Is there any relationship between nutrition, stress, physical exercise and amenorrhea?

Abstract

Amenorrhea is the absence or abnormal cessation of the menstrual cycle. Functional hypothalamic amenorrhea (FHA) is one of the most common and least studied forms of secondary (hypothalamic) amenorrhea that occurs after adaptation failure in response to mental, social and metabolic irritants. At there are no common threshold values of potential irritants and markers of efficacy for female patioents with FHA. Methods of diagnostics, treatment and prevention of FHA stay still not personalized, but empirical. The most promising solution of present problem is combination of nutritive and mental correction among females with FHA. Also, the most promising step is searching and studying of omics (genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic) markers of hypothalamic–hypophysial-gonadal axis disruption. This review shows the association between amenorrhea and stress, changes in nutrition or weight, excessive physical activity, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature was searched in Russian and English languages in eLibrary, MEDLINE, and Scopus databases mainly for the last decade. Due to the insufficient study of the chosen topic, sources dating back to the 1990s were also selected.