This is how your heart rate changes could signal reproductive health
Tracking your menstrual cycle is a great way to keep on top of your symptoms and your health. Whether you take note of physical sensations, like bloating and energy levels or use a wearable to monitor temperature changes, having insight into your bleed is always useful.
Now, Whoop, the fitness tracker that measures strain and recovery, has found a new way to monitor underlying health across the menstrual cycle: cardiovascular amplitude.
The novel biomarker has been explained in a new study by researchers from the brand's data and science research center.
The study
The menstrual cycle has long been dubbed the fifth vital sign given it can tell us so much about our health status. For instance, irregular menstrual cycles are linked with a higher risk of coronary heart disease, cancers and osteoporosis later in life.
The problem, according to researchers, is that many people don't notice irregularities. They wanted to see if there was a simple way to measure menstrual cycle disturbances, using accessible technology found in wearables like Whoop.
They collected data from 11,590 Whoop users – 9,968 of them who were 'naturally' cycling, and 1,661 who used birth control pills. The participants logged 1,241,929 days of data and 45,811 unique menstrual cycles during the study period, and researchers also collected cardiovascular readings throughout the study.
The results
There was a clear heart rate pattern among those having cycles without hormonal contraception. Their resting heart rate decreased at the beginning of each menstrual cycle, reaching the lowest point around day five. Then it started rising, reaching its highest point around day 26 (just before their period).
Their heart rate variability showed a trend in reverse. It was highest around day five, then dropped off to its lowest point around day 27.
They named the size between these two readings cardiovascular amplitude.
Women on hormonal birth control had significantly lower cardiovascular amplitude compared to those who didn't use the contraception. This is likely due to the pill dampening levels of progesterone, the hormone responsible for end-of-cycle rises in heart rate and reductions in heart rate variability.
Reduced cardiovascular amplitude was also seen in women with higher body mass index. While BMI isn't a perfect measure, people with both low and high BMI are associated with anovulatory cycles, irregular periods and hormonal imbalances, which might explain the differences in heart rate.
Those of older age also had reduced cardiovascular amplitude, likely due to a gradual decline in hormones as women approach their final periods.
What this means for us
Cardiovascular amplitude seems to be a good way to measure whether your cycles and hormonal health are functioning normally.
Researchers say the measurement of heart rate and heart rate variability at two stages in the cycle is an easy and reliable way to track the menstrual cycle and related hormone levels, especially as it can be done on a wearable which is cheaper and less complicated than other hormonal testing methods.
While more studies need to be done to discover the effectiveness of cardiovascular amplitude of a measure of health conditions such as PMDD, PCOS and fertility issues, which may be linked to how the nervous system and hormones interact, this study is a good starting point.
While we wouldn't recommend trying to calculate your own cardiovascular amplitude while the science is still in its infancy, we do think that getting in tune with your body is a great step. If you're worried about your heart rate of menstrual cycle, talk to a healthcare professional.
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