Missed Period?
Find Out The Most
Common Reasons
For Missing Your Period
If you are trying to get pregnant, it could be a nervous time, one that you are anticipating, you are probably hoping and praying your period doesn't come!
Likewise, if you aren't intending on getting pregnant you could be praying your periods come!
So what could be the cause of your period being late? There are more reasons than pregnancy... so don't panic yet if you are in the latter category with a missed period!
Check out this video about the menstrual cycle:
Reasons Your Period Could Be Late
The following are the most common reasons that women have a missed period:
- The most obvious is - pregnancy! If your period is late, and you are sexually active, there is always the chance you could be pregnant. The best thing you can do at this stage is to take a pregnancy test (if you haven't already!).If the test comes back negative, there's a good chance you aren't pregnant, so than you can move along to one of the other most common reasons for a missed period.
Just remember though, if you still haven't gotten your period for a week after testing, re-test! Your missed period could come down to your test not being accurate, or not registering enough of the pregnancy hormone the first time around to show a positive.
- Do you know when you ovulated? You could be mis-calculating when your periods are due. Don't think your cycle should come every 28 days. This is just an average. Everybody is different. What you need to go by is when you ovulated.
Typically your periods come 2 weeks after you ovulate. So for some women, just they didn't ovulate until day 18 of their cycle, than they might not get their period until 32 days after the first day of their last period.
- Are you stressed lately? Believe it or not, but stress can make your period run really late!
Stress actually impacts your hormones, and particularly affects the hormone GnRH by decreasing it so that it not only causes you to not menstruate, but can also interrupt ovulation (which is critical for pregnancy to occur). Try to develop techniques to relax, like exercising or doing a hobby you enjoy.
- Are you sick? Have you been really sick? Your periods could be delayed if you have been sick or experienced some illness
- Is your body clock out? Have you been following a different schedule to what you normally do? Perhaps you have been working night shifts and you normally work a day shift?
By altering your normal body patterns you can alter your body clock. So if you are constantly chopping and changing your routine it might be a good idea to find a way to stick with one pattern to give your body some rhythm.
- Has your body weight changed? Have you lost weight? Maybe you have gained weight? A shift in your body fat ratio can be enough to disturb your typical period patterns causing you to have a missed period.
If you are underweight you could be experiencing amenorrhea, which is when your periods completely stop. If you can put on weight to go back to your ideal body weight range than you will most likely overcome this problem. Likewise, if you are overweight your periods can also stop, but again, losing weight to be in your healthy weight range can usually resolve this problem.
- If you are an older woman, have you considered the possibility that you may be entering menopause? Menopause usually occurs once all your eggs are used up or if you have gotten a hysterectomy operation, or for some, even if they have undergone cancer treatment.
If you haven't quite reached menopause you may find your periods are erratic - they could be light one month, really heavy the next and may not even follow a certain schedule. Just remember if you are still getting your periods, no matter what age you are, you could still become pregnant, even though your fertility diminishes as you get older.
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