What Your Irregular Period Is Telling You About Your Body

Cramps, migraines, mood swings, bloating, achy breasts—is it any wonder why many women often bemoan the onset of their periods?

Hardly, particularly if you fall into the camp of women who have premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), an acute form of PMS that may trigger everything from hot flashes to suicidal ideations.

And yet, just as much dread can be stirred up when you miss the monthly reminder of your reproductive health. Where is your period—and what’s the why behind it?

Erratic periods are commonplace, so much so as many as a quarter of women of “childbearing age” experience menstrual irregularities. Its prevalence, however, doesn’t mitigate the anxiety and confusion it can provoke.

This guide was written to dial down your fears—and provide you with a path forward. Read on for seven reasons why your period may be playing peek-a-boo, and seven ways to get your hormones back in harmony.

What are irregular periods?

Before we dive in, you may be asking, how are irregular periods defined, exactly?

Medically speaking, irregular periods, or oligomenorrhea, are characterized by going 35 days or longer between periods. (A quick reminder here: A “normal” period typically occurs every 21 to 28 days and persists for three to seven days.)

Unlike amenorrhea, which refers to the absence of menstrual bleeding for six months or more, oligomenorrhea suggests a period that still appears—just not, well, on schedule.

“Irregular” can also suggest changes in your period’s heaviness and duration, point to a period that’s accompanied by debilitating pain, or signify breakthrough bleeding. In short? It’s anything that’s outside of the ordinary. And while “normal” may be a bit subjective (we all operate on our own clocks, just as we have our own peculiarities when it comes to our periods), an unpredictable period is more often than not an indication that something is going on with your health—and, as such, ought to be addressed.

What might be behind an irregular period?

Missing your period can certainly be a cause for concern, particularly if you’ve recently had unprotected sex and haven’t exactly penciled a child (or another child) on your list of life’s to-dos.

Occasionally, irregular periods correct themselves—such as regaining your equilibrium after an immensely stressful event, for example—but they also shouldn’t be overlooked. Besides pregnancy, the primary causes of an irregular period come down to:

1. Excessive exercise

You may think you’re doing your body a world of good by increasing your swim-times as you train for a triathlon or hitting the weight room at the gym multiple times per week. And while you might be boosting your strength and endurance, do know that a substantial body of research has noted a link between intensive training and menstrual malfunctions. Indeed, some estimates suggest that as many as sixty percent of female athletes have fickle periods.

All of this may arrive as a surprise, especially if you’ve had first-hand experience with the bevy of benefits that naturally come with exercise, from a brighter mood to an uplift in energy (both of which can counter the less-than-stellar symptoms of PMS).

Why does this happen?

For one, overly strenuous exercise can disrupt the communication route between your hypothalamus (or the part of your brain that governs homeostasis) and your ovaries and pituitary gland, which stimulate ovulation.

What’s more, consistently-vigorous exercise may naturally translate to a reduction in body fat—and adipose tissue synthesizes estrogen. When estrogen levels slip and/or shift, a change in your monthly menstruation can all too easily ensue.

The remedy: Moderate your exercise regimen—and be sure you’re obtaining sufficient calories to fuel your workouts . A missed period here and there might feel like a small price to pay if it means running the Boston Marathon in record time, but irregular periods can also complicate fertility and birth outcomes and impair overall well-being. Further, irregular periods have been linked a host of health issues, with osteoporosis, concernedly, being chief among them.

2. The number of candles on your birthday cake

For countless women, mercurial menstruation may be one of the first signs of perimenopause—or the months and years before the complete cessation of your period.

This, too, is caused by hormonal fluctuations: As your ovaries inch towards resignation, they gradually produce less and less estrogen, which, in turn, impacts ovulation and the rate at which you release eggs. Spotting, skipped periods, lighter or heavier flows—all are hallmarks of reproductive years reaching their end.

The remedy: Trust that irregular periods are a wholly natural part of aging. However, if the other symptoms that routinely go hand-in-hand with perimenopause are negatively affecting the quality of your life, it might be wise to book an appointment with your GP or ND. Whether hormone-induced insomnia is impacting your ability to work, or vaginal dryness is taking a toll on your sex life, your healthcare professional can steer you towards the right set of supplements, hormone replacement therapy, mental health counseling or lifestyle changes.

3. Issues in your reproductive system

Ovarian cysts, polyps, uterine fibroids and any other sort of structural complications in your reproductive system can also be the culprit behind your capricious periods.

Cysts—or fluid-packed sacs that develop inside the ovaries—may cause an excess of estrogen and/or progesterone; as a result, your periods may pop up with less or greater frequency. This hormonal see-saw can also influence ovulation and manifest as a missed period altogether.

Meanwhile, uterine fibroids (which are just as ubiquitous as ovarian cysts) may be benign in the context of cancer but nonetheless spawn a boatload of side effects. Irregular periods are among them. Instead of your period vanishing for a time, however, uterine fibroids often lead to prolonged, heavier-than-normal periods, bleeding between periods, and, as if bleeding alone weren’t enough, severe pain while bleeding. Ditto for uterine, or endometrial, polyps.

The solution: Contact your OBGYN post-haste, particularly if extended, ache-provoking bleeding is accompanied by dizziness, fatigue, and shortness of breath (which may be a sign of anemia). While cysts, polyps, and fibroids are generally harmless and may resolve on their own, some may need to be tracked to ensure they go away and/or don’t cause further complications. (Unchecked polyps, for instance, may contribute to fertility issues.) A physical examination, potentially coupled with an ultrasound and/or blood tests, may help your doctor form a treatment plan.

