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Do you feel more at the top of your game when on your period, or less? A new study out of the UK says that contrary to the negative qualities usually associated with being on your period, results prove that women actually perform better while menstruating. Response times were faster and more accurate on average of 25%. It’s the week before menstruation, formally called the luteal phase, where performance markers tend to dip. The study focused on soccer players, and was inspired by reporting of an increase in injury risk among professional athletes during the luteal phase (as opposed to the week of menstruation). So what I’m hearing is, the new slogan of the National Women’s Soccer League should be: Bend it like Tampax!
Women are better athletes when they’re menstruating, showing sharper response times and better cognitive function.
“Regularly menstruating females performed better during menstruation compared to being in any other phase, with faster reaction times [and] fewer errors,” the study, published in the journal Neuropsychologia, says.
The study specifically looked at both male and female soccer players and found that “performance on the cognitive tasks, most notably for spatial timing anticipation, was better during the menstrual phase and worse during the luteal phase,” which is the time right before menstruation starts, the Cleveland Clinic explains.
“What is surprising is that the participants’ performance was better when they were on their period, which challenges what women, and perhaps society more generally, assume about their abilities at this particular time of the month,” Dr. Flaminia Ronca, the lead author of the study, from UCL Division of Surgery and Interventional Science and ISEH, said, according to The Guardian.
For one of the tests, study participants were shown a series of smiling or winking faces, and told to press the space bar whenever they saw a smiling face — a test meant to measure skills like attention, reaction time and accuracy.
When menstruating, they hit the space bar at the wrong time 25% less, a statement from the University College London explained.
And as for how they performed right before menstruation, Dr Megan Lowery, an author of the study from UCL Surgery and Interventional Science and ISEH, said, “There’s lots of anecdotal evidence from women that they might feel clumsy just before ovulation, for example, which is supported by our findings here.”
In fact, the study was inspired by soccer players reporting injuries during specific times in their cycle, as one study found “Injury risk was significantly elevated during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle … among elite female professional footballers.”
However, while women might report that they don’t feel well when they have their period, the soccer players in the study did perform better during menstruation.
As the study says, “Females reported lower wellbeing scores during menstruation, where they also perceived their cognitive performance was negatively affected. In contrast to this, performance on the cognitive tasks, most notably for spatial timing anticipation, was better during the menstrual phase and worse during the luteal phase.”
“I hope that this will provide the basis for positive conversations between coaches and athletes about perceptions and performance,” Ronca said. “How we feel doesn’t always reflect how we perform.”
“How we feel doesn’t always reflect how we perform.” Ooh, that’s a loaded statement! Once (the fabulously named) Dr. Flaminia Ronca said that, I kind of wished we had more of that in the study. Like instead of just reporting that menstruating players have sharper responses, it would have been interesting to know how each of the test subjects felt about their own performance before getting the results. But I guess that’s a different study — looking at the gap between reality and our perceptions, and our tendency to underestimate ourselves.
As for the research methods here, I’m no athlete, but I am a woman of moderate intelligence, so I have to say that I was expecting more of a, well, athletic means of testing performance than pressing a computer key. Maybe I am a high-performing sportswoman after all! (I’m not.) In reading this article I’ve been trying to take an analytical look at my monthly behavior to see if it lines up. It’s been a bit tricky because a) I didn’t know there was going to be a test so I wasn’t monitoring myself that closely, and b) whether it be aging or post-pandemic reality, my sense of time and schedule grows ever more tenuous. Generally I’ve noticed that I can be a real Debbie Downer towards myself in the days leading up to my period, and then once I get the damned thing a flip is switched and I go full-tilt sass (yes, even more than usual). This was amped up tenfold during my last period, which fell right after Memorial Day. I remember this bit of timing because, in his benevolence, my boss sent a helpful email reminding us that when there’s a Monday holiday (like Memorial Day), that means we have to go into the office on Friday that week to make up the day. So yes, I was definitely more performative of my irritability that week.
Angel Reese is literally HER 😍 pic.twitter.com/7xdyEYirCv
— spicebae (@spicebae_) June 13, 2024
Photos of Tampax spokeswoman Amber Reese credit Getty and via Instagram and Twitter
