Childbirth stress changes women’s periods

He stress caused by isolation, not covid infectionhad influence on the menstrual cycle Female. The confinement, which lasted from March to May 2020, brought about changes that included absence of menstruation, delayed menstruation and heavy bleeding. This is confirmed by the study “Impact of confinement due to SARS-Covid-19 on the menstrual cycle”, carried out by two gynecologists from the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona and through an online survey collected observations of women about their cycles. Until now, there have been studies on how the vaccine and even the coronavirus have affected women’s menstruation, but this is the first study to find out if home confinement has affected cycles.

In this report, published in the journal Medicina Clínica, a total of 6,440 women aged 15 to 55 from all over Spain. (the largest published sample of menstruating women to date) who had not contracted Covid and responded to a large survey via WhatsApp. From this sample Women taking hormonal contraceptives were excluded.because these drugs regulate the menstrual cycle. “We wanted to know to what extent the isolation affected the changes in the menstrual cycle. There were two groups of women: those who stayed at home in isolation and those who went out because they were part of essential services, such as health workers or supermarket cashiers,” explains Joaquim Calaf, a gynecologist from Sant Pau and one of the authors of the study. “On the contrary, we saw that Covid infection has not changed the menstrual cycle“adds this doctor.

“Doctors found that women who had the most stressful births experienced the most changes in their cycles.”

Doctors saw how Women who experienced the most stressful births experienced the most changes in their cycles.“For example, two intensive care nurses in a high-stress situation, or two bus drivers or supermarket cashiers, even if they are exposed to the same stressors, will experience menstrual irregularities depending on how they experienced the situation,” explains Kalaf. So the work itself was not as relevant as “emotional component“It wasn’t so much about being very isolated or being very exploited at work, but how the situation affected you and the fear of getting infected. Sometimes it wasn’t the fear of getting infected yourself, but the fear of coming home and infecting a family member,” the gynecologist adds.

The researchers asked the women what type of stress they were experiencing: fear of losing their job, fear of getting infected, of infecting a family member, or worry about being incarcerated. “We saw this the higher these levels were, the more changes occurred “in menstrual cycles, which mainly consisted of the absence or delay of menstruation or heavy bleeding,” says Josep Perelló, also a gynecologist from Sant Pau.

“Delayed, absent or heavy bleeding were the most common changes”

Decreased sexual activity

The doctors collected information about the women’s activities during labor, their sexual activity, their perception of their emotional state, changes in menstrual patterns, and daily influences. For him 50.1% of those surveyed, Their overall quality of life deteriorated during house confinement.while 41.3% remained approximately the same and 8.7% reported an improvement. Sexual activity during childbirth decreased in 49.8% of respondents, remained unchanged in 40.7% and increased in 9.5%.

The researchers found “no statistically significant differences” in menstrual cycle changes in women taking non-hormonal contraception when these changes were assessed by length and characteristics of isolation, perceived Covid exposure and employment status. But they did find “statistically significant differences” in regularity, duration and quantity menstruation associated with “the intensity of changes in emotional state due to confinement stressors.”

Stress and the menstrual cycle

Thus, the study concludes that changes in emotional state, rather than the duration and intensity of isolation or disease exposure, significantly influenced menstrual cycle disturbances during quarantine. Thus, the most significant predictor of menstrual cycle changes was individual perception of anxiety, regardless of employment status, degree of isolation or vulnerability to the disease. Despite this, as the researchers themselves admit, it is impossible to know how many women had their menstrual cycle disrupted due to childbirth. “We know that the people who took part in the survey are the most sensitive to the problem. That is why we cannot know the total number of victims,” ​​admits Perello.

This result supports the hypothesis that changes in the menstrual cycle are significantly associated with individual sensitivity to stress and with the emotional state of the woman, and to a lesser extent are associated with the severity of the stressful situation. Not all women react to such circumstances in the same way.

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