Love Island's Maura Higgins reveals her lockdown 'obsession' with exercise went too far

Like many during the first lockdown, Maura Higgins threw herself into exercise to stay fit and healthy.

However, the former Love Island star has revealed that her "obsession" with over-training caused her to become too "thin" leading to her periods stopping for four months.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, the Irish reality TV favourite, 30, said: "At the weekends I eat what I want and during the week I obviously try my best to eat healthier foods.

"But with the exercise, it's very easy to get obsessed with it. It got to a stage where it was actually affecting my periods; I lost my period for four months."

Higgins explained that she had started doing Joe Wicks' online workouts in June 2020, but got too "lean", with both her mother and boyfriend and ex-Love Island co-star, Chris Taylor, concerned about her intense fitness routine.

She told them that she was "trying to sort it out" and gradually eased up on exercise and increased her calorie intake.

The star explained she now trains twice a week at the most, and said she is "feeling so much better".

She added: "It's good to have people around you that are not afraid to say these things to you. It's so important. I'm feeling so much better."

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According to the NHS, doing too much exercise stops your periods because the stress that intense physical activity places on your body affects hormones involved with your monthly bleed.

Similarly, dropping down to too low a body fat percentage can also stop ovulation.

They recommend that you reduce your levels of exercise if over-training is causing your periods to stop.

Additionally, anxiety caused by the pandemic may also have caused a shift in your cycle.

Dr Simran Deo, from Zava UK, told Yahoo Style UK that "being stressed can affect the length of your cycle, make your periods more painful or even make them stop all together".