Female and Period Health for Expedition and Adventure Travel

Classing ourselves as a pretty adventurous team, and working in an industry involving travel and work in some of the most remote locations, we were really interested to see this research paper exploring female specific barriers to participation in expeditions and adventure travel. As the first study of its kind published, it takes a closer look at why females are underrepresented in the expedition environment and their concerns relating to their health in this environment. 

In top class ocean sail racing, there is a push to provide more opportunities for females, which means more mixed teams sharing a stripped out racing machine with no luxuries. 

There is no guidance in key medical texts on preparing females during the pre-expedition phase. This study asked to what extent female-specific health concerns (including periods) are a barrier and why. This really got us thinking about our own experiences and even within our team we’ve heard about women manipulating their cycle (normally by adjusting use of the contraceptive pill) to compete at their physical peak in world class sport, finding themselves embarrassed by being caught short of supplies far from civilisation, and avoiding fun activities due to periods and menopause, and their associated side effects.

So, we decided to ask some other adventurous females about their views, thoughts and lived experiences…

Kim Hampton is a Dog Behaviour Therapist, but has worked in the online world, is a sailor and spent six years living and sailing on her own yacht. She developed the first social network for boaters and worked as a sports journalist covering events such as the America’s Cup and Olympics. In her spare time, she is a scuba diver, sailor and kayak enthusiast and this has taken her to some remote environments. 

George Preston is a Paramedic working 3 jobs. She is a Combat Medical Technician in a specialist Army Reserve unit, works frontline ambulance shifts and as a medic and safety advisor for Secret Compass, providing risk management for TV and film productions in extreme and remote environments.  

Both women have often found themselves in the minority as a female during their activities but with very different experiences. 

George Preston

At the age of 14, George went on a school trip to the Ardeche river in France. The girls were taken to one side and advised to go on the pill. Her mum was rightly outraged, though some of this may have been a concern about the unlikely event of it somehow encouraging unprotected sex. But looking back, being advised to take a pill to ‘balance hormones’ and ‘regulate your cycle’ instead of an education for both girls and boys about normal hormonal changes is sadly typical. Yes, it probably made some girls’ trips ‘easier’, but for George and two other mates who had periods during the trip, they decided to simply deal with it like normal; it certainly didn’t change anything George did, and had no impact on her enthusiasm for kayaking!! 

Kim has found that as an adventurous woman on expeditions, in boardrooms, on yachts and press boats, women in sport and technology can be a rare commodity. They are often undervalued as creators or leaders, and the men may be very unused to working with females. Consequently, Kim absolutely believes that female/period heath has an impact on many females participating in expeditions/adventure travel, something the original research supports.

While she never spoke about periods with the guys, she has overheard a lot of derogatory comments about women being ‘on the rag’ or ‘it must be her time of the month’ on some of the boats she has crewed on, in the sport of sailing, and on the docks. Kim is now just over 50, and this year her period has been inconsistent for the first time in her life as her body prepares for menopause. She now appreciates the changes in her body, and wishes she had been more open with other women, and men, about the needs of a woman within childbearing age. That said, a huge positive was the month she didn’t get her period, and discovered she was pregnant at 39, followed by a few blissful months before her period started once again.

Kim Hampton

George is often the only female on expeditions, and solo or one of two when deployed, though has more female medic company when based at her home unit. Being the lone female doesn’t worry her and for fun trips she carefully chooses who to travel with. She’s found that in sport, most people are good people but for certain rivers, trust both ways is key so she may be more picky, as being around people who don’t make safe decisions quite naturally makes her nervous. But that works the same for both males and females.

In her environment, some of the guys have told her that having a female team member brings a different atmosphere. Research does suggest that having a female presence in an all-male team can be a positive catalyst for improved dynamics, creativity and overall performance. In George’s words, "It's maybe a bit less ‘chimpy?”

In contrast to Kim’s experiences, George never worries about being the sole female and finds that in the military, most people are supportive and want to bring you up to their level, which she loves. They look out for each other, not in an overbearing way, but so that she feels safe. As she is older than many of the guys, and has a solid background in ‘exped grit’, she’s able to hold her own. She enjoys being part of male teams and the guys she paddles with often become top friends for life. She believes her female intuition serves her well and helps ensure she doesn’t hang out with awful people. 

Kim told us that anytime she’s been on an expedition or adventure, she has had to take her cycle into account and often either planned for a window when she wasn’t menstruating, or manipulated her cycle to avoid those dates. She has avoided ocean scuba diving or swimming during her periods due to a fear of attracting sharks to her and the men she dives with. Similarly, while on an Army kayak exped in the Amazon, the only thing George had to be careful of was not swimming with piranhas whilst on a period!

