When menstruating, a majority of women are under the assumption that they become more sluggish, in turn slowing down all the activities they’re involved in.. But a recent study revealed that despite immense physical pain and discomfort, women on their period are better at mental tasks, far quicker and with fewer errors.
As a part of a broader project funded by the FIFA Research Scholarship, this study from UCL and the Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health (ISEH) is the first to look at sport-related cognition throughout the menstrual cycle. Published in Neuropsychologia, the study stated that certain cognitive processes change during the menstrual cycle, which may have implications for injuries and the general health of women.
According to previous research, women may be more susceptible to sports-related injuries during the luteal phase, which is the interval between ovulation and menstruation, as a result of notable hormonal changes. In this study, 241 participants who finished cognitive tests 14 days apart, had their reaction times and error rates recorded. Additionally, participants filled out symptom questionnaires as well as mood scales twice. During the tests, their menstrual cycle phases were estimated using period-tracking apps.
The cognitive exams were created to replicate the kind of thought processes seen in team sports. In one test, inhibition, attention, reaction time, and accuracy were measured by asking participants to push the space bar when they saw a smiling face.
In another, participants had to identify mirror images in a 3D rotation task to assess spatial cognition. In a third task, participants had to click when two moving balls collided on screen to measure spatial timing. These results showed that participants performed better and had faster reaction times overall. For example, in the moving balls task, their timing was 10 milliseconds more accurate on average, and they pressed the space bar wrong 25 per cent less in the inhibition task.
Participants’ reaction times were slower during the luteal phase, averaging 10–20 milliseconds slower than other stages, although they did not make many errors during this phase. The research indicates that female athletes are more prone to suffer specific sports injuries during the luteal phase, which was previously thought to be caused by biomechanical alterations from hormonal variations but this study suggests that variations in cognitive timing may potentially play an important role as well.
The surprising finding of this study is that the participants’ improved performance challenges social presumptions about women’s abilities during their menstrual cycle.
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