Paris 2024: Takeaways from a Licensed Sport Psychologist

Paris 2024 has been an Olympic Year marked by female athletes redefining rest, age, beauty standards, motherhood, and how we talk about mental health in sport.

Let's talk about Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs).

When an athlete is not meeting their energy needs whether intentionally or unintentionally, their body has to compensate to conserve energy. In a state of energy deficiency or where there is low energy availability, the body goes into survival mode to conserve energy. While an athlete may experience an initial increase in performance, ultimately their body cannot sustain being in a state of energy deficiency and performance declines.

Body image is complex and it is contextual. A female athlete may perceive or experience her body differently in the context of her sport, in the context of the classroom, and in the context of other social settings. Furthermore, female athletes may experience a duality of body image whereby thoughts and feelings of an athlete often conflict with thoughts and feelings of a woman. The pressure to perform and the pressure to meet society’s standards of beauty can become overwhelming and can contribute to an early exit from sport among adolescent girls.

As a former collegiate athlete, I am passionate about giving back to the next generation through supporting the efforts of de-stigmatizing mental health in sport, making safety in sport a priority, and creating greater access to evidence-based interventions for athletes that also recognizes the nuances of sport culture and the athlete identity.