Kim recalls numerous occasions when she has been caught without adequate supplies, at sea, and in foreign countries, having to resort to any fabric she could makeshift into a pad. But having a soggy rag in your underwear definitely impedes your ability to function at top performance in any sport, or even to have simple hygiene and comfort on an expedition. While kayaking through Mexico she camped on remote beaches between stretches at sea. Then she had to use the ocean as a toilet, finding a bush or rock later to hide the insertion of a tampon. But this did make her feel gross and embarrassed. Disposing of the soiled item caused equal distress, and more worry, as garbage is always an issue at pristine remote sites.

George told us that she’s been very lucky with her periods which she describes as very normal. She doesn’t get massive mood swings or lots of pain, but does get headaches and feels tearful for no reason though! The only bad experience she can put down to female health is one time when she had a meltdown at the start of a river and refused to get on and paddle. She was in tears and inconsolable. Luckily, her buddy Ben was kind and caring, and talked through these feelings. Still, she couldn’t get past it and walked out of the river. 

On her first major expedition in Madagascar (a 22-day descent of the River Mania) she started her period during the first night. Typical timing of course. She had to tell her best mate Sam because she needed someone to keep an eye out for crocodiles while she scrubbed her bedding and cleaned herself. This turned out to be the first night of many bathing together, looking out for one another, and she says it felt totally normal. They’ve been lifelong best buddies ever since! 

Again in Madagascar, she got used to having a crowd build up inexplicably at every poop time (08:00 accounting for jet-lag!). Her must-have exped kit is a tatty old Kikoy (traditional African pareo). It gets swooshed around her like a cape giving all the privacy needed while squatting over a dug-out hole! But she does recall one awful time, when she had to hang over the edge of the raft in full view when she was really ill on the river and there was just no time to get to the river bank – her unfortunate buddies had to watch, again, for crocodiles, while the whole world fell out!

George’s approach is that as they’re normal, she will never let periods get in her way. It’s totally natural to bleed and deal with it wherever she is in the world. Sure, it can be annoying and of course they always start at the worst moment possible, but she just gets on with it. However she has friends who suffer from endometriosis, or really heavy or painful periods, and can imagine that this may have a greater impact on their participation in expeditions and adventure travel.  

Kim’s top tips for managing female/period health start with tracking your cycle (including your moods and energy levels). There are some great apps available now, to help you get the most out of your body at the right time. She advises to pack for as many days as you think you will need, and then hope it's enough to get you through. When space is tight (as it was on an eleven day kayak through the Sea of Cortez in Mexico), be creative if you run out of supplies; you may have to make do with what you can find!

George told us that the guys she chooses to hang out with definitely show understanding and are very caring and supportive in all ways. In the Army she has stayed in places with no showers or loos with a bunch of guys who probably find that slightly easier than a female, but she does find ways to deal with it.  She does think that if she needed to tell any of them that she was on her period, they would try and support her with early nights, or ensuring access to a toilet and things like that. 

George’s top tips include her non-negotiable of making sure she has a bath/shower every night before bed – whether this means finding a river or a sink. The worst case is a wet wipe which she hates, and in the jungle she tries to keep spare water for the end of the day to pour over herself. 

She swears by the reusable cup! It is amazing for expeditions and safe to leave in longer than a tampon. Though it probably sounds gross to many, she just buries the blood, rinses the cup with river water, then cleans with drinking water before popping back in. She finds it so much better than carrying used tampons for the rest of the trip. She also has a reusable ‘kula cloth’ for wiping after a pee which you can just rinse then wash later. It’s another great bit of exped kit to save you from burning tissue in wildfire areas, being totally unable to light a fire due to rain, drip drying or tucking under a rock and adding to a pile of other people’s disgusting rubbish. 

So if we need to normalise female/period health, the first step is to talk about it - hence putting this blog together. Kim and George have had quite different experiences and some of that could be due to their expedition partners. So do we need to be more careful in our choice of team mates, no matter how much we want to travel? Age may also play a part as younger women can appear more confident in talking openly on many levels about their needs, where our more mature sisters were brought up with an element of shame hanging over periods.

Willingness to participate in expeditions and adventure travel may also hinge on the physical and mental side effects of periods and al fresco toileting. It’s not for everyone! 

But maybe we need to educate ourselves and be confident in what we need. Talk to the males on our expeditions and adventures, to help them understand the issues and be able to offer the right support if their female team mates need it. 

We’d love to hear your feedback too so please feel free to leave a comment on our LinkedIn post…