Your love of exercise contributed to you having amenorrhea (the absence of a menstrual cycle). So do you have to stop exercising to get your period back? Not necessarily, but sport psychologist Marissa Norman has insights on why it might be beneficial not only for regaining your cycle, but beyond.
After you’ve watched the video, be sure to go to get our Running for Real Joy List!
Read the transcript
[Tina] I know I have RED-S and I’ve been trying to recover, but I just don’t want to give up exercise. It’s such a big part of who I am.
[Marissa] When something becomes habit for us, something that we do every single day, something that is a big part of us, putting that on hold can be very scary, and I do want to honor how challenging and overwhelming that can really be. And I imagine if exercise is such a big part of you, that it takes up a lot of time and energy and focus, so I would also consider, maybe think about, you know, saying “No” to exercise in this moment and what I mean by “this moment” is for many of us that this is a temporary pause for our health, and that there is a possibility, a very definite possibility, of returning to exercise.
But if we say “No” to exercise in this moment, what does that then allow us to say “Yes” to? Maybe saying “No” to exercise right now allows us to say “Yes” to spending time with our family members and our friends. Maybe saying “No” to exercise right now might mean getting to engage in hobbies that we forgot about, or try new things that we’ve always wanted to try but just have never had the time. Or even get to play with, explore, other parts of you. Maybe saying “No” to exercise right now means saying “Yes” to fully investing in your health, and so if we can focus on the opportunities that we get as a result of saying “No,” sure, it doesn’t make saying “No” to exercise easy, but it gives us something to look forward to. It brings us joy in our lives and it can be extremely motivating in that healing process.
[Tina] Oh, thank you so much. That’s so helpful, and I know when I was in recovery, as well, I was… You said about saying “Yes” to loved ones; I suddenly realized how disconnected, how distracted, I had been with loved ones because I was low on energy or tired from my training, and having that time to really be present with them was, I felt like, such a gift. And the same, you mentioned about for activities, I will have underneath this video for people to go check out, we created a Running for Real joy list, and how to find a joy list, exactly what you mentioned there of seeking out those things that you’ve always wanted to do, but your training or whatever you’ve been doing has made you too tired to do. So I love those suggestions. Thank you so much.
check it out
Recovering from RED-S is hard. It’s even harder if you’re working through it alone. Even if you have professional support, they’re not available 24-7, and that can lead to going down search engine rabbit holes that have the potential to derail everything.
Our online resource, RED-S: Realize. Reflect. Recover, will answer all those questions swimming around in your head about recovery. It will give you the opportunity to connect with the experts you’ve come to know here, and to surround yourself with a community of others who are going through it too.
THANK YOU! to Athletic Greens and Tracksmith for supporting this YouTube series and RED-S: Realize. Reflect. Recover.
Go to athleticgreens.com/reds to get five free travel packs of AG1 and a free one year’s supply of vitamin D3+K2 with your subscription!
When you go to https://tracksmith.com/tina and use the code TINA15 at checkout, you’ll get free shipping and Tracksmith will donate 5% of your order to Rising Hearts, the Indigenous-led nonprofit founded by Jordan Marie Daniels.
more about Marissa:
Marissa Norman, Psy.D, CMPC, is a Sport Psychologist in the New Jersey area. She has her own private telehealth practice, and works with youth to professional athletes from mental skills training to mental health services. She’s a former college track and field pentathlete who loves to laugh, to eat, and adventure. You can find Marissa at https://www.topformpsychology.com/team-sport-psychology.
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