For many women, premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, is a familiar preamble to their monthly cycle. But a new review of the data suggests that mood changes aren’t as closely tied to menses as many have assumed. A team led by Dr. Sarah Romans of the University of Otago in New Zealand reviewed 47 studies that followed women’s moods across the menstrual cycle. Only 15% of the studies found that women tended to have “classic” PMS: moods that worsened as the menstrual period approached and lifted when menstruation occurred. An additional 38% found PMS that lasted into menstruation or another cycle phase. (MORE: Stress Leads to Worse PMS Symptoms) However, a further 38% of the studies found no association between mood and any particular phase of the cycle. And 9% found that the worst moods actually occurred outside of the premenstrual phase. That means that little more than half of the studies (53%) found any link between menstruation and bad mood, and 85% didn’t find classic PMS. “The major finding of this review was that clear evidence for a specific premenstrual-phase-related mood occurring in the general population is lacking,” the authors conclude. Nonetheless, the idea of moodiness occurring cyclically in women has a long-standing history. The authors cite a “long-established tendency to label women’s behavior as overly emotional and to attribute this to female reproductive function.” (MORE: Got PMS? Milk Marketers Launch an Audacious, Funny New Ad Campaign) So is the concept of PMS just a remnant of sexist ideas about women’s changing moods from a time when most physicians were male? The new study unfortunately isn’t designed to provide an answer. For one thing, because they wanted to look at healthy women, the authors excluded data on women seeking help for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a syndrome they do not dispute, in which 1% to 9% of women experience extreme mood problems related to the menstrual cycle. Second, given the wide range of factors that affect mood, it’s difficult to distinguish the effects of changing hormone levels. Some of the … Continue reading Is PMS a Myth?