7 Reasons Why Your Period May Be Late, And It's Not Pregnancy

If you're newly married and starting a family immediately, you might be eagerly looking forward to breaking the good news to your husband of a new baby joining your small family from the first month after your wedding. And if you're even a day late on your period, you will put some buns in the oven around the time your sweetie returns. But hold your horses, lol...

For those who are definitely NOT planning to start a family and are sexually active, it is just the opposite. Some will start thinking of all the warnings their mama gave them on the day their first period came if their period is late by even a few hours. The next is to start googling Plan B contraceptives.

I've even heard about girls who are not sexually active but who start hyperventilating about pregnancy once their period is late. Tell me, do they think they're Mary and are about to experience immaculate conception?

Anyway, the following are reasons why your period may be late, and it's not because you're pregnant. To be sure whether you're pregnant or not, buy a home test kit. :)

1. A Change In Your Regular Routine: Did you start a new job? Change your wakeup time? Go on vacation? It can take your body a little time to adjust to a change in your regular routine and that can impact your regular cycle, especially if the change started at the time you would normally ovulate, causing a delay or even a skipped cycle.

2. Stress: Your emotions, particularly stress, can have a major impact on the regularity of your menstrual cycle. And if you’re stressing about why your period is late, that could actually delay its arrival even more. Mother Nature is a cruel mistress!

3. Illness: Being sick at the time you normally would ovulate can delay ovulation — and if you ovulate late, you’ll get your period late. So if your period hasn’t arrived on schedule, think back a few weeks — were you under the weather?

4. Pill Poppin’: Taking a new medication or changing the dosage on an existing medication can affect all aspects of your body’s well-being, including your menstrual cycle — that’s why your doctor, including your gynecologist, always wants to know each and every medication that you’re on.

5. Weight Issues: A major change in your weight — either by gaining a lot or losing a lot of weight — can throw your ovulation cycle off. People who are underweight or extremely overweight sometimes don’t have a period at all — which is not very healthy. Overall, an incredibly wonky or nonexistent period is a sign of possible health issues.

6. Exercising Excessively: Have you been hitting Soul Cycle every day after work? Training for a marathon? If you’ve taken up a new and intense exercise routine, your period might be thrown off. In fact, people who engage in extreme physical activity sometimes see their periods delayed.

7. Miscalculation: The average menstrual cycle is 28 days, but many, many women have shorter or longer cycles and don’t chart them correctly — so it may be that your period is not actually late. Additionally, the majority of women have cycles that are irregular and don’t necessarily realize it. If your period is early even by a few days one month, it may arrive late the following month.

H/T - TheFrisky