What Can Cause a Late or Missed Period?

You can miss a period for lots of reasons other than pregnancy. Learn how stress (be it mental or physical), illness, and other factors can prevent menstruation in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://health.howstuffworks.com/pregnancy-and-parenting/pregnancy/conception/5-common-reasons-for-late-period.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,
Lauren Bogelbaum Here to the uninformed, a missed period can
only mean one thing, You're pregnant, But in reality, there
are numerous reasons why your period might be late or missing. Altogether,

(00:23):
the menstrual cycle is closely tied to your overall well being.
Every Body is different, so every cycle works a little differently.
The typical cycle is twenty eight days long, with three
to five days of period bleeding, but anything from a
cycle of twenty one to thirty five days is considered normal.
And your period might be a couple days longer, shorter,

(00:45):
and again that's just normal variation. And no, it's not
literally tied to the cycle of the moon. We're not
wear wolves, or at least not most of us. But
if your body is out of balance, that can affect
the timing of your period or prevent it entirely. The

(01:06):
medical term for absent menstruation is amenorrhea. Primary emenoriea refers
to late onset of menstruation or not having started menstruation
by the age of sixteen. However, the condition is quite rare,
affecting less than one percent of the population. By the way,
it's also very common for people to miss periods during

(01:26):
the first couple years that they start menstruating because their
bodies haven't settled into a normal cycle yet. A secondary
amenoriea is more what we're talking about today. It's when
you've begun menstruating but later stop four to three or
more cycles. This affects about four percent of the population
and can be caused by a host of factors, though

(01:48):
most involve heightened stress, whether physical, mental, or emotional. That's
because stress can prevent your body from ovulating, that is,
releasing an egg, which is the precur search to menstruation
and occurs about fourteen to sixteen days before most periods.
A stress is a silent menace. It's the primary cause

(02:10):
of lots of physical ailments. Emotional stress is a particularly
common cause of late or misted periods in teenagers and
can affect adults as well. That's because emotional or mental
anxiety can negatively affect the hypothalamus, which is the part
of the brain that regulates hormones. It controls the creation
of the gnatotropin releasing hormone, which in turn signals the

(02:33):
pituitary gland to secrete the hormones that cause both ovulation
and menstruation. So if your hypothalamus is impaired by stress,
there's a distinct possibility that your system won't release an
EG and won't build up your uterine lining, so there
will be nothing for you to menstruate, meaning you'll miss

(02:54):
your period. A stress can include factors like travel and
other changes to your daily routine like getting a new job.
Anything that disrupts your usual sleeping and eating schedules can
potentially affect your period. Obviously, some stress is normal, that's life,

(03:14):
but being mindful of how it affects you personally that,
since everyone processes stress differently, is the key to getting
a handle on it. If you miss periods but they
return once some anxious situation passes, make a note of it,
then look into ways to manage your stress. Obviously, this
is a personal and complicated matter, and you might want

(03:34):
to talk with the healthcare professional about it, but common
solutions include exercise in general, breath focused exercise like yoga
in particular, meditation, mindfulness practices, talk therapy or psychiatric medications.
And Okay, I know I just said that exercise is good,
but there is such thing as too much exercise. The

(03:56):
physical stress that you put your body under during particular
long or intense exercise sessions can cause your body to
sort of reallocate resources to prevent injury, sort of like
on Star Trek when they divert power to the shields.
After all, your period isn't technically a necessary function. As
many as forty four percent of women and other people

(04:19):
who menstruate who exercise vigorously experience a man a rhea
compared with just two to five percent of the whole population.
This also ties into body weight and for professional athletes,
emotional stress. Speaking of body weight in general, medical professionals
can overemphasize body weight alone as a cause of physical ailments.

(04:41):
Everyone has their own healthy weight, but whatever healthy looks
like for you, if you're severely under or over that weight,
it can place stress on your organs, which can delay
or prevent menstruation. In most cases, a gradual weight gain
or weight loss will allow the return of a normal cycle.

(05:02):
It's critical to avoid doing that rapidly, as that can
place further strain on your body. This is definitely a
good reason to consult with the healthcare professional to discuss
your particular needs. They can help you avoid fad diets
in favor of a variety and balance of foods that's
right for you. In some cases, elate or missed periods

(05:25):
can also be the result of more complicated or serious
medical conditions. These can include everything from polycystic ovarian syndrome,
thyroid disease, petuitary disease, a peituitary tumor sexually transmitted infections,
other infections, or even diabetes, liver ailments, or irritable bowel syndrome.

(05:46):
So if you've ruled out everything else or are experiencing
other symptoms, definitely talk to a health care provider. Just
remember that there are lots of normal things, like some
methods of birth control, other medications like into depressants and
perimenopause that can mess with your cycle, And of course
you might actually be pregnant, but a quick, cheap home

(06:09):
pregnancy test can rule that one out. Today's episode is
based on the article five common reasons for a late
period on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Brion O'Connor.
Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks
dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more

(06:29):
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