Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsLife StagesLifestyle FactorsMedicationsHealth Conditions
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Life Stages
Lifestyle Factors
Medications
Health Conditions
Factors like pregnancy and breastfeeding cause changes inmenstruationthat you anticipate coming. But other things that can affect your period, such asmedicationuse, certain health conditions, and stress, may cause changes that are less expected.Knowing what can affect you period can help you know when a change may just be a natural part of life and when you need to contact your healthcare provider.This article explains how life stages, health, and other issues affect your period.Lewis Mulatero / Getty ImagesLife Stages and MenstruationYour menstruating years can be broken down into stages. At each of these, your periods may change.MenarcheThe onset of menstruation, which typically occurs sometime around 12 years of age, is calledmenarche.During the first year or so of having your period, your body may still be getting into a routine. For example, you might have your first period and then not have another one for a few months.Or, you might have a few periods and skip one a few months down the road.Signs of Period Coming: Patterns Before Bleeding StartsMenstruatingYour period will likely settle into a regular cycle, but it may change with age and, of course, will be interrupted if you become pregnant or breastfeed.PremenopausePremenopauseis a phase that you may enter some time in your 40s. At this stage of your life, your hormones may be shifting, but you won’t necessarily see changes in your monthly cycles.PerimenopausePerimenopausemay begin in your late 40s. This is when your ovaries begin to produce lessestrogenandprogesterone.Fewer eggs are released and the production of monthly uterine lining declines.Eventually, you will cease to release any uterine lining, which means your monthly periods will stop.MenopauseMenopauserefers to the stage of your life in which you have stopped menstruating.If you have not had a period for 12 months, you are considered to be in menopause.Lifestyle FactorsEven while your body is establishing a normal pattern, or well after its developed a regular routine, other things that can affect your period.Being UnderweightIf your body has too little fat, you may experienceamenorrhea, which is when you miss three or more periods in a row.The loss of weight may be due to anunhealthy dietor excess exercise. Eating disorders also put you at high risk for menstrual irregularities and can cause other life-threatening problems.Types of Eating DisordersStressIntensestresscan also affect your period. Both physical and mental stress can cause problems with the production of thegonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH), a hormone that regulates ovulation and menstruation.If you are going through a particularly stressful time, your period may stop or change from its normal pattern. While this usually doesn’t cause long-term period problems, try and reduce your stress if it is affecting your period.If the stress is too much for you to handle on your own or continues for a long time, talk to a therapist or trusted friend or family member.14 Reasons for Why Your Period’s LateMedicationsMedications are a common cause of irregular periods.Some examples of medications that can affect your period include:AntipsychoticsAntidepressantsWeight loss medicationsSteroidsHormonesADHD medicationsIf you’re taking one of these medications and begin to experience irregular periods, talk with your healthcare provider. They may be able to adjust your dose or switch you to a different medication.Health ConditionsPhysical illness can also affect your period. A bad cold or flu may be enough to throw your period off that month. Likewise, a major illness can certainly cause you to skip your period.Make sure you alert your healthcare provider if your period is consistently irregular.Chronic medical conditions can also affect your period.Hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid, can make your period irregular, with cycles being heavier and less frequent.Other conditions that put stress on your body over a long period of time can also cause your period to fluctuate.You might want to talk with your healthcare provider about a condition called a bleeding disorder if you haveheavy menstrual periodsor have ever had problems with the following:Easy bruisingFrequent or prolonged nosebleedsProlonged or heavy bleeding after minor cuts, dental work, childbirth, or surgeryPregnancy LossBleeding after you have a confirmed pregnancy may be a sign of anectopic pregnancy, or you may be miscarrying.If you have had a positive pregnancy test or have reason to believe you’re pregnant and you start bleeding, contact your healthcare provider. If you experience pain or significant blood loss, seek emergency help.The most common bleeding disorder in girls and women (von Willebrand disease) runs in families, so your mother, sister, female cousins, or aunts also might have some of the signs listed above.Other conditions that can affect your period include:Uterine fibroids: Noncancerous tumors that occur within the uterus and cause heavy periodsEndometriosis: A reproductive condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus is found outside of the uterus, causing heavy, painful, orirregular periodsPolycystic ovarian syndrome: A disorder in which multiple cysts appear on the ovaries and cause irregular periods with some people only menstruating several times per year
Factors like pregnancy and breastfeeding cause changes inmenstruationthat you anticipate coming. But other things that can affect your period, such asmedicationuse, certain health conditions, and stress, may cause changes that are less expected.
