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

We will not look back on the past year as a vintage one for the human body. Since March 2020, many of us have experienced physical manifestations of stress that correspond to living through a global pandemic. From low energy and headaches to changes in mood and disrupted sleep, our rhythms are deeply upset. And many women have experienced changes to a fundamental rhythm: the menstrual cycle.

Rachel Burns has always experienced premenstrual syndrome (PMS), but it has been even more difficult to navigate in the past 12 months. I always have a few days of feeling quite withdrawn before my period, but this has morphed into me feeling unreachable and anxious for over a week," says the 36-year-old from Kent. My partner says the change is significant." Before Christmas, her PMS made her feel as if she were going mad, like a panic attack I couldn't come down from". The effects of her period drag on now. She feels fluey, achy, completely depleted, physically and emotionally". As a result, it can feel like she only has one good' week" a month. It's like being at sea within yourself," she says.