A woman’s period is when blood comes out of her vagina every month. This is a sign that her body is ready to have a baby someday, if she wants to. Sometimes, a woman may not see her period for a while. This can happen for different reasons.
Here are some of the most common ones:
Let’s explore them:
- Pregnancy:
When a man’s special cells (sperm) meet a woman’s special cell (egg), it can form a baby inside her tummy.
This means that a baby is growing inside her womb. The womb is the place where the baby lives until it is born.
When a woman is pregnant, she does not need to have a period because the blood stays in the womb to nourish the baby.
When this happens, the body stops the monthly period so it can take care of the baby growing inside.
- Hormones:
Inside our bodies, there are tiny messengers called hormones. These hormones tell the body when to do things, like having a period.
Sometimes, the hormones can get a bit mixed up, and this can stop the period from coming on time.
- Stress:
Imagine if you have a lot of worries or are very nervous about something.
This means that she has a lot of worries or problems that make her feel unhappy or nervous. Stress can affect the hormones in her body. Hormones are chemicals that tell the body what to do.
When the hormones are out of balance, the woman may not ovulate. Ovulation is when an egg comes out of her ovary and travels to the womb.
The egg is one of the things that is needed to make a baby. If there is no egg, there is no need for a period.
This can make your body upset, and one way it shows this is by not having a period. It’s like the body saying, “I need some rest and relaxation.”
- Being too skinny or too heavy:
If someone’s body is very skinny or very heavy, it might not have the right amount of fat to have a period. The body needs a certain amount of fat to do this.
This can also affect the hormones in her body and make her periods change. If she is very thin, her body may not have enough fat to make enough hormones.
If she is very overweight, her body may make too much of a hormone called estrogen. Estrogen is one of the hormones that controls the period cycle.
Too much or too little estrogen can cause problems with ovulation and periods.
- Health problems:
Sometimes, our bodies can have little problems inside. These can affect the period too. It’s like if a machine has a glitch, it might not work properly.
E.g. She has a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This means that she has many small cysts on her ovaries. Cysts are like tiny balloons filled with fluid.
They are not dangerous, but they can make it hard for the woman to ovulate regularly. This can cause her periods to be late or irregular.
- She is doing too much exercise:
Exercise is good for the body, but too much of it can also change the hormones and affect the periods. If a woman exercises a lot, she may burn more calories than she eats.
This can make her body think that there is not enough food and energy to have a baby. The body may then stop ovulating and having periods to save energy.
- She is taking some medicines or birth control pills:
Some medicines or pills can change the way the hormones work in the body and affect the periods.
For example, birth control pills are used to prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation and making the periods lighter and more regular.
But sometimes, they can also cause a woman to miss her period or have spotting (a little bit of blood) between periods.
So, when a woman doesn’t get her period, it’s like a signal from her body that something is different.
It could be because she’s going to have a baby, her hormones are mixed up, she’s stressed, her body is very skinny or heavy, or there’s a little health problem.
