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Your period might make you feel gross, but new research suggests it may have a surprising, hidden benefit: it might make you smarter.
That’s the main conclusion of a new study published in the journal Neuroscience. NeuropsychologyIn the study, the women were given a battery of cognitive tests 14 days apart, and taken at different times during their menstrual cycle. Overall, the researchers found that women who were on their period were more likely to feel unwell, but they also had faster reaction times and made fewer errors.
This is great news for women all over the world who don’t really like their periods. But why is this the case? Here’s what you need to know.
What did the study find?
Researchers from University College London and the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health collected data on reaction times and errors from 241 women who took a number of cognitive tests at 14-day intervals. Study participants also completed mood scales and symptom questionnaires. The researchers used a period-tracking app to estimate what stage of their cycle participants were in as they took tests designed to mimic typical mental processes in team sports.
The tests were very simple: in one, participants were shown smiling or winking faces and asked to press the spacebar only when they saw a smile (this was a test of inhibition, attention, reaction time and accuracy).
In another test, subjects were asked to identify mirror images in a 3D rotation task, probing their spatial cognition abilities (spatial cognition is a complex set of processes that allow a person to visualize a task).
One test asked the women to click when two moving balls on a screen collided.
Study participants reported feeling worse on their period, and thought they would perform worse on their period, but in fact the opposite was true: women reacted faster and made fewer mistakes on their period.
Conversely, reaction times are slower during the luteal phase, which begins after ovulation and leads to the onset of menstruation.
Why do women perform better on their period?
It’s not entirely clear: Researchers have only discovered an association, not why it exists.
“Throughout your cycle, many hormones rise and fall,” says Dr Flaminia Ronca, Associate Professor at University College London and lead author of the study. “One of these hormones is progesterone, which peaks during the luteal phase and falls again during menstruation.”
Progesterone may have a negative effect on the cerebral cortex, which plays an important role in memory, thinking, learning, reasoning, problem-solving, emotions, and consciousness, says Ronca. “This is probably why reaction times slow down during the luteal phase and speed up during menstruation, when progesterone decreases,” she explains.
Why are women more susceptible to injury during the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle?
The study was actually inspired by previous sports medicine research that found that women are at increased risk of sports injuries when they are in their luteal phase (the period between ovulation and menstruation.) It’s not entirely clear why this happens, but Ronca says it could have to do with the hormonal changes that occur during menstruation.
“Our study suggests that movement timing may be less precise during the luteal phase, which may contribute to the higher incidence of injuries during this particular period,” she says. “Further studies are needed to confirm this.”
Do the results apply to non-athletes?
Though the study was inspired by athletes, Ronca says the findings apply to anyone who has a period: “Timing your movements is relevant to everyday life,” she says.
What are the lessons learned from this study?
Most importantly, women can push themselves even when they’re feeling terrible. But more than that, the study suggests that they might actually perform better on their period than they realize.
“How you feel does not determine your performance, at least at a cognitive level,” Ronca says.
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