Systematic review, 2024
Do women with PMS or PMDD have disrupted body clocks and sleep?
Yes, the evidence so far suggests women with PMS/PMDD tend to have lower melatonin, higher nighttime body temperature, and worse sleep quality, but many other measures are mixed or show no difference, so this is not fully settled.
What they did
Researchers systematically searched four databases (Pubmed, Embase, Medline, Web of Science) in December 2021, found 575 articles, and after removing irrelevant ones and hand-searching references, included 25 studies looking at biological rhythms (like sleep, body temperature, melatonin, cortisol) in women with PMS/PMDD.
What they found
Women with PMS/PMDD showed lower melatonin levels, higher nighttime core body temperature, and worse subjective sleep quality than women without PMS/PMDD. Wrist actimetry (movement tracking) showed no differences between groups. Results for objective sleep measures, cortisol, prolactin, and thyroid stimulating hormone were conflicting across studies.
What it means for you
This points to some real differences in body rhythms linked to PMS/PMDD, especially around melatonin, temperature, and felt sleep quality, but because results for other measures are inconsistent, no firm conclusions can be drawn yet. More and better research is needed.
575
articles found in initial search
25
studies included in the review
About the study
- Original title
- Biological rhythms in premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder: a systematic review
- Authors
- Nexha A, Caropreso L, de Azevedo Cardoso T et al.
- Journal
- BMC women's health
- Year
- 2024
- Study design
- Systematic review
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03395-3
Topics
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