Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is the common precursor of several reproductive hormones. DHEA-sulfate (DHEA-S) declines during adult aging and has been considered as a strong predictor for human longevity. The purpose of the study was to track the evolution of serum DHEA-S concentration and muscle strength during a menstrual cycle for young athletes. Ten female athletes (21 years of age) were enrolled in this longitudinal observation with hormonal and muscle strength assessments for every 7 days since the first day of menses, including Menses (M), Ovulatory (O), Luteal 1 (L1) and Luteal 2 (L2) periods. Despite total mood disturbance was not changed, muscle strength and serum DHEA-S concentrations were declined simultaneously during L2 period with a significant increase of serum estradiol and progesterone concentrations. Furthermore, during L2 period, sympathetic power mirrored by low-frequency heart rate variability (LF-HRV) and body temperature were relatively greater than the rest of the phases. We conclude that physical but not mental capabilities were compromised during premenstrual period for young female athletes. These findings suggest that circumventing athletic event during premenstrual period may be important to maximize the competition outcome for female athletes. This is probably because of increased consumption of endogenous DHEA for the biosynthesis of reproductive hormones during premenstrual phase.
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