Things To Know About Irregular Periods As You Age
If you have always had normal, regular periods, it might be disturbing to you if you start experiencing irregularities with your cycles. While this can be frustrating, it is also quite normal for women as they age. If you are currently struggling with irregular periods, here are several things you should know.
You should track your periods
If you want to know how off your periods are, you should track them. There are several ways to do this, but a good method is by writing down the starting day of your next period. After that, write down the starting date of your next period. This number should be around 28, which represents a 28-day cycle. If your periods are irregular, you may notice that some months your period cycle is only 20 days, while others may be 40 days. You might notice everything in between as well, but you are likely to never know when to expect your next period. Keeping track of your cycles can be helpful, too, if you visit an OBGYN, as he or she will want to know how irregular they are.
Your periods get abnormal from hormones
As you age, it is completely normal to start experiencing irregularities with your periods, and this primarily happens from the chemical and hormonal changes that are taking place in your body. During a normal cycle, your body will go through the process of ovulation, which is the necessary process needed to conceive. If you start having irregular periods, it might be because your body is no longer ovulating. It may ovulate one month, but it might not the next month. Additionally, your body will stop producing some of the normal hormones it has always produced. All of these things can lead to irregularities with your cycle.
Irregular periods can be a result of other things too
Not only do hormones cause these problems, but irregular periods can occur from other things too. Stress is one of the most common causes of this problem. If you have a lot of stress in your life, it can affect your cycles. For example, if you have a sexually-transmitted disease, it can affect you in this way. You can also have irregular periods from diabetes, thyroid disorders, and endometriosis.
If you are not sure what is causing your irregular periods, or if you are concerned about them, you should visit an OBGYN. An OBGYN can examine you and run tests, and this could help you determine what is causing this to happen.