Can the stress of election cause problems with your uterus and menstrual cycle? Health experts weigh in
Could the stress of the upcoming presidential election be causing problems with your uterus and menstrual cycle? Health experts have revealed how the mood can be harmful to your reproductive health.
A woman named Katie, who asked to keep her last name private, recently revealed Vanity fair that she had suffered a burst ovarian cyst after watching the 2016 debate between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, leaving her in searing pain.
She added that it happened again after the debate between Trump and President Joe Biden in June, and she believes it was her body’s response to the immense fear she felt about the fate of the country.
And according to a slew of health professionals, anxiety about the upcoming election can certainly have a negative effect on your body, especially your uterus.
Dr. Theresa Rohr-Kirchgraber, past president of the American Medical Women’s Association, explained that a constant state of stress puts your body in “fight or flight mode.”
Could the stress of the presidential election cause problems with your uterus and menstrual cycle? Health experts have revealed how the mood can be harmful to your health
And she said long-term use can negatively impact your “reproductive functions, as well as digestive, cardiac and nervous processes.”
“With that level of fear and anxiety, the problem is that what happens to the whole rest of the body, including the uterus, is that the stress level really increases your heart rate,” she said.
‘And if your heart has to work a little harder and pump a little harder, it can wear out over time.
“If you consistently have this low stress level every time you turn on the TV, or every time you see his orange face in front of you, [and] it makes your heart race, which leads to things like arrhythmias or an irregular heartbeat. It can lead to heart failure in the long term.’
A Georgia-based board-certified gynecologist named Dr. Lara Hart claimed she has seen “more women” than ever before complaining that they have recently had irregular menstrual cycles, and she believes this is related to the stress of the election.
She also claimed that many patients have stopped ovulating despite there being nothing medically wrong with them.
“You do blood work and everything, and it’s like, they don’t have PCOS, everything looks good,” she continued. ‘There’s really nothing to explain. They just don’t ovulate.’
One woman, who only wanted to be referred to by her first initial, M, told the publication that she has recently been experiencing “crazy menstrual symptoms” that she has never had before, which she said stems from “anxiety” over the election.
According to a slew of health professionals, anxiety about the upcoming elections can definitely have a negative effect on your body, especially your uterus (stock image)
Dr. Theresa Rohr-Kirchgraber told Vanity Fair that a constant state of stress puts your body in “fight or flight mode,” which can negatively impact your “reproductive functions.”
Obstetrician Lara Hart (seen) claimed she’s seen ‘more women’ than ever before coming in complaining they’ve recently had irregular menstrual cycles
‘I’m like, “Oh God, I have to get my period.” And then I didn’t do it,” she said. ‘I [get bad] cramps. I feel [the anxiety] in my body.’
In 2020, during the Trump/Biden elections, gynecologist Mary Jane Minkin said Refinery29 that ‘anything that causes significant stress can ruin the ovulation process.
‘At the bottom of your brain there’s an area called the pituitary gland and above that is the hypothalamus, and that’s where the marching orders for the function of the ovaries come from.
“When you’re under stress, you don’t get the right signals from the top of the brain to the hypothalamus to get this whole complicated system going that helps you ovulate.”