Two Ways Winter Can Disrupt Your Periods

As humans, we generally tend to like the winter time less. It's cold, it's dark, you get sick more easily, and your mood seems to plummet along with the length of the days. And just in case all that wasn't bad enough, it seems the winter months can wreak havoc with your menstrual cycle, too. Oh, goody.

According to Dr Preethi Daniel, Clinical Director at London Doctors Clinic, it's a known thing for women to complain about their periods getting worse in winter. The main change, explains Dr Daniel, is how long your bleeds will last. "Winter can have an effect on the cycle length," she said.

"One paper published in 2011 discovered increased hormone secretion, increased frequency of ovulation and shorter cycles by 0.9 days in the summer compared with winter. This was also demonstrated in women who lived in warmer climates compared with those that lived in colder temperatures," the doctor added.

And if you're the kind of person who suffers troublesome periods, any prolonging of the pain isn't what you want.

Dr Daniel also explained that women can complain of worse premenstrual symptoms during the colder months. "Winter means we spend more time indoors and we move less and eat more. This can have a bad effect on premenstrual symptoms as it has been found that women who are more active had much more regular and manageable cycles than those that hardly worked out," she noted.

Generally, although annoying, it is regarded as normal to see these slight changes in your periods over winter. However, the doctor did point out that if you're not getting periods at all, or if they're particularly heavy, you should seek advice from your GP.