4. A low BMI

Whether you’ve recently dropped a considerable amount of weight or you naturally tend towards the slender side, you might notice that your periods have become lighter or less frequent—or they’re MIA altogether some months.

Part of this is due to caloric intake: Consuming too little food, or food that doesn’t provide you with the right amount of energy to thrive, can curb estrogen and progesterone production. In fact, some studies indicate that a woman needs a body fat content of 22 percent to menstruate regularly.

Excessive dieting can also, much like excessive exercising, thwart communication paths in your brain. More specifically, low body fat, combined with restricting food, can stress out to the hypothalamus enough that it ceases operating as it should and fails to generate gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), whose job is to trigger the release of estrogen, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)—or a few of the ingredients that control menstruation.

Maintaining too low of a body mass index (BMI) doesn’t just affect your periods, either. It can also spur a handful of health risks, such as:

• Loss of muscle mass
• Osteoporosis
• Decreased immunity
• Heightened sensitivity to cold
• Anemia
• Pregnancy issues and/or infertility

The solution: Land on your ideal weight—and not the “ideal” portrayed in fashion magazines from the 9os, but the number that makes you feel vibrant in every realm of your life (cognitively, psychologically, spiritually and socially). If you feel that your interest in dieting has gone from mild to obsessive—or if you’re naturally thin and want to fill out—speak candidly with your doctor. They may offer nutritional counseling and/or refer to you to a mental health professional (among other possibilities).

5. Weight gain

On the flipside, weight gain can be just as hazardous to the regularity and consistency of your menstrual cycle.

As mentioned, adipose (or fat) tissue manufactures certain estrogens (primarily estrone, or E1). Some data says that this type of tissue can urge the supply of up to 100 percent of circulating estrogen in the body. Translation? Excess body fat can prompt the production of excess estrogen. And while it may seem like an abundance of estrogen may persuade your period to come with greater regularity, the opposite tends to hold true: A surplus of estrogen can actually send ovarian function into disarray and mess with the frequency, duration, length (and more) of menstruation (read: an irregular period).

The solution: Much like the dangers of weighing too little, a high BMI can create a cascade of health complications, including:

• Metabolic issues, such as insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes
• A heightened susceptibility to certain cancers, cardiovascular disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and osteoarthritis (due to the stress excess weight can put on your joints)
• Mental health issues, like low self-confidence, anxiety and depression

To phrase it differently, reaching, and sustaining, a healthy weight is vital to your present and future. This might entail ramping up your workout routine, curtailing your consumption of processed foods (and upping your intake of plant-based eats), working with a nutritionist, or, in some cases, getting to the root of your eating habits with the assistance of a mental health expert.

6. Stress has gotten the best of you

Sure, stress is often an inescapable aspect of life, whether it’s tension in your romantic relationship, a recent promotion and the added responsibilities that come with it, or the excitement of an upcoming event.

Unrelenting stress, though, is a unique animal. Even if you don’t mentally catalogue the pressure you’re experiencing as anxiety or chronic stress (thanks, in part, to the pace at which our modern world works and the fact that stress has, alas, become a “natural” way of being), your body does—including your hormones: Stress triggers the synthesis of cortisol, a stress hormone that’s crucial to immune health, metabolism, and refereeing inflammation.

Expressed in excess, however—which is precisely what occurs when stress goes from acute to chronic—cortisol can do a number on your hormones. To be more precise, it hinders the hypothalamus from encouraging the secretion of the hormones behind menstruating. More or less, the brain gets stuck in flight-or-fight mode and assigns priority to survival over reproduction, which can delay the onset of your period or cause you to miss it completely. Concurrently, stress elevates the production of progesterone, thus disturbing hormonal balance and interfering with the flow you’ve come to know.

The solution: It may sound clichéd, but introducing—and practicing!—stress-busting activities to your life is imperative. Unyielding stress tampers with your cycle, of course, but it’s also been linked to a plethora of health issues, namely:

• Recurring infections and deferred healing (due to stress’s ability to suppress the immune system)
• Difficulty concentrating and making decisions
• Sleep disturbances
• Substance misuse or abuse
• Changes in your sex drive
• Increased risk of hypertension

What’s calming to you may be the antithesis of what’s soothing to your partner. The key? Experimenting with small but powerful practices that allow you to breathe and find serenity, whether it’s rising twenty minutes earlier to savor a cup of coffee in silence or going for a walk in between calls with clients. And if stress is affecting other areas of your life, it might be time to assess your values—and what you can give up in the name of peace.

7. An underlying medical condition

Given that your period is a barometer of your overall wellness, it’s no surprise that an irregular period may easily set off your inner alarm bells.

For a good reason, too: Irregular periods can be a sign that something is amiss. In addition to bleeding and clotting disorders, which may impede menstruation, medical conditions that can cause or contribute to unpredictable periods include:

• PCOS
• Thyroid disorders
• Pelvic inflammatory disorder (PID)
• Alcohol use disorder
• Unmanaged diabetes
• Endometriosis
• Adrenal gland dysfunction
• Congenital heart disease

That is to say, seeing your doctor is of the essence. Not only can they rule out, or treat, a medical condition, but they can also provide you with a route towards health, happiness—and more predictable menstruation.