Can Stress Delay a Period?

The regular signs that made way when the period was on its way, were a no show. Which was odd cause I'd calculated the menses to start in a 2-3 day time frame. And then it slipped out of my mind. Completely out. What with the thesis report I had to submit by the weekend, the shifting into the new flat and the repairing of the old one and more of the same taking up my time. I didn't remember the last time I was so stressed. The periods were still not here, 7 days later. What was going on I wondered. This had never happened before. And then I remembered a vague remark that someone had made in the class about how her periods had been delayed because she had been so stressed. Is it possible? Can stress delay your periods, I thought. In this following article we will try to find an answer to the very important question - Can periods get delayed because of stress.

Effects of Stress on Menstruation Cycle

Can stress delay menstruation? Yes, it can. Many women do not know the adverse effects that stress can have on their overall health, and not merely their menstrual cycle. The way it works is that stress can cause for an imbalance in the chemicals and hormones in the body and thereby lead to varied health problems like pimples, difficulty in conceiving, weight gain, hair loss, sunken eyes (and that's just scratching the surface). So when it comes to stress and irregular menstruation, there is a connection there as well and a rather deep one at that. In the following section we will find out exactly how anxiety and missed period are connected.

The Workings of a Normal Menstrual Cycle
The menstrual cycle is made up of two phases - The follicular phase and the luteal phase. During the first phase of a woman's cycle (the follicular phase - which can vary from woman to woman as well as from cycle to cycle), the FSH (Follicle stimulating hormone) is secreted. This stimulates the production of the eggs and estrogen in the body. The high levels of estrogen causes for the production of the LH (luteinizing hormone) which then prompts the eggs to descend from their follicles in order to be fertilized by the sperm. This is the time that ovulation takes place. The time from which menstruation takes place till the time of the menstrual cycle is called the luteal phase, which is usually marked by a 12-16 day time frame and is the same for most women, unlike the follicular phase which can vary. After the eggs have come out of the follicles, there is a collapse of the follicles and a formation of the 'corpus leteum' takes place which produces progesterone. The progesterone is responsible for preparing the lining of the uterus for implantation. If fertilization does not take place and the corpus luteum does not receive hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), then the lining starts disintegrating because of lack of progesterone and a woman's periods start.

How Stress Causes Delayed Menses
Can stress cause delayed menstruation? It's been established that stress causes delayed menses, so that's a positive to the query can stress delay your period. But how does this come about? The crux of the matter is that stress delays the ovulation process of a woman and thereby automatically leads to a delay in her periods. Let's try and understand this better.

Stress has a direct connection with the production of the hormones in the body. Therefore if a woman is stressed, it can cause for an imbalance in the production of the hormones like estrogen, LH, and hCG. These are important for a menstrual cycle, thus when there is an imbalance and there is lack of the correct levels of the required hormones, it can cause for a delay in the periods. A delayed period usually comes about because a woman experiences stress in the follicular phase of her cycle. Since the follicular phase can vary from woman to woman, it is more likely to be affected by stress. When she experiences stress in this phase of her cycle, it delays the ovulation and therefore the period. But if she experiences stress in the luteal phase, it may not necessarily delay the periods because the ovulation has already taken place.

Can stress delay your period? It definitely can, for reasons that have been mentioned in this article. Stress sends signals to your brain that something is not right and therefore the body does not function normally. Thus there are imbalances and deficiencies and it leads to a varied health problems, irregular periods being just one of them. Here's hoping that you've now understood how stress and menstruation are connected and will do all that is in your hands to be stress free for the sake of your health. It's not always a baby that stops the periods, you see.