Reports of unusual menstrual cycle changes flooded social media in June, with women describing delays, repeated periods within a single month, or the complete absence of their cycle, according to ScienceAlert.
The trend quickly spread online, generating videos that offered explanations ranging from solar flares and the operation of the Large Hadron Collider to astrological interpretations and feminist mysticism.
Epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz cautioned that social media amplifies topics people are already actively searching for, making it impossible to know whether the online trend reflected a real-world phenomenon or was simply the product of recommendation algorithms. He added that irregular periods occur every month, but once a topic goes viral, people begin noticing more related posts even if nothing has materially changed.
Meyerowitz-Katz also did not rule out that period-tracking apps may have deliberately stoked interest as a marketing exercise, pointing to accounts linked to the app Musa that posted videos inviting users to signal whether they had experienced unusual periods in June.
Beverly Vollenhoven, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, said she initially assumed the reports were another TikTok trend. On reflection, however, she said stress levels were a more plausible explanation, noting that recent heat waves could have acted as a stressor for people unaccustomed to extreme heat and potentially disrupted their cycles.
Vollenhoven said the hypothesis was entirely possible but acknowledged there was no evidence to support it. She explained that periods can become irregular or stop temporarily under intense stress caused by final exams, divorce, seasonal depression, unmanaged chronic illness, workplace trauma, anorexia, or excessive exercise. Under stress, she said, the body seeks to conserve energy, and one mechanism is reducing the likelihood of pregnancy by disrupting or pausing the menstrual cycle.
Amanda Shea, chief science officer at the period-tracking app Clue, said determining whether genuine population-level changes occurred in June would require rigorous statistical analysis, but added that conducting such a study was entirely feasible.
