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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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Speaker 1: Lauren Bogelbaum Here to the uninformed, a missed period can

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Speaker 1: only mean one thing, You're pregnant, But in reality, there

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Speaker 1: are numerous reasons why your period might be late or missing. Altogether,

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Speaker 1: the menstrual cycle is closely tied to your overall well being.

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Speaker 1: Every Body is different, so every cycle works a little differently.

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Speaker 1: The typical cycle is twenty eight days long, with three

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Speaker 1: to five days of period bleeding, but anything from a

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Speaker 1: cycle of twenty one to thirty five days is considered normal.

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Speaker 1: And your period might be a couple days longer, shorter,

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Speaker 1: and again that's just normal variation. And no, it's not

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Speaker 1: literally tied to the cycle of the moon. We're not

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Speaker 1: wear wolves, or at least not most of us. But

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Speaker 1: if your body is out of balance, that can affect

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Speaker 1: the timing of your period or prevent it entirely. The

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Speaker 1: medical term for absent menstruation is amenorrhea. Primary emenoriea refers

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Speaker 1: to late onset of menstruation or not having started menstruation

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Speaker 1: by the age of sixteen. However, the condition is quite rare,

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Speaker 1: affecting less than one percent of the population. By the way,

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Speaker 1: it's also very common for people to miss periods during

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Speaker 1: the first couple years that they start menstruating because their

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Speaker 1: bodies haven't settled into a normal cycle yet. A secondary

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Speaker 1: amenoriea is more what we're talking about today. It's when

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Speaker 1: you've begun menstruating but later stop four to three or

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Speaker 1: more cycles. This affects about four percent of the population

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Speaker 1: and can be caused by a host of factors, though

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Speaker 1: most involve heightened stress, whether physical, mental, or emotional. That's

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Speaker 1: because stress can prevent your body from ovulating, that is,

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Speaker 1: releasing an egg, which is the precur search to menstruation

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Speaker 1: and occurs about fourteen to sixteen days before most periods.

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Speaker 1: A stress is a silent menace. It's the primary cause

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Speaker 1: of lots of physical ailments. Emotional stress is a particularly

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Speaker 1: common cause of late or misted periods in teenagers and

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Speaker 1: can affect adults as well. That's because emotional or mental

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Speaker 1: anxiety can negatively affect the hypothalamus, which is the part

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Speaker 1: of the brain that regulates hormones. It controls the creation

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Speaker 1: of the gnatotropin releasing hormone, which in turn signals the

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Speaker 1: pituitary gland to secrete the hormones that cause both ovulation

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Speaker 1: and menstruation. So if your hypothalamus is impaired by stress,

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Speaker 1: there's a distinct possibility that your system won't release an

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Speaker 1: EG and won't build up your uterine lining, so there

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Speaker 1: will be nothing for you to menstruate, meaning you'll miss

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Speaker 1: your period. A stress can include factors like travel and

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Speaker 1: other changes to your daily routine like getting a new job.

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Speaker 1: Anything that disrupts your usual sleeping and eating schedules can

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Speaker 1: potentially affect your period. Obviously, some stress is normal, that's life,

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Speaker 1: but being mindful of how it affects you personally that,

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Speaker 1: since everyone processes stress differently, is the key to getting

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Speaker 1: a handle on it. If you miss periods but they

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Speaker 1: return once some anxious situation passes, make a note of it,

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Speaker 1: then look into ways to manage your stress. Obviously, this

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Speaker 1: is a personal and complicated matter, and you might want

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Speaker 1: to talk with the healthcare professional about it, but common

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Speaker 1: solutions include exercise in general, breath focused exercise like yoga

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Speaker 1: in particular, meditation, mindfulness practices, talk therapy or psychiatric medications.

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Speaker 1: And Okay, I know I just said that exercise is good,

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Speaker 1: but there is such thing as too much exercise. The

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Speaker 1: physical stress that you put your body under during particular

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Speaker 1: long or intense exercise sessions can cause your body to

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Speaker 1: sort of reallocate resources to prevent injury, sort of like

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Speaker 1: on Star Trek when they divert power to the shields.

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Speaker 1: After all, your period isn't technically a necessary function. As

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Speaker 1: many as forty four percent of women and other people

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Speaker 1: who menstruate who exercise vigorously experience a man a rhea

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Speaker 1: compared with just two to five percent of the whole population.

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Speaker 1: This also ties into body weight and for professional athletes,

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Speaker 1: emotional stress. Speaking of body weight in general, medical professionals

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Speaker 1: can overemphasize body weight alone as a cause of physical ailments.

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Speaker 1: Everyone has their own healthy weight, but whatever healthy looks

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Speaker 1: like for you, if you're severely under or over that weight,

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Speaker 1: it can place stress on your organs, which can delay

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Speaker 1: or prevent menstruation. In most cases, a gradual weight gain

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Speaker 1: or weight loss will allow the return of a normal cycle.

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Speaker 1: It's critical to avoid doing that rapidly, as that can

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Speaker 1: place further strain on your body. This is definitely a

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Speaker 1: good reason to consult with the healthcare professional to discuss

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Speaker 1: your particular needs. They can help you avoid fad diets

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Speaker 1: in favor of a variety and balance of foods that's

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Speaker 1: right for you. In some cases, elate or missed periods

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Speaker 1: can also be the result of more complicated or serious

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Speaker 1: medical conditions. These can include everything from polycystic ovarian syndrome,

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Speaker 1: thyroid disease, petuitary disease, a peituitary tumor sexually transmitted infections,

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Speaker 1: other infections, or even diabetes, liver ailments, or irritable bowel syndrome.

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Speaker 1: So if you've ruled out everything else or are experiencing

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Speaker 1: other symptoms, definitely talk to a health care provider. Just

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Speaker 1: remember that there are lots of normal things, like some

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Speaker 1: methods of birth control, other medications like into depressants and

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Speaker 1: perimenopause that can mess with your cycle, And of course

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Speaker 1: you might actually be pregnant, but a quick, cheap home

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Speaker 1: pregnancy test can rule that one out. Today's episode is

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Speaker 1: based on the article five common reasons for a late

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Speaker 1: period on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Brion O'Connor.

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Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks

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Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more

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Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,

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