How do pandemic stress and sleep problems affect menstrual cycles and PMS?

Background: Global health crisis, the 2020 pandemic situation has affected the lives of human beings on the physical and mental front. Women and their menstrual and endocrinological health has been severely affected due to imposed pandemic stress. This study attempted to evaluate this effect on women (n=59) during the lockdown and correlate their imposed stress, changed work and sleep pattern on their reproductive health. Result: The study directs that variation in sleep affected the onset of menstrual cycles in all (n=59) women in terms of early or delay occurrence, where sleep delay and elevated stress are directly proportional to the variation in menstrual cycle experience and PMS. Frustration in women increased with the degree of irritation; moreover, the combined effect of frustration levels and sleep variation was observed on menstrual cycles and PMS. Conclusion: From the study we can find a direct correlation between variation in sleep time in terms of delay and elevated frustration during lockdown directly affected irregularity of menstrual cycle onset and had prevalent effect on severity of premenstrual syndrome which is indicative of adverse effect of pandemic on women health.

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