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Hi, Anon, and welcome to EmpowHer. Thanks for your question!

(I am tempted to leave it for one of our long-distance runners on staff who are also moms!) I'm sure they will weigh in later as well. =)

I found no evidence that running at all, even long-distance running, causes ovarian cysts. What I'm wondering is if your friend knew someone who found out that they had ovarian cysts because running caused them pain in that area and they went to a doctor who discovered them. That seems likely, as some ovarian cysts can indeed be painful.

Here are two good pages on ovarian cysts, their causes and treatments:

https://www.empowher.com/media/reference/ovarian-cyst#definition

http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/ovariancysts/a/ovariancysts.htm

In terms of all aspects of running and how it can affect a woman, I found a great article by Runner's World UK called "30 Things Every Woman Should Know About Running: Health, Psychology, Pregnancy and Motherhood, Training and Racing, All From A Woman's Angle." Here's a link:

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=285

That article covers all kinds of interesting things. For instance, runners have half the risk of breast and uterine cancer and only a third the risk of diabetes than do their non-running peers, partly because the estrogen they produce is less potent. Women runners need to keep track of their levels of iron. And infants dislike post-exercise breast milk, which is higher in lactic acid.

And here's an ongoing study that shows how running benefits women:

http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/running-women-study.html

One of the things that WILL hurt a woman is overtraining and undereating, such as losing your menstrual period or making your bones more vulnerable to injury. Here's an article that discusses this:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NHF/is_6_17/ai_86649669/

And here are a couple of sites specifically geared to women runners:

http://www.traxee.com/
http://www.running4women.com/health.php

So get yourself a great pair of shoes, and enjoy!!

June 22, 2009 - 8:20am

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