Danish company
All women have at least once experienced an episode where menstruation was delayed. Thoughts that something is wrong immediately come to mind, as does the thought of pregnancy, which is the most common cause of menstrual disturbances. However, the body can also lose its hormonal balance for other reasons that you may not have considered, e.g. intensive sports, sudden weight loss or stress. All these factors can lead to delayed periods.
Menstruation occurs every month and periods can vary from 3 to 7 days, so a woman usually has between 11 and 13 periods per year, depending on how long her menstrual cycle lasts. The calculations can be changed when menstrual disturbances occur.
In this article, you can find information about delayed or missed periods, medically known as amenorrhea, how to calculate your menstrual cycle, and what to do if you experience this problem.
Main causes of delayed menstruation
Pregnancy
Pregnancy is the most common and common reason for a woman to experience delayed periods. In sexually active people, the cycle usually stops abruptly when the egg is fertilized. If you don't know you have other health problems, the easiest way to solve the mystery is to get a pregnancy test.
Breastfeeding
Women who have become mothers will experience menstrual disturbances for a long time. Your cycle will gradually return, but while breastfeeding, your period may be delayed.
Sudden weight loss or weight gain
A drastic diet will affect your body's function, and this can show in your period. If you lose weight suddenly and suddenly in a short period of time, you may experience delayed periods. The same applies to rapid weight gain. Both being underweight and overweight change the hormone levels in your body – a possible cause of menstrual cycle disorders.
Intensive sports or strenuous physical activity
Women who play competitive sports have this problem and often their periods are delayed. So if you've been going to the gym more than usual, if you've been physically overworked and your period hasn't come on time, this could be a reason. The explanation is simple: If you overtrain, i.e. working too much for several hours in a row, your body will try to prevent ovulation, estrogen secretion and menstruation.
Stress
We live in a time of stress, a phenomenon that occurs everywhere, even when we are not aware of it. Greater stress has an extremely aggressive effect on the body, and this can be seen in menstrual cycle disorders because it affects the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for hormone activity.
Contraceptives or other medicines
If you have been taking birth control pills for a while and have recently stopped taking them, you may experience delayed periods. Your cycle will adjust over time as your body resumes its ovulation process again. Hormonal disturbances can also occur if you take certain medicines.
Menopause and premenopause
We generally wonder why women are nervous about menstruation. The answer is related to PMS, the disorder you can experience before menstruation, which manifests itself in different symptoms and conditions. As you approach menopause, ie. going through the premenopausal period, your body changes, your estrogen levels continue to drop and ovulation becomes more and more irregular. Menstrual symptoms gradually disappear and are replaced by menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes or constant fatigue. During the premenopausal period, your period may be quite late and your menstrual cycle may be completely irregular.
How is the menstrual cycle calculated?
It is important to know the date of your last period and to calculate the length of your menstrual cycle. It is the number of days from the start of your period to the start of the next period. The average is 28 days between periods, but it can vary between 21 and 35 days. You can say you are overdue if 5-7 days have passed since your calculated due date. What should you do if you notice disturbances in the menstrual cycle, regardless of whether you have identified one of the above reasons, which are the most common causes of this type of problem? Contact a doctor, be it your GP, gynecologist or endocrinologist, who can tell you what to do.
