Women have better mental performance during menstruation
At least half of our society knows how difficult menstruation can be. But scientific research shows that there are also specific benefits to the beginning of the menstrual cycle. Important, for example, for female athletes.
Women perform better on cognitive tests during menstruation, according to the latest research. The beginning of the cycle means better mental performance for them and making fewer mistakes. This may have an impact, for example, on athletes, that can achieve better results during this time.
Research conducted by the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health (ISEH) at University College London has shown that reaction time, accuracy, and attention to detail were increased in menstruating women. Among other things, these results challenge current hypotheses about how women cope during their periods.
This is not the end of the research
The study, published in the journal Neuropsychologia, included two components: analysis of data from 241 participants (including, for comparison purposes, 96 men and 47 women who did not menstruate regularly due to contraception) who completed a battery of cognitive tests two weeks apart and collection of reaction time and error data. Additionally, people participating in the study recorded their mood and possible menstrual symptoms. The whole thing was also supported by cycle observation applications, thanks to which it was possible to better estimate what phase of the cycle the women participating in the study were in.
Themselves the tests included reaction time, attention, the ability to relate to visual information and predicting when something might happen, and are designed to imitate mental processes during sports. As a result, it turned out that women who menstruated regularly had better menstruation results compared to any other phase of the cycle, showing faster reaction times and making fewer errors. Interestingly, participants reported feeling worse and claimed that it had a negative impact on their results.
As the authors of the study indicate, the idea for the study arose after conversations with female soccer players and their coaches. These were custom cognitive tests that were intended to imitate the demands placed on the brain during gaming and to examine the impact of the menstrual cycle on the results of these tests. Scientists from ISEH indicate, however, that their somewhat surprising discovery is also a pretext for further research in this field, but also to take a different look at women's ability to achieve the best results in sports.
