While the odd bout of spotting, heaviness, and ill-timed periods are nothing to fret about, if your periods are constantly erratic or missed altogether, gynecologists at the NYU Langone Medical Center warn that your body is trying to tell you that something isn’t quite right. Causes can range from increased levels of stress to increased levels of exercise intensity.
Here are eight factors that may mess with your regular monthly cycle…
Stress
We blame stress for everything, but it turns out that periods of high stress can affect reproduction, including menstruation. Research from the Ohio State University College of Medicine’s Reproductive Epidemiology department found that women under stress doubled their chances of infertility and irregular menstrual cycles.