Caffeine Abstinence During The Menstrual Cycle:An Evaluation Of Mood, Somatic, Cognitive, And Psychomotor Effects Of Withdrawal

Abstract

The current is a study that extends our understanding of caffeine consumption patterns and withdrawal symptoms across the menstrual cycle. Forty-eight moderate habitual caffeine consumers, ages18 to 25 years, were recruited from the University of Maryland. Exclusion criteria included current or past psychiatric conditions (within six months) and premenstrual syndrome (PMS). In addition to daily diaries (including the caffeine intake survey, premenstrual syndrome questionnaires, LH surge test, and the caffeine withdrawal checklist), the effect of caffeine abstinence on psychomotor tasks were assessed during the follicular (around day 5 of the menstrual cycle) and luteal phases (approximately 4 days after LH surge) of the menstrual cycle. Data analyses focused on withdrawal symptom ratings and psychomotor performance one day during the follicular phase and one day during the luteal phase of the cycle after 24 hours of caffeine abstinence. A series of repeated measures ANOVA were used to compare within-subject differences on caffeine withdrawal and psychomotor performance during the follicular and luteal phases. The present data do not provide support for phase-differentiated effects of self-reported withdrawal symptoms or of psychomotor and cognitive performance differentials across the menstrual cycle.However, withdrawal, as a result of caffeine abstinence, did impact self-reported withdrawal ratings during select days of non-abstinence and days of abstinence during the both the follicular and the luteal phase. The present study is the first multimethod study to examine the effects of caffeine abstinence on habitual consumers across the menstrual cycle. The current findings provide evidence for caffeine withdrawal symptoms.