Stress affects everyone – especially in the hustle culture that is praised today. But our health is taking a hit from the chronic stress we are under. When we are constantly in “fight or flight mode” our body isn’t able to focus on other important functions like digestion, resting & recovering. For women stress is uniquely hard on our reproductive hormones.

Here’s what you need to know about how stress affects your menstrual cycle:

Messes With Blood SugarÂ

Stress causes your body to pump out cortisol which disrupts your blood sugar. If you follow me on instagram you know I talk a lot about the important of blood sugar balance. Blood sugar balance is directly tied with our hormones. You cannot have balanced hormones if your blood sugar is out of whack. Improving your blood sugar can help you to balance your hormones and heal period problems.

Lowers Progesterone

Cortisol and progesterone have a synergistic relationship. When there is an overabundance of cortisol in the body, progesterone levels will drop. That is because the body uses progesterone to make cortisol. So when you are constantly stressed your progesterone hormone suffers. Low progesterone leads to menstrual migraines, changes in mood and irregularity in your menstrual cycle. On top of that, without progesterone to complement it, estrogen may become the dominant hormone. This may cause symptoms including: weight gain, decreased sex drive, pms, irregular periods, heavy bleeding, breast tenderness, fibroids, and gallbladder problems.Â

Causes Vitamin & Mineral Deficiencies

Excess cortisol from stress depletes the body of essential vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients. B vitamins, magnesium and omega 3 fatty acids are especially susceptible to stress – and are all important when it comes to calming your adrenals and supporting your endocrine system. Zinc is also depleted which increases inflammation and risk of illness.

Disrupts Your Gut

Stress can impact the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut - and a healthy gut is critically important for any woman who wants to balance hormones. This because the gut flora, and specifically a colony of bacteria called the estroblome, help process and eliminate excess hormones from the body – especially estrogen. Estrogen dominance occurs when we have too much estrogen in the body and is relative to our other sex hormones, such as having too little progesterone to balance it out. Estrogen dominance can affect a woman’s body in many ways, including heavy/painful periods, PMS, headaches, decreased sex drive, bloating, mood swings, fatigue, anxiety & depression, breast tenderness, endometriosis, fibroids, and hormonal weight gain.

Delays Ovulation

If you experience stress around the time you typically ovulate, the increased levels of cortisol can delay or even prevent ovulation. By stopping ovulation, your body is trying to preserve energy to deal with the stress before conception takes place – our bodies are smart and if it feels like it isn’t an ideal environment to carry a baby your body will delay it happening. Note: this is important even if you aren’t trying to have a baby.Â

Impacts Period Timing & Can Cause It To Go Missing

Stress after you ovulate can throw your hormones off balance. If you experience a high level of stress after you ovulate, you may experience spotting, an early period, or a period that looks or feels different than your norm in terms of  consistency, color, length, or symptoms like cramping. Alternatively, it may also delay your period. Intense stress can cause anovulatory cycles, or months when you don’t ovulate at all. This means no period, or a small bit of ‘breakthrough’ bleeding (which isn’t a real period, but rather your uterus still needing to shed its lining). This is common with women who overexercise or who don’t have enough body fat – both of these things put extreme stress on your body.Â


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