Knowing what can affect you period can help you know when a change may just be a natural part of life and when you need to contact your healthcare provider.
This article explains how life stages, health, and other issues affect your period.
Lewis Mulatero / Getty Images
Life Stages and Menstruation
Your menstruating years can be broken down into stages. At each of these, your periods may change.
Menarche
The onset of menstruation, which typically occurs sometime around 12 years of age, is calledmenarche.
During the first year or so of having your period, your body may still be getting into a routine. For example, you might have your first period and then not have another one for a few months.
Or, you might have a few periods and skip one a few months down the road.
Signs of Period Coming: Patterns Before Bleeding Starts
Menstruating
Your period will likely settle into a regular cycle, but it may change with age and, of course, will be interrupted if you become pregnant or breastfeed.
Premenopause
Premenopauseis a phase that you may enter some time in your 40s. At this stage of your life, your hormones may be shifting, but you won’t necessarily see changes in your monthly cycles.
Perimenopause
Perimenopausemay begin in your late 40s. This is when your ovaries begin to produce lessestrogenandprogesterone.Fewer eggs are released and the production of monthly uterine lining declines.
Eventually, you will cease to release any uterine lining, which means your monthly periods will stop.
Menopause
Menopauserefers to the stage of your life in which you have stopped menstruating.
If you have not had a period for 12 months, you are considered to be in menopause.
Even while your body is establishing a normal pattern, or well after its developed a regular routine, other things that can affect your period.
Being Underweight
If your body has too little fat, you may experienceamenorrhea, which is when you miss three or more periods in a row.
The loss of weight may be due to anunhealthy dietor excess exercise. Eating disorders also put you at high risk for menstrual irregularities and can cause other life-threatening problems.
Types of Eating Disorders
Stress
Intensestresscan also affect your period. Both physical and mental stress can cause problems with the production of thegonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH), a hormone that regulates ovulation and menstruation.
If you are going through a particularly stressful time, your period may stop or change from its normal pattern. While this usually doesn’t cause long-term period problems, try and reduce your stress if it is affecting your period.
If the stress is too much for you to handle on your own or continues for a long time, talk to a therapist or trusted friend or family member.
14 Reasons for Why Your Period’s Late
Medications are a common cause of irregular periods.Some examples of medications that can affect your period include:
If you’re taking one of these medications and begin to experience irregular periods, talk with your healthcare provider. They may be able to adjust your dose or switch you to a different medication.
Physical illness can also affect your period. A bad cold or flu may be enough to throw your period off that month. Likewise, a major illness can certainly cause you to skip your period.
Make sure you alert your healthcare provider if your period is consistently irregular.
Chronic medical conditions can also affect your period.Hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid, can make your period irregular, with cycles being heavier and less frequent.
Other conditions that put stress on your body over a long period of time can also cause your period to fluctuate.
You might want to talk with your healthcare provider about a condition called a bleeding disorder if you haveheavy menstrual periodsor have ever had problems with the following:
Pregnancy LossBleeding after you have a confirmed pregnancy may be a sign of anectopic pregnancy, or you may be miscarrying.If you have had a positive pregnancy test or have reason to believe you’re pregnant and you start bleeding, contact your healthcare provider. If you experience pain or significant blood loss, seek emergency help.
Pregnancy Loss
Bleeding after you have a confirmed pregnancy may be a sign of anectopic pregnancy, or you may be miscarrying.If you have had a positive pregnancy test or have reason to believe you’re pregnant and you start bleeding, contact your healthcare provider. If you experience pain or significant blood loss, seek emergency help.
Bleeding after you have a confirmed pregnancy may be a sign of anectopic pregnancy, or you may be miscarrying.
