While the odd bout of spotting, heaviness, and ill-timed periods are nothing to fret about. However, 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–with causes ranging from levels of stress to levels of exercise intensity.
Here are eight factors that mess with your regular monthly cycle…
1. 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.
