Menstrual Cycle Phase Modulates Emotional Conflict Processing in Women with and without Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) – A Pilot Study

Abstract

BackgroundPremenstrual syndrome (PMS) is characterized by a cluster of psychological and somatic symptoms during the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle that disappear after the onset of menses. Behavioral differences in emotional and cognitive processing have been reported in women with PMS, and it is of particular interest whether PMS affects the parallel execution of emotional and cognitive processing. Related to this is the question of how the performance of women with PMS relates to stress levels compared to women without PMS. Cortisol has been shown to affect emotional processing in general and it has also been shown that women with severe PMS have a particular cortisol profile.MethodsWe measured performance in an emotional conflict task and stress levels in women with PMS (n = 15) and women without PMS (n = 15) throughout their menstrual cycle.ResultsWe found a significant increase (p = 0.001) in the mean reaction time for resolving emotional conflict from the follicular to the luteal cycle phase in all subjects. Only women with PMS demonstrated an increase in physiological and subjective stress measures during the luteal menstrual cycle phase.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the menstrual cycle modulates the integration of emotional and cognitive processing in all women. Preliminary data are supportive of the secondary hypothesis that stress levels are mediated by the menstrual cycle phase only in women with PMS. The presented evidence for menstrual cycle-specific differences in integrating emotional and cognitive information highlights the importance of controlling for menstrual cycle phase in studies that aim to elucidate the interplay of emotion and cognition.

Using a Menstrual Emotional Stroop Task Test (MEST) to Measure Emotional Responses to Menstrual Cycle Pain

“…Recent research has found additional evidence that links women's behavior with the different menstrual phases with the hormonal changes across these phases [33]. Previous studies indicate that females react to emotionally negative stimuli differently in the follicular compared to the luteal phase [26,34]. During the postmenstrual or follicular phase the levels of the ovarian steroid hormone progesterone are low, but pre-menstrually or during the luteal phase progesterone levels are higher.…”

“…To our knowledge, there is only one other small study that has used a similar approach (an EST that presented menstrual related words paired with faces) to explore if women with and without premenstrual syndrome (PMS) would respond differently [26]. The present study was designed to help fill this gap in the current knowledge by developing and testing the MEST, a unique, easy to apply tool to examine the association of emotional responses and cyclic menstrual pain.…”

Examination of Nurses’ Theses on Reflexology Practice in Turkey.

“…The effects of reflexology on blood pressure and quality of life in individuals with hypertension, on alleviating premenstrual distress, on sedation level and vital signs in patients with mechanical ventilation support, on dyspnea and fatigue in patients with copd, on chemotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting and fatigue in patients with breast cancer, on constipation in the elderly, on labor pain and duration, on dysmenorrhea and school performance. Results were examined from various aspects and positive outcomes were obtained [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] .…”

“…[2,5] Reflexology is preferred in increasing the quality of life and state of well-being in cases such as reducing the side effects of gynecological diseases, neurological diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, autoimmune diseases, digestive system diseases, and cancer pain and treatments. [2,3,4] The literature indicates that reflexology is mainly used for labor pain6, labor pain and labor duration4, premenstrual distress [7] , premenstrual quality of life [8] , dysmenorrhea [9,10], dysmenorrhea period school performance [11] , menstrual period emotional state [12] , premenopausal vasomotor complaints [13] , multiple sclerosis [14] , rheumatoid arthritis [15] , fibromyalgia [16] , constipation [17] , hypertension [18] , cancer pain [19] , chemotherapy-induced nausea [5] and vomiting as well as for reducing back pain [20] , increasing sleep quality [21] , reducing or eliminating stress-anxiety [2,13] .…”

Effect of moderate aerobic exercise on perceived stress during luteal phase of menstrual cycle in students pursuing professional course

“…It has been observed that during luteal phase there is evidence of increased physiologic response to stress as measured by increased heart rate, blood pressure, and adrenocortical activity. [1] Menstruation is a normal phenomenon which is an important indicator of women's health. The average menstrual cycle ranges between 21 and 35 days.…”