Champions Institute Topics: Supporting Women’s Health Across Sport and Work
January 15, 2026
Women athletes and workers face physical and psychological stressors that affect far more than performance. Because reproductive hormones influence many body systems, understanding how stressors impact women’s health is key to supporting lifelong participation and resilience.
Topic: Women’s Health
Types of Athletes Involved: Competitive, Tactical, and Operational
Problem
Women athletes and workers are exposed to a wide range of physical, psychological, and environmental stressors, yet how these stressors affect reproductive health—and in turn, overall health and performance—is still not fully understood. Because reproductive hormones influence multiple organ systems, disruptions can have far-reaching effects across the lifespan.
Solution
This research examines how different types of stress—from intense exercise and long-term energy or iron deficiency to competitive pressure and challenging environments—affect reproductive function and overall health in females. By studying women and girls across varied athletic and settings, the work builds a clearer picture of how stress interacts with female biology in real-world conditions.
Impact
The findings will help guide sex-specific, evidence-based strategies that support healthy participation in sport, physical activity, and demanding work. Over time, this research will inform better prevention approaches and countermeasures that protect long-term health, performance, and resilience in competitive, tactical, and operational populations.
The research focuses on women across the lifespan. Stressors studied range from short-term physical challenges, such as exercise bouts, to chronic physical, psychological, and environmental stress, including energy deficiency, academic pressure, isolation, radiation, and microgravity exposure.
By examining how these stressors affect reproductive function and downstream systems—such as musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and performance outcomes—this work aims to close long-standing gaps in female health research and improve guidance for training, recovery, and occupational readiness.
Publications
- Effect Of Allostatic Load And Psychological Resilience On Physical Performance In Female Collegiate Athletes
- Women in space: A review of known physiological adaptations and health perspectives
- Will Use of Long-Acting, Reversible Contraceptives Mitigate Bone Loss in Female Rats During Simulated Exploration Class Missions?
- Mechanistic Insights Into the Combined Chronic Impact of Spaceflight and Aging Cardiovascular Physiology
- Insights Into the Impacts of Continuous, Low Dose-Rate Neutron Radiation Exposure on Maternal and Fetal Skeletal Physiology
- A Time Course of Bone Microarchitectural and Material Property Changes in Male and Female Mice During Simulated Unloading and Spaceflight
Key Partners / Funders
LSU Athletics, Wu Tsai Human Alliance Foundation, NASA