--- title: No, Period Brain Is Not Actually a Thing description: A new study debunks the popular belief that a woman's menstrual cycle messes with her memory, attention, or thinking skills canonical: https://time.com/4845917/menstruation-period-brain-research/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-05T20:44:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:26:38.753Z article:section: Health og:title: No, Period Brain Is Not Actually a Thing og:description: Your menstrual cycle doesn't mess with memory, attention, or thinking skills og:url: https://time.com/4845917/menstruation-period-brain-research/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780080cc0adc4481/6988d48d97cdffd8476b1779/gettyimages-185318891.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5000 og:image:height: 2813 og:image:alt: Calendar: PMS or Menstruation Cycle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: No, Period Brain Is Not Actually a Thing twitter:description: Your menstrual cycle doesn't mess with memory, attention, or thinking skills twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780080cc0adc4481/6988d48d97cdffd8476b1779/gettyimages-185318891.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # No, Period Brain Is Not Actually a Thing > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=f7ddc8ee-0d37-4cd6-9cdf-e6c358a9e24e&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [Amanda MacMillan / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Amanda MacMillan / Health.com Contributor Jul 5, 2017 8:44 PM UTC  PMS with frowning faces drawn on a calendar.Please also see: PMS with frowning faces drawn on a calendar.Please also see: Getty Images by [Amanda MacMillan / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Amanda MacMillan / Health.com Contributor Jul 5, 2017 8:44 PM UTC Have you ever thought to yourself—or had anyone else ever suggest to you—that you’re not at the top of your game, mentally, because you’re on your period? It’s a common belief, says Dr. Brigitte Leeners, professor of reproductive endocrinology at University Hospital Zurich. But according to her new study in _Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience_, [it simply isn’t true](http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00120/full). As a gynecologist and psychotherapist, Leeners has seen many patients who believe that their menstrual cycle can or does influence their cognitive performance. “However,” she told _Health_ via email, “I had the impression that in only very few women such limitations can indeed be attributed to hormones.” Studies on this topic have been mixed, with several suggesting a connection between hormones and cognition. But because of limitations and biases in those study designs, it’s difficult to know how accurate their findings really are, says Leeners. So she and her colleagues performed the largest and longest study on this topic to date, testing three aspects of cognitive functioning in 88 women at four different times throughout their menstrual cycle. Then they re-tested 68 of those women for a second consecutive month, which turned out to be key: While they found some data to suggest a link between mental performance and [menstruation](http://www.health.com/menstruation) in some women during the first cycle, those findings weren’t replicated the second time around. **_Health.com:_**[_9 Best Workouts to Do When You Have Your Period_](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20953267,00.html/?xid=time) Overall, the researchers found no consistent relationship between any of the three hormone levels they tested for—estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone—and women’s working memory, ability to pay attention to two things at once, or complex cognitive functions. That was true both when they looked at the group results as a whole, as well as at individual women’s test results over the two months. The research represents a meaningful step forward in the debate over how menstruation affects the brain, says Leeners. But more studies—with larger, more diverse groups of women and additional cognitive tests—could still help provide a more complete picture, she adds. There may be individual exceptions to the group’s findings, she says; for example, some women may be more sensitive to hormonal changes than the women included in this study. She also points out that her team only looked for direct links between hormone levels and certain areas of cognition; the findings don’t account for how [menstrual symptoms](http://www.health.com/sexual-health/5-weird-things-that-happen-to-your-body-during-your-period) (like cramping and fatigue) may affect women’s mental state or distract from their normal thinking processes. But in general, Leeners says, the study suggests that flaws in previous research may have skewed popular belief in this area—and that scientists should carefully evaluate future studies to avoid similar limitations. And more importantly, she adds, the study delivers a strong message to the public, too. “We should stop blaming the period or the menstrual cycle for reduced cognitive performance,” she says. _This_ [_article_](http://www.health.com/menstruation/menstrual-cycle-cognitive-performance/?xid=time) _originally appeared on_ [_Health.com_](http://health.com/?xid=time) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4845917/menstruation-period-brain-research/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4845917/menstruation-period-brain-research/"},"headline":"No, Period Brain Is Not Actually a Thing","datePublished":"2017-07-05T20:44:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:26:38.753Z","description":"Your menstrual cycle doesn't mess with memory, attention, or thinking skills","url":"https://time.com/4845917/menstruation-period-brain-research/","keywords":["Research","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780080cc0adc4481/6988d48d97cdffd8476b1779/gettyimages-185318891.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amanda MacMillan / Health.com"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780080cc0adc4481/6988d48d97cdffd8476b1779/gettyimages-185318891.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Calendar: PMS or Menstruation Cycle","caption":"Calendar: PMS or Menstruation Cycle","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4845917/menstruation-period-brain-research/","name":"No, Period Brain Is Not Actually a Thing"}}]}] ```