Pandemic periods: why women's menstrual cycles have gone haywire
A majority of menstruating women have experienced changes to their cycle over the last year, surveys suggest. One of the main culprits? Persistent stress.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/25/pandemic-periods-why-womens-menstrual-cycles-have-gone-haywire
Persistent stress leaves us suspended in fight-or-flight mode. In threatening situations, a hormonal pathway in the body called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which links the brain with the adrenal glands, encourages the release of the stress hormone cortisol – preparing us to respond to the threat.
However, if the brain is telling the body it needs to “respond” all the time (to anxious thoughts, changing circumstances, the stress of home schooling, the impact of loneliness, illness or bereavement), unregulated cortisol can suppress the normal levels of reproductive hormones in the body. This can lead to abnormal ovulation, which will disrupt the cycle – or even pause it altogether.
For Muslim women whose cycles are affected by stress in this way, it can become serious simply because their manadatory acts of worship which require purity are affected. In this type iregular bleeding, previous habits are necessary to determine the stae of menstruation and purity