Girls who engage in strenuous physical activity are often amenorrheic and have recently been reported to be at a reduced risk of breast cancer. To determine whether moderate amounts of exercise affect menstrual cycle patterns and ovulatory frequency in young postmenarcheal girls, the menstrual cycles and physical activity patterns of 168 high school girls were monitored for a 6 month period. Anovulatory cycles were associated with later age at menarche, fewer elapsed years since menarche and greater levels of energy expended per week in physical activity. After adjusting for age at menarche and years since menarche, there was a significant dose-related trend in the risk of anovular menstrual cycles associated with increasing levels of physical activity (1-sided P = 0.03). Major determinants of average cycle length were weekly average energy expenditure (less than or equal to 750 kcal wk-1 associated with cycles that were on average 2.4 days longer), age at menarche (an increase of 0.7 days per year of age) and race (Asians having cycles about 1.9 days longer than Caucasians). Because a major determinant of breast cancer risk may be the cumulative number of ovulatory cycles, these data suggest that regular participation in moderate physical activity, by reducing the frequency of ovulatory cycles in adolescence, may provide an opportunity for the primary prevention of breast cancer.