What symptoms does stress cause in women?

Greater abnormalities in the menstrual cycle have been detected in those women who presented a level of chronic stress. This is due to the interaction of hormones, such as cortisol, which interrupt the correct flow of hormones secreted by the brain. All this translates into alterations in sexual hormones and in the following symptoms:

• Amenorrhea: Those women with high levels of anxiety may see reduced levels of GnRH (gonadotrophin-releasing hormone). This translates into an alteration of the female sexual hormones and the disappearance of the menstrual cycle.
• Anovulation: those women who present high levels of cortisol in the blood, due to continuous exposure to an anxiety-generating factor, may see their GnRH levels increased by feedback mechanisms that affect the brain when hormone levels are decompensated . This produces an alteration in the sexual hormones that can produce the absence of ovulation in the menstrual cycles.
• Decreased libido: the decrease in estrogens and the psychological component means that women who bear a heavy emotional burden see their sexual desire reduced.
• Reduction in implantation: in the case of having achieved fertilization, stress can also influence the nesting of the embryo in the uterus. Estrogen and progesterone levels prepare the endometrium to house the embryo. If these hormone levels are altered by the effect of cortisol on the woman's hormone regulatory mechanisms, implantation may be at risk.

The set of hormonal components, together with the psychological, makes the woman have problems in her reproductive cycle and is not predisposed to have sexual relations. All this makes women have sexual encounters less frequently and of poorer quality, and is also an important component that would influence their fertility.