What are the symptoms of RED-S?
What are the warning signs?
- Amenorrhea.
- Dehydration.
- Gastrointestinal problems.
- Hypothermia (cold intolerance)
- Cardiac abnormalities: bradycardia (low heart rate), orthostasis (abnormal changes in heart rate and/or blood pressure during positional changes)
- Stress fractures (and overuse injuries)
- Significant weight loss.
What is RED-S?
Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), is a syndrome which can adversely affect the health and performance of athletes. It exists when there is a negative balance between dietary energy intake and the energy expenditure required to support optimal health, daily living activities, growth, and sport.
What causes RED-S?
the cause of ReD-S is the scenario termed “low energy availability”, where an in- dividual’s dietary energy intake is insufficient to support the energy expenditure required for health, function, and daily living, once the cost of exercise and sporting activities is taken into account.
How do you recover from RED-S?
With RED-S often taking years to be diagnosed, there is no fast lane to recovery. As many of its physical symptoms grow from a deeply entrenched mindset, effective treatment requires a focus on one’s mental health. Initially, Woolven attempted to loosen her rigid attitude towards nutrition and training on her own.
How do you diagnose RED-S?
The event that leads to a diagnosis of RED-S in an athlete is often a stress fracture. You can read more about stress fractures here. It can also commonly be identified by reduced performance, excessive fatigue and missed menstrual periods.
What is female triad?
The female athlete triad is defined as the combination of disordered eating, amenorrhea and osteoporosis. This disorder often goes unrecognized. The consequences of lost bone mineral density can be devastating for the female athlete.
What is the leaf Q?
The low energy availability in females questionnaire (LEAF –Q), focuses on physiological symptoms of insufficient energy intake. The following pages contain questions regarding injuries, gastrointestinal and reproductive function.
Is RED-S serious?
RED-S is a serious illness with lifelong health consequences and can potentially be fatal. RED-S is the broader, more comprehensive name for what was formerly known as female athlete triad (or simply the triad), which was a condition seen in females participating in sports that emphasize leanness or low body weight.
How many people have RED-S?
Prevalence rates of the entire spectrum of eating disorders and subclinical disordered eating vary from 0 to 19% in male athletes and from 6 to 45% in female athletes. The prevalence varies significantly among different sports.
What causes energy deficiency?
Low energy may arise when someone is under significant stress, is exercising too much or too little, or has a poor diet. When these are the causes, people should find that simple lifestyle changes cause a significant boost in their energy levels.