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Women's menstrual cycles don't change the way our brains perform.
Posted March 18, 2025 by m0RT_1 in WomensHealthLounge

A new study has found no evidence to support the myth that women’s cognitive abilities change across the menstrual cycle.

The researchers looked at 102 studies covering close to 4000 women and looked at changes in everything from attention, intelligence and executive functioning to motor function, spatial ability, verbal ability and creativity.

Attitudes about and practices around menstruation often treat it like a disease that impairs women’s ability to function mentally. Women internalize this menstrual stigma. When women self-reported fluctuations in mental capacity, however, independent testing found these fluctuations were very small, even when brain imaging studies revealed shifts in morphology (that tended to be associated with menstrual pain experience), brain plasticity, or other physical strategies in our bodies are adjusted accordingly.

The authors say that while this is somewhat surprising given the physiological changes that occur across the menstrual cycle, the changes to the brain are either small enough that they don't influence performance or women compensate for these changes in ways we don't yet understand.

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butchpleaseDecember 16, 2021

You know, not once have I seen them choose the men's toilets as the gender-neutral option. Not once. It's always, always, always the women who have to suffer.

IrishTheFrenchienon-cis logicDecember 16, 2021

It's NEVER women and ALWAYS men.