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Can Flying Re-start Your Period?
Dealing with perimenopause can already be quite unpredictable. But a lot of women don’t take into account how air travel can disrupt your cycle, making your symptoms even more spontaneous.
Flying, in particular, leaves you more susceptible to symptoms than other forms of travel. Not only do you ascend and descend to and from superhuman heights, but you’re traveling over extremely long distances (crossing time zones, elevations, and environments) at incredible speeds. Of course, your body is going to react to that!
Does flying cause menstruation during perimenopause?
The short answer: no. While a lot of us may feel like flying instigates menses, the truth is there is no scientific data backing causation between air travel and menstruation. What can cause unexpected menstruation is the fluctuations in hormones due to travel stress and how it affects the body’s microbiome.
Waking up early, catching a mid-flight nap, enjoying a glass of wine at the airport, and crossing to other time zones can throw a wrench in your circadian rhythm– the physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. When your circadian rhythm is disrupted, your body’s production of hormones including melatonin and cortisol is thus affected. And as those hormones fluctuate, so does the body’s fertility window. Thus, irregular menstruation.
So if you find yourself getting your period unexpectedly the second you lift off, don’t blame the plane. Its relation to your cycle is purely correlational and not causational.
Preventing perimenopause symptoms throughout air travel
The stress of travel can drastically alter the chemistry of your microbiome and cause unexpected perimenopause symptoms, but that doesn’t mean you have to avoid the airport for the rest of your life.
Make sure to balance any time you spend up in the air with plenty of time for rest and relaxation once you’re landbound.
