Women may feel worse during their time of the month, but their minds are sharper, according to new research.
Researchers from London found that women responded 12 percent faster during psychological tests and made 25 percent fewer errors during menstruation.
This is despite the fact that the women said they expected their performance to suffer.
The study, published in the journal Neuropsychologia, found that women “generally showed better cognitive scores during menstruation, even though they reported worse mood and symptoms.”
The scientists say the findings could explain previous research that female athletes are less likely to be injured when they are menstruating.
One study found that women responded 12 percent faster during psychological tests and made 25 percent fewer mistakes during menstruation. This is despite the fact that the women said they expected their performance to suffer
They say estrogen – the hormone that increases during menstruation in women – could boost brain function, while progesterone, the hormone that kicks in before menstruation, inhibits it.
The study examined 248 participants – all in their early 30s and mid-20s, including 105 women, 47 of whom were using contraception, and 96 men.
The researchers conducted tricky, screen-based tests aimed at mimicking mental processes typical of team sports.
They included pressing buttons when they saw a correct signal, and measuring their timing by pressing a button exactly when two balls collide.
They also had to identify mirror images of rotating shapes in three dimensions – a test that measures spatial awareness.
Menstruating women were on average 10 milliseconds (12 percent) more accurate on the moving ball task, and pressed the space bar 25 percent less at the wrong time on the inhibition task.
The researchers found that menstruating women had slower reaction times of about 10-20 milliseconds during the luteal phase, which begins after ovulation and lasts between 12 and 14 days until the onset of menstruation. They made no more mistakes at this stage.
Dr. Flaminia Ronca, from UCL, the study’s first author, said there were no performance differences between men and women at group level.
The only performance difference found was the fluctuation within the group of women who were menstruating.
She said her research suggests that women suffer injuries before they start menstruating because hormones affect their brains rather than their muscles.
She said: ‘What is surprising is that the participants’ performance was better during their period, which challenges what women, and perhaps society in general, thinks about their abilities at this particular time of the month.
“I hope this will form the basis for positive conversations between coaches and athletes about perceptions and performance: how we feel does not always reflect how we perform.”
The authors say that the fluctuation in timing – even if it is just 10 milliseconds – could be the difference between an injury or not.