Moods in everyday situations: effects of menstrual cycle, work, and stress hormones

Abstract

Objective: This study examined women's mood responsiveness on work and off days during different phases of the menstrual cycle. Methods: Self reports of negative, positive, and energy dimensions of mood were obtained throughout the day on two work and two off days during the luteal and follicular phases of the menstrual cycle in 203 women nurses. Individual differences in daytime and nighttime epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol were assessed. Results: High daytime norepinephrine, epinephrine, and cortisol levels were associated with higher ratings of stress and tired, and with lower ratings of happy. Phase of the menstrual cycle and the day factor (work day, off day) were also associated with mood differences, and the direction of the effects depended on hormone levels and hormone sampling period. Conclusion: The experience of moods is affected by arousalrelated interaction of hormone levels with phase of the menstrual cycle and occupational stress.

Moods in everyday situations: Effects of combinations of different arousal-related factors

“…One of the main issues is the need to find a common measure or scale of arousal. New experimental studies [35] and our previous findings [33,34] suggest that moods may provide such a measure. In our studies, an arousal process has been defined as an energy-consuming process distributed from a local to general (organism) level, which is associated with biological or psychological processes.…”

“…In turn, deviation of general arousal from a homeostatic level affects mood. Although we assumed that HPA and SAM hormones have a different impact on general arousal, this issue was left unresolved in our previous paper [34]. To date, evidence is lacking on the comparison of the arousal impact of HPA and SAM systems on mood as a function of different physiological (e.g., estrogen level) and environmental (e.g., occupational stress) factors.…”

“…In a previous paper [34], the apparent equivocal nature of the relationship between HPA, sympatho-adrenal-medullar (SAM), and sex hormones in their effect on self-reported distress was interpreted in terms of the impact of stress hormone levels on arousal in relation to menstrual phase, a proxy for estrogen levels, and environmental context. Both hyperarousal and hypoarousal conditions, as determined by stress and sex hormone levels, were associated with negative mood, whereas positive emotions tended to function within a mild arousal level.…”

“…To date, evidence is lacking on the comparison of the arousal impact of HPA and SAM systems on mood as a function of different physiological (e.g., estrogen level) and environmental (e.g., occupational stress) factors. As norepinephrine and cortisol showed more reliable relationships to moods in this sample of subjects [34], this paper focuses on the interactive effects of these hormones.…”

“…However, numerous case studies have described euphoric effects of open label treatment with cortisol or cortisone (e.g., [36]), and the current literature suggests that acute pharmacologically-induced cortisol elevations have varying effects on mood, often with no effect on affective state or only mild mood elevation (e.g., 37 -39). The homeostatic hypothesis [34] predicts that a decrease or increase in any arousal factor (e.g., cortisol) improves mood if it shifts general arousal toward a homeostatic level, but a decrease or increase in an arousal factor disturbs mood if it moves general arousal away from a homeostatic level. Individuals who are in a midarousal state will show less disturbance in their emotional state, whereas either downward or upward deviation from an optimal arousal level will be associated with greater disturbance.…”