Perimenopause Is Finally Getting More Attention… But What About the Decade of Puberty?

Perimenopause is finally having its moment. We are talking openly about hormones. We are validating sleep disruption, mood shifts, metabolic changes, body composition shifts, and injury risk. We are recognizing that female physiology is not something to ignore, it is a biological system to understand.

This progress matters.

But while we are advocating for women in midlife, we are still overlooking the decade that lays the foundation for it: puberty.

For girls in sport, puberty is not a brief phase. It is an eight- to ten-year physiological transformation that alters neurology, biomechanics, metabolism, recovery capacity, and performance. The foundation built during these years influences bone density, injury resilience, metabolic health, and confidence for decades.

Puberty in girls typically begins between ages 8 and 13 and continues into the late teens and early twenties. Rising estrogen and progesterone levels influence body fat distribution, muscle development, bone mineral density, tendon stiffness, ligament laxity, sleep, stress response, brain health, and energy availability. This is not a subtle shift. It is a full-body recalibration.

Yet most female athletes move through this decade with little education about what is happening inside their bodies. As estrogen and progesterone begin cycling, pelvic structure changes, body composition shifts, and menstrual cycles begin. These normal physiological changes can temporarily influence coordination, relative strength, and biomechanics, sometimes leading to plateaus or brief dips in performance.

This is not a setback. It is physiology.

Female athletes often continue building strength, power, and resilience well into their 20s and 30s. When girls understand this, temporary performance changes are interpreted as development, not decline.

One of the most impactful changes during puberty is body composition. After puberty, estrogen drives an increase in body fat in girls, particularly in the hips, thighs, and gluteal region. This shift is biologically protective and essential for hormone and bone health, but in sport environments it can feel destabilizing without context.

Without education, these changes can undermine confidence.With education, they become expected adaptation.

Injury risk also shifts during puberty as biomechanics change during rapid growth. When coaches, parents, and athletes understand this window, training can be adjusted to prioritize neuromuscular control, strength development, recovery, and injury prevention. Puberty is a vulnerable window, but also a powerful opportunity to build lifelong resilience.

When girls understand what is happening in their bodies, they are less likely to see normal changes as failure. That understanding protects confidence and helps them stay healthy and engaged in sport longer.

This is one reason why hormone and development education for girls in sport matters, and why it should be a standard during the teen years.

Girls in Sport is designed to give girls, parents, and coaches education on these topics. This is a preventative approach to girls' health and performance, leading to less setback, better health and retention in sports,

Dr. Sonja Halsey