The menstrual cycle, which is also known as a period, is the monthly process by which a woman's body prepares for pregnancy. Women and girls can experience occasional problems with the menstrual cycle. However, recurrent delays or a lengthy delay of your period can indicate extreme eating or exercising behaviors that disrupt the natural function of your body.
Menstrual Cycle
The average menstrual cycle for most women and girls lasts 28 days, although a healthy adult cycle can last 21 to 45 days and a healthy teen's cycle can range from 21 to 35 days. A cycle begins on the first day of your period and lasts until the first day of your next period.
Your hormone levels rise and fall during your cycle. During the cycle, the lining of your uterus thickens, eggs began to mature in your ovaries and ovulation occurs as the egg leaves the ovary and travels to the uterus. The shedding of the uterine lining, or your menstrual period, normally lasts three to five days.
Problems
Amenorrhea is the term used when your menstrual cycle has not begun by the appropriate time or it has stopped. Women may also develop oligomenorrhea, which refers to having occasional or infrequent periods. While amenorrhea can indicate a medical condition, such as hormone problems, or psychological stress, it can also result from excessive exercise or weight loss resulting from an eating disorder.
Extreme Exercise
Compulsive exercise, also known as anorexia athletic and obligatory exercise, can result in the delay of your period or the stopping of your menstrual cycle. People who exercise compulsively do so in excess of that required for health and fitness. Girls who engage in compulsive exercise can alter their body's balance of hormones and cause changes in the menstrual cycle, including loss of periods.
Weight Loss
Extreme weight loss is known as anorexia nervosa and occurs mostly with teenage girls, but also occurs less frequently with adult women, as well as boys and men. People with anorexia nervosa are obsessed with preventing weight gain and often see themselves as fat even though they are thin. Anorexia usually causes periods to stop.
Dangers
Regular menstrual cycles generate chemicals that are important to the healthy functioning of your body. Estrogen, which is the hormone that causes the lining of your uterus to thicken, helps your body to build strong bones and maintain bone health as you age. Estrogen helps decrease your risk for osteoporosis, or premature bone loss. The loss or delay of your period due to extreme exercise and weight loss could accompany more serious side effects, such as damage to your heart and muscles.
Tips and Warnings
Talk to your doctor about mental health resources to help with compulsive exercise or anorexia nervosa. WomensHealth.gov recommends that you see your doctor if your period is delayed for more than 90 days, if your period occurs less frequently than every 35 days, if menstruation has not started by the age of 15 or within three years after the start of breast growth or if your normally regular menstrual cycle becomes irregular.
Member Comments