Winter can make periods worse, expert reveals

Winter can make periods much worse than usual, according to a report by the Metro.

"As the days are shorter and darker, your mood can be adversely affected and add to that the monthly rollercoaster of hormones that arrive with your period and it can all seem even bleaker," Dr Preethi Daniel, Clinical Director from London Doctors Clinic, told the Metro.

"Sunshine helps us make vitamin D and dopamine, both of which boost mood, pleasure, motivation and concentration," she goes on to explain.

"Furthermore, winter means we spend more time indoors and we move less and eat more. This can have a bad effect on premenstrual symptoms as it has been found that women who are more active had much more regular and manageable cycles than those that hardly worked out," she added.

Previous research has also found that during winter, women have increased hormone secretion and shorter cycles by 0.9 days in the summer month compared with winter, the report revealed. This seemed to affect women who lived in much warmer climates as well.

While the severity of pain can change and is normal, Dr Preethi recommends getting it checked if the pain persists. "If symptoms of low mood are so bad you cannot motivate yourself to go to work or enjoy the things you usually do, you should consider whether this is seasonal affective disorder or depression," she told the Metro.