionate about, weight training. My dissertation title was “The effects of strength training and static stretching on passive and active hip range of motion in pre-professional contemporary dancers.” And I aimed to call b******t any dancer that said strength training had a negative effect on the body, and I did it. I received an almost perfect mark and my dissertation is what got me a first overall in my degree.
 

So after training all my life to become a professional dancer, I decided that my passion was elsewhere and I graduated straight into a job in the gym. Fast forward to now and I truly love my job. It’s been crazy writing this as I can remember my first few years in the gym, and I thought what I was doing was healthy and normal. But knowing what I know now, I was living with body dis-morphia and disordered eating, and I would have benefited from educated support.
 

However, everything in my life has led me to be the trainer/person I am today. I have been through good and bad times with the gym, and everything has been a lesson to help me develop. If you have resonated with anything in my story, or you know anyone that may be going/ gone through something like I have discussed, then please let me know, as I would love to chat with them.
 

If you stuck with it… thanks for reading! 

ABC x