{"id":51448,"date":"2022-05-20T09:30:13","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T13:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/?p=51448"},"modified":"2023-04-18T14:16:41","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T18:16:41","slug":"late-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/late-period\/","title":{"rendered":"11 reasons your period is late"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most women jump right to wondering if they\u2019re pregnant when their menstrual period is late, but there are many reasons why ol\u2019 Aunt Flo is running behind schedule\u2026or not showing up at all. Sure, pregnancy is one of the biggest ones\u2014it\u2019s just not the only one.<\/span><\/p>\n

The normal menstrual cycle is a tightly coordinated cycle of stimulatory and inhibitory effects that results in the release of a single mature egg from one of the ovaries<\/span>. <\/span>Your age and reproductive history, your hormones, your overall health, and even your lifestyle (aka stress, illness, sleep, and so on) all impact the timing of your period.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How late can a period be?<\/span><\/h2>\n

According to the Cleveland Clinic, the <\/span>average length of a woman\u2019s menstrual cycle is 28 days<\/span><\/a>. Cycle length is counted as the first day of menstrual bleeding to the first day of menstrual bleeding. Note that we said <\/span>average<\/span><\/i>: Many women have shorter and longer cycles that still fall within the range of normal.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, your menstrual cycle can last anywhere from <\/span>21 to 35 days<\/span><\/a> without raising any eyebrows. Cycles that last longer than 35 days can be a sign of <\/span>menstrual irregularities<\/span><\/a>, like oligomenorrhea or polymenorrhea, but can also simply mean that your body is more sensitive to things like changes in sleep patterns or excessive stress. Being new to menstruation, breastfeeding, being postpartum, and transitioning to <\/span>menopause<\/span><\/a> also affect the length of your cycle.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what actually constitutes a \u201clate\u201d period? Opinions vary, but in general, your period is considered late if it\u2019s <\/span>five days past due<\/span><\/a> per your routine cycle length, or is considered missed entirely (amenorrhea) if it\u2019s been six weeks or more since your last period.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since normal menstrual cycles can vary in length from woman to woman and even among the same woman at different times in her life (i.e., sometimes your cycle is 26 days and sometimes it\u2019s 30), it is hard to get a reliable picture. The easiest way to calculate the length of your menstrual cycle is by tracking it for a couple of months and average the cycle lengths: Write down when your period begins each time you get it, for three to four months in a row, then add up the total number of days included in your tracking and divide by however many months you tracked for.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, if you tracked your cycle for three months, with the first period you recorded occurring 93 days before the start of your most recent period, you would divide 93 by three to get an average cycle length of 31 days. If you don\u2019t want to do these calculations yourself, you can also download a period tracking app to your smartphone or tablet and let it do all the work for you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Late period calculator<\/span><\/h2>\n