Blogging with Dr. Stacy Sims
Study finds higher intensity exercise helps relieve anxiety.
I am a huge proponent of high-intensity exercise, especially short, sharp high-intensity training like sprint intervals of 30 seconds or less because it's like powerful medicine.
Sprint interval training (SIT) fires up your fast-twitch...
Post-workout fueling matters even more for women than men.
Low energy availability is extremely common in women athletes. A 2019 survey of 1,000 female athletes across more than 40 sports published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine estimated the risk of low energy availability in women...
Women heat up sooner, sweat less, and have hormonal fluctuations that impact how we keep our cool when we crank up our efforts.
I have been studying hydration my entire adult life (the basis of my PhD was sex differences in hydration in the heat!), both as an athlete myself in endurance...
New study shows that iron deficiency and anemia take a toll on active women.
Iron is essential for energy. It helps your body deliver oxygen to your working muscles and the mineral participates in the energy making process in your mitochondria. It’s also a key player in cognitive function...
Surprise, surprise, some ergogenic aids work differently for us than they do for the guys.
Research on female college athletes shows that more than 65 percent of them use some type of supplement at least once a month. I don’t know what the percentage is among performance-minded women...
A new study links a mom’s physical activity to her offspring’s lung function.
For years, women have contacted me, fresh off a positive pregnancy test, wondering whether they need to stop working out for fear of doing harm. In fact, the opposite is true.
For starters, it is safe...
Menstruation can be prime time for PRs. Here’s how to go with the flow (no matter how heavy your flow).
“What’s the matter, you on the rag?”
“Hey ‘ladies,’ are you going to get your heads in the game, or do you need some tampons?”
When I was coming...
Women struggle more than men to get a good night’s rest. Let’s fix that.
Women appear to have a predisposition to struggling with insomnia. Research meta-analysis has shown it. Surveys by the National Sleep Foundation have shown it. Up to 67 percent of women reported having trouble...
Working with your physiology to keep your cool is more important than ever as temperatures reach new heights.
Though the temps are cool and cloudy here in the Southern Hemisphere where I live, active women working out in the Northern Hemisphere are facing scorching temps, with many places hitting...
Research finds viewing #fitspiration posts can harm body image and make exercise feel harder.
As a female athlete performance physiologist, I work with women of all fitness and age levels to optimize their physiology and help them feel and perform their best. I know all too well how many barriers...
Research shows incontinence is common in active women. Don’t let stress incontinence keep you on the sidelines.
During a photo shoot for our upcoming book (out Spring 2022), my co-author Selene Yeager was surrounded by fierce, active women, who openly shared something they generally keep...
Is the pill blunting your training gains?
Chances are, if you’re on the pill, it’s to prevent pregnancy (or to help treat other conditions like PCOS), not to enhance your athletic performance. But I’m guessing you don’t want your contraception to be hindering your athletic...
Here’s how to make sure you’re eating enough!
When women come to me because they’re struggling with poor performance one of the simplest (though not always easiest) and most successful strategies I provide is getting them to eat more.
Many women athletes are chronically...
I sat down with 8x U.S. Champion Steeplechase runner and Olympic bronze medalist Emma Coburn for Episode 5 of Nuuness TV, a Nuun-sponsored YouTube series devoted to women in sports.
It didn’t take long before the topic turned to my scientific impressions of current diet trends. Of course, I...
