Tag: period health

Stress is bad news, period. It can affect the menstrual cycle, and just about every other bodily process. In this article we’ll cover exactly what stress is, the science behind it, how it can impact our periods, and some top tips for managing it. Quick facts: What is stress? Stress is defined as a state of worry caused by a difficult situation. It’s always been a part of human life and is a fundamental element for our survival.  Stress is a natural part of life and impacts us almost daily. Whilst a small amount of stress can actually be good for us (believe it or not), chronic stress and burnout can end up negatively impacting almost all of our body’s processes—including our menstrual cycles. The bodily changes you feel when you’re stressed are akin to what your ancestors felt when they were running away from life-threatening predators. Except, nowadays, predators take on the shapes of boardrooms, bosses and bills. Stress is classed as a state of ‘disharmony’, disrupting the carefully coordinated balance that your body is consistently fine-tuning. Usually, your body’s reaction to stress is temporary and it’s able to revert to its previous state.   However, it’s increasingly common to be exposed to prolonged periods of stress or several different, unresolved stressors, which cannot be adapted to—resulting in chronic stress. This can feel never-ending and all-encompassing, impacting both our mental and physical health.  This is the type of stress linked to depression, fertility issues and other health problems. The science behind stress The body’s reaction to stress is coordinated by something called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis). The hypothalamus, in the brain, helps encourage the production of hormones like cortisol aka stress hormone (1). These kickstart the body’s stress response and divert the brain’s attention away from other processes, like coordinating your reproductive system. When we are chronically stressed, our cortisol remains constantly high. This can put us in a constant state of ‘fight or flight’, leading to the body being unable to adequately support other bodily functions. What is a ‘normal’ period? To understand how stress may affect your menstrual cycle, it’s important to understand what a ‘normal’ or average cycle looks like. A ‘normal cycle’ can last anywhere from 21 to 35 days, depending on the individual.   A one-off longer or shorter cycle is still considered normal, but if yours are consistently irregular, it’s worth getting checked out as they could be caused by an underlying health condition, such as PCOS. Can stress affect your period? Stress can affect your period in many different ways. This is because your menstrual cycle and your body’s response to stress are both coordinated by the same part of the brain—the hypothalamus. If you have high cortisol it can disrupt the hypothalamus, disrupting the production of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH).  GnRH controls the production and regulation of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising hormone (LH), two hormones incredibly important for the regulation of the menstrual cycle.  If FSH and LH become disrupted, you’re likely to experience disruptions to ovulation and menstrual cycle regularity. This can also disrupt sexual desire and arousal. One study found that women experiencing high levels of stress showed lower levels of sexual desire, linked to elevated cortisol levels. Can stress delay your period? Elevated cortisol levels as a result of stress can effectively delay ovulation by blocking the release of LH. Without a surge in LH, you won’t ovulate. This can make your cycles longer and potentially heavier. On the flip side, high levels of stress are also associated with shorter cycles. Can stress stop your period? In situations of chronic stress, ovulation can be prevented for long periods of time (known as chronic anovulation), stopping your period altogether. This can be due to psychological stress but also periods of intense exercise or eating disorders. Missing periods due to stress is called functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea. How do I know if stress is the cause of my menstrual cycle changes? Without the analysis of a medical professional or hormone test, it’s not possible to know for certain that stress is the cause of your menstrual cycle changes.  Lifestyle factors often work in tandem. Changes to your cycle may be because of a handful of interacting factors. That being said, there are steps you can take to get a better idea of whether stress could be behind your period irregularities.  Tracking your periods and symptoms, either with a period tracking app or just using a calendar or diary can help you understand if stress is linked to your cycle. Make a note of how irregular or regular your periods are and any symptoms like pain, acne and how you’re feeling emotionally, including stress.  You can also take our Online Health Assessment. Our assessment analyses your biometrics, medical history, periods and lifestyle factors, to calculate your risk profile and help determine the cause of your symptoms. By looking at the pattern between your menstrual cycle and stress levels, you should be able to spot if there’s any obvious link. Even if they aren’t linked, just being able to rule out stress as the cause of your period troubles is helpful—you’ll then at least know to direct your attention elsewhere. If you are under stress consistently, it may be difficult to pinpoint that this is what’s causing your irregular cycles. The best way to establish what is going on with your cycles is to look at your hormone health – you can do this using our tailored at-home advanced hormone and fertility test. By looking at hormones such as testosterone and thyroid-stimulating hormone, we can eliminate other things which can affect your cycle, such as PCOS or abnormal thyroid function. How can we manage stress? Although experiencing stress might not feel great in the moment, it does serve an important purpose and actually, in small doses, it’s a powerful motivator, helping us to work harder and achieve our goals.  Although our modern-day stressors might not be as dangerous as the threats facing our ancestors, they do still […]

