What Can Stop Your Period? 4 Everyday Causes

What Can Stop Your Period

What can stop your period? There are a few known factors that can wreak havoc on your cycle with birth control and pregnancy being the most commonly known. However, there are a variety of other culprits to blame as well.

Understanding what can stop your period will help you know what is happening in your body. From stress to infection, having an absent period, also termed amenorrhea, can be a sign of something more serious.

“Women who have missed at least three menstrual periods in a row have amenorrhea, as do girls who haven’t begun menstruation by age 15,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

Symptoms to look for concerning what can stop your period include:

  • Milky discharge from nipples
  • Deeper voice
  • Hair loss
  • Headache
  • Vision problems
  • Facial hair
  • Pelvic pain
  • Adult Acne
  • Weight gain or weight loss

Pay more attention to your cycles and get a better overview of your health. The following will help you understand what can stop your period.

1. Survival Response is What Can Stop Your Period

Survival response is what can stop your period. Stress messing with your cycle is nothing new. However, it normally takes one big stressful event to impact your menstrual cycle.

“Mental stress can temporarily alter the functioning of your hypothalamus — an area of your brain that controls the hormones that regulate your menstrual cycle,” according to the Mayo Clinic. “Ovulation and menstruation may stop as a result. Regular menstrual periods usually resume after your stress decreases.”

Loss of a job, divorce, illness, or death in the family can be amenorrhea triggers. This may be an evolutionary response women still possess. Survival mechanisms may stop your body from ovulating in order to prevent reproduction in a threatening situation.

What Can Stop Your Period? 4 Everyday Causes

2. Do You Work the Night Shift?

Working the night shift is what can stop your period, or alter your cycle in abnormal ways. This could lead to infertility issues and risk for miscarriages among women as well.

Research presented at the 2013 annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology found that women who work evenings and nights had a 33 percent increased risk of menstrual cycle issues.

“Women who work irregular shifts or nights may engage in any number of behaviors that could be influencing their reproductive outcomes,” according to The Huffington Post. “For example, working odd hours is often linked to sleep loss, decreased exercise and poorer diet.”

What Can Stop Your Period? 4 Everyday Causes

3. Exercise is What Can Stop Your Period

Excessive exercise is what can stop your period, especially if you’re an athlete. If you work out for hours on end daily, and you are having period problems, talk to a doctor about athletic amenorrhea.

One reason why exercise is wreaking havoc on your menstrual cycle is a lack of body fat. If your body fat decreases to a very low amount, your ovulation may completely cease.

According to a study published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (2011), “Exercise may elicit intermittent or chronic metabolic stress due to increased energy expenditure and/or insufficient or imbalanced nutrient intake. In addition, athletic activities are motivated by or serve as psychogenic stressors.”

Athletic amenorrhea could cause issues if you are planning pregnancy or having infertility issues as well.

“Ovulatory dysfunction can result in difficulty conceiving,” the 2011 study also notes. “In addition, estrogen deficiency may increase a woman’s long-term risk for osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, dementia, depression, and other neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders.”

What Can Stop Your Period? 4 Everyday Causes

4. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is What Can Stop Your Period

If your menstrual cycle is unpredictable with no periods, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is what can stop your period. And PCOS affects around 10 percent of women who are in the childbearing range.

This women’s health issue that blocks ovulation is the result of a hormone imbalance when your body produces too much testosterone. PCOS is also the most common cause of infertility in women, according to Womenshealth.gov.

There is no cure for PCOS, but there are things you can do to decrease or eliminate symptoms. “Fertility treatments are available to help women get pregnant,” according to PCOS Awareness Association.

“Losing as little as 5% excess weight can help women ovulate more regularly and lessen other PCOS symptoms. The ideal way to do this is through nutrition and exercise.”

Get the Facts About What Can Stop Your Period

If you’re having period problems, it is vital to understand what can stop your period. There are a variety of medical issues like infertility and miscarriage, that can result from amenorrhea, an absent period.

Knowing what is affecting your reproductive system is an important part of your health, wellness, and happiness. Do you have questions about what can stop your period? Talk to a doctor online and get secured answers fast.

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