Women make fewer mistakes and have better mental agility during their period, despite feeling worse than at any other time during their menstrual cycle, research suggests.
The research, conducted by the UCL Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health (ISEH), found that women’s reaction times, accuracy and attention to detail increased during menstruation, challenging current hypotheses about how women perform in sports during their periods. questions menstruation.
The study, published in the journal Neuropsychologiainvolved the analysis of data from 241 participants (including 96 men and 47 women who did not have regular periods due to their contraception, for comparative purposes) who completed a series of cognitive tests, two weeks apart, and the collection of reaction time and error data.
Participants also recorded their mood and completed a questionnaire about their symptoms, while period tracking apps were used to estimate which stage of their cycle the participants were in when they took the tests. The tests covered reaction times, attention, ability to relate to visual information and anticipation of when something might happen, and were designed to mimic mental processes during exercise.
There was no group difference in reaction times and accuracy between the male and female participants, but the women who had regular periods were found to have performed better during their period compared to any other phase of their menstrual cycle, showing faster reaction times and making fewer errors. . This was despite the fact that participants reported feeling worse during their periods and believed this had negatively affected their performance.
Dr. The study’s lead author Flaminia Ronca, from the UCL Division of Surgery and Interventional Science and ISEH, said the finding that women performed better during their periods was “surprising”, and that this could change the way in which female performance athletes were assessed in the study. relation to their menstrual cycle.
She added: “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 capabilities 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.”
Dr. Megan Lowery, author of the study from UCL Surgery and Interventional Science and ISEH, said: “There is a lot of anecdotal evidence from women that they can feel clumsy just before ovulation, for example, which is supported by our findings here. My hope is that if women understand how their brains and bodies change throughout the month, it will help them adapt.
after newsletter promotion
“While much more research is needed in this area, these findings are an important first step in understanding how women’s cognition influences their athletic performance at different points during their cycle, which will hopefully stimulate positive conversations between coaches and athletes about performance and will facilitate well-being. ”
Prof. Paul Burgess, senior author of the study from UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, said the idea for the study came from conversations with female footballers and their coaches.
He said: “We’ve created bespoke cognitive tests to try to mimic the demands placed on the brain at the points in the game where they told us injuries and timing issues occur at certain times of the menstrual cycle.
“As suggested by what the footballers had told us, the data suggested that women who menstruate – whether they are athletes or not – tend to vary in their performance at certain phases of the cycle. As a neuroscientist, I am surprised that we don’t know more about this already, and I hope our study will help stimulate increasing interest in this vital aspect of sports medicine.”