Your menstrual cycle is the full sequence of hormonal and physical changes your body runs from the first day of one period to the first day of the next, not just the days you bleed. Your period is simply the part you can see. Getting to know it is one of the most useful things you can do for your health: it helps you make sense of your periods, spot your own patterns, and notice when something’s changed. And yet most of us were taught remarkably little. Hertility’s own peer-reviewed study of 383,085 UK women found that more than one in five didn’t know their cycle length, rising to one in three of those under 25. We really think that needs to change. Here’s exactly what happens between one period and the next: the phases, the hormones behind them, when ovulation happens, and what counts as normal. Quick facts: What is the menstrual cycle? First things first: your period and your menstrual cycle aren’t the same thing. The menstrual cycle is the series of hormonal and physical changes that happen from the first day of one period to the first day of the next.  So, if your period starts on 1 June and your next one starts on 29 June, you had a 28-day menstrual cycle. The first day you have a full bleed is day 1, spotting doesn’t count. Then you count each day until your next period begins. Underneath, two processes run in tandem. The ovarian cycle is what’s happening in your ovaries  – follicles develop, an egg may be released at ovulation, and the ovary then prepares for a possible pregnancy. The uterine cycle is what’s happening to your endometrium (your womb lining) – it sheds during your periodand grows back in preparation for an embryo to implant.  Both are carefully regulated by four cycling hormones – oestrogen, progesterone, luteinising hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and, as you’ll see, they map neatly onto each other. It sounds complex, but it’s far easier to follow phase by phase. How long is a normal menstrual cycle length? Thinking that every menstrual cycle is 28 days can be misleading for many women. For adults, a cycle of roughly 21-35 days is within the expected range, so 28 days can be perfectly normal, but so can 24, or 31. In fact, a study examining over 600,000 cycles found that only 13% of cycles in the study group were 28-days long – 29.3 days was the average.  Rather than expecting your to body fit a textbook number, it’s far more useful to know what’s usual for you. Further, a little month-to-month variation is common. Illness, stress, changes in exercise, energy intake and weight, and different life stages can all make it a little longer or shorter than expected. A ‘regular’ cycle doesn’t mean your period lands on the same date every month, just that it tends to follow a reasonably predictable pattern. And there’s a real difference between feeling regular and actually knowing your numbers: in Hertility’s research, nearly 5% of women who described their cycles as regular and gave a cycle length were, in fact, reporting one outside the 21-35-day range. Which is exactly why knowing your actual figures beats a vague ‘regular’ or ‘irregular’. What counts as an irregular menstrual cycle? For most adults, cycles that are repeatedly shorter than 21 days or longer than 35 are generally considered irregular, but the numbers aren’t the whole story. If your periods always come every 27-30 days and suddenly start arriving every 40, that change is useful information to know. Plenty of things can influence your cycle, and an irregular period doesn’t automatically mean something’s wrong. Common reasons include the first few years after periods begin (most women’s menstrual cycles don’t regulate until they are ~25 years old) , pregnancy, breastfeeding, perimenopause and hormonal contraception, as well as stress, major changes in weight or energy intake, and intensive exercise. Underlying causes include thyroid conditions, raised prolactin and PMOS, along with some medications. If your periods suddenly become irregular, stay that way for several cycles, or come with other symptoms, it’s worth understanding why. If irregular periods, missing periods or symptoms that don’t quite add up sound familiar, our Online Health Assessment is a good first step towards understanding what’s going on. How long should a period last? A period usually lasts 2-7 days, with 5 to 6 days being most common. Some people naturally have short, light periods; others bleed for longer or more heavily, and flow is often heavier on some days than others. There’s no single pattern everyone has to match, what’s useful is knowing what’s normal for you, so a sudden change stands out. What is a normal amount of bleeding during my period? Rather than chasing an exact millilitre figure, the more useful question is simpler: is your bleeding getting in the way of your life? Signs your periods may be heavy include: Heavy periods can also lead to iron-deficiency anaemia, which may leave you unusually tired, dizzy or short of breath. NICE defines heavy menstrual bleeding by its impact on your quality of life rather than a strict volume, so if it’s disrupting your everyday life, that alone is reason enough to get it checked. You don’t have to just cope. What are the phases of the menstrual cycle? The cycle is usually described in four stages, though they overlap rather than switching cleanly: Biologically, there’s a little overlap between these phases. For example, your period actually happens during the beginning of the follicular phase. But thinking about the cycle in four stages is a useful way to picture what’s happening. The follicular phase: from your period to ovulation The follicular phase starts on the first day of your period and ends when you ovulate. For most people, this phase lasts about 10-22 days, but this can vary. At the start of a new cycle, oestrogen and progesterone are low, so the brain releases gonadotrophin-releasing […]