How Late Can a Period Be?

If you’ve been having some fun in the bedroom with your lady but have been a little careless, not using protection (like a female condom), of course you are going to worry if she is late on her period and you are worried that you may have a new member of the family in 9 months. But being late on her period is not a reason to panic (yet!) as there are many reasons that can lead to a delayed menstrual cycle.

Causes of a Late Period

Before you begin to panic, take a look at what’s going on in your life and see if one of the following factors may be leading to a delayed period. It may not mean that she is pregnant yet, as many factors play a part on when a menstrual cycle happens.

For one, a period can be delayed because of stress or anxiety in your life. Is there something on her mind, perhaps troubles at work or issues within the relationship that have her stressed lately? These stresses can put a strain on the body and mind and lead to abnormal biological reactions such as the timing of the menstrual cycle. Perhaps the two of you are getting serious and it’s time to meet the parents and she’s stressing over it?

Another thing you should consider is diet and exercise. Has she gained or lost weight recently? These changes in the body can affect our body’s processes, and this can lead to messed up timing for her cycle. Keeping a healthy diet and exercise and maintaining a consistent can help to not disrupt her cycle.

Lastly, hormonal imbalances can affect the timing of her period. Take note of any prescription drugs that were recently introduced and may be the cause of the late period.

How Late Can Your Period Be?

If you are a few days late, don’t worry. Re-read the factors described above and see if any of them can be the culprit on the timing. But generally, a few days is nothing to worry about nor is a couple weeks a cause for alarm either. The standard answer, however, is about 10 days can be experienced without worry. In our research, we have found women report that they didn’t have their period for two whole months yet were not pregnant, despite not having any health issues or taking any birth control pills that would affect the timing. These individuals determined that stress was the most likely cause of their late period. Other have reported that changes in routine has been a cause as well.

The best way to determine if you are late on your period is to time your ovulation. The day bleeding begins to occur is the first day of ovulation and you should count from this day until the next period begins. If you track your ovulation, you have a much better idea if you are late or not.

If you are at all worried, and have been tracking your periods so you know the timing is not right and you don’t have anything that would be factoring into a late cycle, by all means go and take a pregnancy test to be sure.