Missed Period
If you’re expecting or trying to get pregnant, a missed period is a good sign you are. Over the counter pregnancy tests or tests administered by a doctor can help you determine whether or not you’re pregnant. However, if you’re not expecting, a missed period can cause fear and panic, especially when the financial, emotional and situational elements set in. Other than being pregnant, there are other reasons why a woman can miss her period.
Stress, whether we realize we’re stressing or not can cause changes within our bodies. Stress will cause a decrease in the hormone GnRH, which contributes to not ovulating and having a monthly menstrual cycle.
Changes in our schedules will also throw off our body’s natural time clock. A good example is switching work shifts, once working the morning hours and switching to the nighttime hours. Your body becomes confused, throwing off everything including your menstrual cycle.
Illnesses will cause your period to delay or skip for the month. Depending on how long the illness lasts, days, weeks or months, this can significantly throw off your body’s schedule. Also, when you become ill, most of us either begin taking or change our medications. This too will contribute to a missed period as a side effect.
Our body weight, whether your overweight or underweight can cause a missed period. Being overweight can hormonally shift your cycles or worse, stop them. For most women, they will return to normal cycles with the loss of some weight. If you’re underweight, you body lacks fat, which is needed to have a period. Professional athletes or women who frequent the gym too much sometimes see a change in their cycles which can delay or cause a missed period.
Although most of us know our body’s, and know our cycles, miscalculating our periods can cause panic or fear of being pregnant. The menstrual cycle varies from woman to woman. Learning more about ovulation can help you get back on track and calculate the arrival of your periods easier.
Finally menopause, or peri-menopause, it can cause you to stop receiving your monthly periods. Peri-menopause is the time when your body is transitioning from the reproductive to the non-reproductive stage. Periods may become lighter, heavier or less frequent. You are still fertile in this stage so birth control may be an option if you don’t wish to conceive and are sexually active. Menopause on the other hand, is when you stop ovulating and stop having your periods.