If you have had a positive pregnancy test or have reason to believe you’re pregnant and you start bleeding, contact your healthcare provider. If you experience pain or significant blood loss, seek emergency help.
The most common bleeding disorder in girls and women (von Willebrand disease) runs in families, so your mother, sister, female cousins, or aunts also might have some of the signs listed above.
Other conditions that can affect your period include:
9 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health. GirlsHealth.gov.Getting your period.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health.Menopause.National Institute on Aging.What is menopause?Huhmann K.Menses requires energy: a review of how disordered eating, excessive exercise, and high stress lead to menstrual irregularities.Clinical Therapeutics. 2020;42(3):401-407. doi: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2020.01.016Bae J, Park S, Kwon JW.Factors associated with menstrual cycle irregularity and menopause.BMC Womens Health. 2018 Feb;18(1):36. doi:10.1186/s12905-018-0528-xYum SK, Yum SY, Kim T.The problem of medicating women like the men: conceptual discussion of menstrual cycle-dependent psychopharmacology.Transl Clin Pharmacol. 2019;27(4):127. doi:10.12793%2Ftcp.2019.27.4.127U.S. Department of Health and Human Service: Office on Women’s Health.Period problems.American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.Ectopic Pregnancy.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health.Bleeding disorders.
9 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health. GirlsHealth.gov.Getting your period.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health.Menopause.National Institute on Aging.What is menopause?Huhmann K.Menses requires energy: a review of how disordered eating, excessive exercise, and high stress lead to menstrual irregularities.Clinical Therapeutics. 2020;42(3):401-407. doi: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2020.01.016Bae J, Park S, Kwon JW.Factors associated with menstrual cycle irregularity and menopause.BMC Womens Health. 2018 Feb;18(1):36. doi:10.1186/s12905-018-0528-xYum SK, Yum SY, Kim T.The problem of medicating women like the men: conceptual discussion of menstrual cycle-dependent psychopharmacology.Transl Clin Pharmacol. 2019;27(4):127. doi:10.12793%2Ftcp.2019.27.4.127U.S. Department of Health and Human Service: Office on Women’s Health.Period problems.American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.Ectopic Pregnancy.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health.Bleeding disorders.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health. GirlsHealth.gov.Getting your period.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health.Menopause.National Institute on Aging.What is menopause?Huhmann K.Menses requires energy: a review of how disordered eating, excessive exercise, and high stress lead to menstrual irregularities.Clinical Therapeutics. 2020;42(3):401-407. doi: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2020.01.016Bae J, Park S, Kwon JW.Factors associated with menstrual cycle irregularity and menopause.BMC Womens Health. 2018 Feb;18(1):36. doi:10.1186/s12905-018-0528-xYum SK, Yum SY, Kim T.The problem of medicating women like the men: conceptual discussion of menstrual cycle-dependent psychopharmacology.Transl Clin Pharmacol. 2019;27(4):127. doi:10.12793%2Ftcp.2019.27.4.127U.S. Department of Health and Human Service: Office on Women’s Health.Period problems.American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.Ectopic Pregnancy.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health.Bleeding disorders.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health. GirlsHealth.gov.Getting your period.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health.Menopause.
National Institute on Aging.What is menopause?
Huhmann K.Menses requires energy: a review of how disordered eating, excessive exercise, and high stress lead to menstrual irregularities.Clinical Therapeutics. 2020;42(3):401-407. doi: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2020.01.016
Bae J, Park S, Kwon JW.Factors associated with menstrual cycle irregularity and menopause.BMC Womens Health. 2018 Feb;18(1):36. doi:10.1186/s12905-018-0528-x
Yum SK, Yum SY, Kim T.The problem of medicating women like the men: conceptual discussion of menstrual cycle-dependent psychopharmacology.Transl Clin Pharmacol. 2019;27(4):127. doi:10.12793%2Ftcp.2019.27.4.127
U.S. Department of Health and Human Service: Office on Women’s Health.Period problems.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.Ectopic Pregnancy.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office on Women’s Health.Bleeding disorders.
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