Dear Men: RED-S is a color you don’t want to wear any season.
This post was written by Rami Bejjani, who is currently completing his dietetic internship at UC San Diego. Rami’s passion for nutrition and health has been built throughout his life. He was born and raised in Lebanon where nutrition was not just of cultural importance, but used as medical treatment and overall prevention. His passion also grew in athletics throughout the years in both gymnastics and swimming. He ultimately plans to become an RD with the United Nations and travel the world helping impoverished communities.
Dear Men,
RED-S is a color you don’t want to wear any season.
In a society built on a framework of toxic-masculinity, men have inherently been taught to exemplify the “macho” mentality. With this, we’re taught to hide our emotions; to go through life with strength and resilience characterizing the root of our being. “Suck it up,” “push through it,” “you’re a man,” are phrases we hear almost every day, and more if you’re an athlete. Pain and exhaustion become friends we invite into our home every day. That is, until RED-S comes knocking on the door.
Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, or RED-S, is a cute acronym that describes the not-so-cute effects of having energy deficiency. This is seen primarily around the athletic community and highlights the side effects of having insufficient energy intake. This term is a broader and more comprehensive name for what was previously known as the female athlete triad, where female athletes experienced consequences on their health from a lower or highly restrictive intake of energy.
At the risk of sounding chauvinistic, for the purpose of this blog, I want to have a chat with my fellow men about how RED-S could be affecting them, and more specifically their athletic performance and mental health. Like I mentioned before, men have a societal pressure to appear overly masculine and treat pain and resilience as a welcomed adversity. This way of living paves the road for swelled exhaustion and a festered emotional state.
The science behind RED-S is relatively simple. Whether you’re an athlete or not, every person needs to match their energy intake to their energy output; athletes would need even more to keep up with the rigorous training and exercise they perform daily. When we don’t get that energy match, our bodies take a huge hit because we simply don’t have the amount required to keep us healthy and efficiently functioning.
Because we’re missing that energy, our bodies begin to go into survival mode and looking within to “steal” the energy it needs from places we don’t want it taken away. This entire process leads to impaired function of a plethora of different systems within the body: immunological, bone health, metabolic, hematological, cardiovascular, psychological, endocrine, gastrointestinal, and general growth and development. For athletes, this will affect performance through:
Decreased endurance
Decreased testosterone levels
Decreased muscle strength
Decreased concentration
Decreased training response
Decreased coordination
Higher risk for injuries
Depression
Irritability
Unfortunately, men still have a hard time recognizing these symptoms and understanding that it’s worrisome because we’re taught to accept these side-effects and to not speak up about them, otherwise we’re seen as weak or fragile. The true (and literal) weakness, however, lies behind staying quiet and accepting these consequences. I’m here to remind you that the true strength comes from recognizing these side-effects and seeking guidance to alleviate symptoms of RED-S.