--- title: Do women whose mood changes a lot during the menstrual cycle have worse mood overall? description: Yes. Women who experience menstrual cycle-related changes in mood, whether around the period or in the middle of the cycle, have higher average levels of nega url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/affective-risk-associated-with-menstrual-cycle-symptom-change-2022/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Do women whose mood changes a lot during the menstrual cycle have worse mood overall? Study, 2022 # Do women whose mood changes a lot during the menstrual cycle have worse mood overall? Yes. Women who experience menstrual cycle-related changes in mood, whether around the period or in the middle of the cycle, have higher average levels of negative mood overall. Moderate study design 213 and 163 female university students tracked across 2 complete menstrual cycles ## What they did Two groups of female college students (213 and 163 women) tracked their mood daily across 2 complete menstrual cycles. ## What they found Women who experienced menstrual cycle-related changes in mood, either around the period or mid-cycle, had higher average levels of negative mood overall. Women with mid-cycle mood changes should be recognized as a group needing future research about chronic negative mood. ## What it means for you If you notice your mood changes a lot during your menstrual cycle, you may be at higher risk for chronic negative mood overall and could benefit from extra support. The main limitation is that this was a study of college students, so results may not apply to all women. 213 and 163 participants in two groups 2 full cycles tracking duration ## About the study Original title Affective Risk Associated With Menstrual Cycle Symptom Change Authors Kiesner J, Eisenlohr-Moul TA, Vidotto G Journal Frontiers in global women's health Year 2022 Study design Study Participants 213 What was tested None - observational mood tracking Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2022.896924](https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2022.896924) Original abstract In the present study we test whether cyclical changes in affective symptoms of the menstrual cycle are associated with higher mean levels of those same symptoms. Using prospective daily reports across two full menstrual cycles, from two samples of female University students ( n = 213; n = 163), we applied both quartic polynomial regressions and cosine regressions to model cyclical change in symptoms, and to test for mean-level differences in symptoms across the resulting trajectory patterns. Counter to prior findings, but consistent with theoretical expectations, these results show that females who experience menstrual cycle-related changes in affect (whether a perimenstrual or mid-cycle increase) are at risk for higher average levels of affective symptoms. These results suggest that the mid-cycle group should be recognized as a target for future research that is associated with increased risk for chronic negative affective symptoms. Reproduced under CC-BY. ## Topics [Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Students and academic performance](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-education/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Randomised trial, 2026 Does aerobic or resistance exercise reduce anxiety in women with PMS? Randomised trial, 2017 Does calcium reduce PMS symptoms? Survey study, 2026 Is PMS worse in medical students with higher stress? Survey study, 2026 How does PMS affect test anxiety in nursing students? Lab study, 2026 Do core stability exercises help women with PMDD? Survey study, 2026 Is academic stress linked to PMS severity in university students? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