London Mail
  • Home
  • World
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Health
  • Motering/Cars
  • More
    • Entertainment
    • Travel
    • Crypto
    • Food
    • Home Improvment
      • Real Estate
    • Press Release
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Health
  • Motering/Cars
  • More
    • Entertainment
    • Travel
    • Crypto
    • Food
    • Home Improvment
      • Real Estate
    • Press Release
No Result
View All Result
London Mail
No Result
View All Result
Home Sports

special report on sport and the menopause

by London Mail
October 27, 2024
in Sports
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Frimley Green, 2014, and the final of the BDO Darts World Championship. Deta Hedman is just moments away from the crowning glory of her career – two sets up on Lisa Ashton, and throwing for the title. 

Hedman has been the picture of ice-cool concentration all night but as she steps up to the oche, something seems different. She looks distracted, sweaty and uncomfortable. Her throws are off, and she loses the leg, then quickly the set. Shortly after, she is shaking Ashton’s hand, congratulating her on a remarkable 3-2 comeback victory.

What happened? Was it the pressure of the situation? Was Ashton simply that much better a player? No. Hedman was having a debilitating hot flush – like so many millions of women around the world, wrestling with the menopause.

Hedman was 55 in 2014, but had started experiencing menopausal symptoms several years before that, so she knew what was about to hit her that night in Surrey. 

“The whole week I was having hot flushes before I played and I thought ‘thank God for that’ – I just didn’t want to have them when I was on the oche,” she recalls. 

“In the final, I could feel it coming on. I played through it but I have never had a hot flush so bad, I was an absolute mess. With the tension that is why it was so horrendous. I should have asked to go to the toilet but at the time I was winning and I thought ‘you can do this’. But my head and everything just went.”

Losing a world title to the menopause is a cruel twist, seven years on and it is a defeat that still haunts her. “I was absolutely devastated afterwards,” she says. “I lost in the end because, by the time I came around and was trying to fight what was happening and stay focused, Lisa picked up momentum. My fightback was a little too late.

“Even now because of that experience I always hope that I have my hot flush before I get on the oche because it just throws me off my stride.”

Menopause is something almost every woman experiences but it is rarely spoken about in professional sport. Partly this is because by the time most athletes start to get symptoms they will be at the tail-end of their careers or retired; in sports such as darts, golf and equestrianism, however, where women can compete for longer, it can have a devastating impact.

Hot flushes are one of the classic symptoms of menopause, but there are myriad others which can impact on sporting performance – from joint pain to palpitations, low moods and ‘brain fog’.

‘My mood changes’

“There have been times when I was looking at the board and I have gone for a different shot than I was planning and I would think ‘why did you just do that?'” Hedman says. “I know when it is coming and my concentration goes all over the place.

“I get very irritable, sometimes I couldn’t be arsed being around people at times. I just want to sit on my own and say: ‘Leave me alone, let me stay in my own little world’. I do feel that my mood changes. One minute I am the life and soul of the party and next I just don’t want to be there.”

Hedman takes a cheerfully philosophical approach to her menopause – “Having lived your life, you know how to control yourself when the menopause symptoms happen,” she suggests – and says that, in darts, the subject is actually freely discussed. 

In many other sports, however, it remains something of a taboo topic – or at least misunderstood in how it can impair performance. This partly stems from the wild disparity in symptoms that women can experience, which can surprise even experts in the field. 

Source link

Related Posts

NFL fans spot concerning detail in Aaron Rodgers’ Steelers team photo
Sports

NFL fans spot concerning detail in Aaron Rodgers’ Steelers team photo

June 15, 2025
Sports

Access Denied

June 12, 2025
Footage shows Cristiano Ronaldo’s emotional reaction to Portugal’s Nations League triumph – as veteran uses Man United star as a shield during penalty shoot-out
Sports

Footage shows Cristiano Ronaldo’s emotional reaction to Portugal’s Nations League triumph – as veteran uses Man United star as a shield during penalty shoot-out

June 9, 2025
Next Post
How a “retrofit first” planning policy will make the City an even greener place to work

How a "retrofit first" planning policy will make the City an even greener place to work

Trump Madison Square Garden rally live updates: Melania makes surprise appearance to introduce her husband

Trump Madison Square Garden rally live updates: Melania makes surprise appearance to introduce her husband

Network and AI Maestro: A Decade of Digital Innovation

Network and AI Maestro: A Decade of Digital Innovation

Recommended

REVEALED: HALF of the WHO’s transgender health committee members have NO medical background and the majority are activists

REVEALED: HALF of the WHO’s transgender health committee members have NO medical background and the majority are activists

1 year ago
New weight-loss drug being reviewed by FDA burns fat FIVE TIMES quicker than Ozempic and Wegovy

New weight-loss drug being reviewed by FDA burns fat FIVE TIMES quicker than Ozempic and Wegovy

1 year ago
Ex-NATO commander says 30,000 Brits a year should be conscripted to boost Britain’s depleted Army – as ex-defence chief warns UK is ‘massively vulnerable’ to a Russian onslaught

Ex-NATO commander says 30,000 Brits a year should be conscripted to boost Britain’s depleted Army – as ex-defence chief warns UK is ‘massively vulnerable’ to a Russian onslaught

4 months ago
Held down and forced to swallow Novichok… That’s the most likely explanation for the death of the heroic Alexei Navalny, concludes DAVID JONES following a forensic investigation that suggests Putin’s goons were at the scene of the crime

Held down and forced to swallow Novichok… That’s the most likely explanation for the death of the heroic Alexei Navalny, concludes DAVID JONES following a forensic investigation that suggests Putin’s goons were at the scene of the crime

1 year ago

Categories

  • Business
  • Crypto
  • Entertainment
  • Food
  • Health
  • Home Improvment
  • Lifestyle
  • Motering/Cars
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Press Release
  • Real Estate
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Tech
  • Travel
  • World
No Result
View All Result

Highlights

Helpless partner watched in horror as ‘adrenaline junkie’ mother fell to her death during tandem sky dive jump he bought her as a gift

NFL fans spot concerning detail in Aaron Rodgers’ Steelers team photo

‘I never have to pay full price for my McDonald’s thanks to this one easy trick’

Inside the CIA’s secret squad of adorable assassins dubbed ‘Project 94’

Best Dyson fans 2025, tried and tested

‘Most gripping’ psychological thriller you can buy for 99p on Kindle | Books | Entertainment

London Mail

London Mail | Stay Informed, Stay Inspired ©2025, All rights Reserved

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Tech
  • News
  • Business
  • Science
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Opinion

London Mail | Stay Informed, Stay Inspired ©2025, All rights Reserved