---
title: How do sleep disruption, mood, and menstrual phase affect each other?
description: During the perimenstrual phase (around menstruation), women wake up 8-16 minutes longer at night than other cycle phases and feel more anger. When sleep is di
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/interaction-of-sleep-and-emotion-across-the-menstrual-cycle-2024/
---

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- How do sleep disruption, mood, and menstrual phase affect each other?

Survey study, 2024

# How do sleep disruption, mood, and menstrual phase affect each other?

During the perimenstrual phase (around menstruation), women wake up 8-16 minutes longer at night than other cycle phases and feel more anger. When sleep is disrupted during this phase, positive emotions drop.

 Early or limited evidence

51 healthy women aged 18-35 (43% Caucasian)

## What they did

51 healthy women aged 18-35 wore sleep trackers and kept daily diaries about sleep and mood for two menstrual cycles, averaging 51 days of tracking total.

## What they found

During the perimenstrual phase, women woke up 8-16 minutes longer per night (average 67.54 minutes) versus other phases. Sleep monitors showed 4-7 additional minutes of wake time. Anger increased significantly during this phase. When wake time was higher during the perimenstrual phase, positive emotions dropped by 0.05-0.10 points.

## What it means for you

Poor sleep during the week around menstruation makes anger worse and reduces good feelings. Improving sleep during this time might help women at risk for mood problems. The study was small (51 women) and only tracked two cycles.

51

women studied

8-16 minutes

extra time awake during perimenstrual phase

2

menstrual cycles tracked

## About the study

Original title Interaction of sleep and emotion across the menstrual cycle Authors Meers JM, Bower J, Nowakowski S et al. Journal Journal of sleep research Year 2024 Study design Survey study Participants 51 What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14185](https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14185)

## Topics

[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Irritability and anger](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-irritability-anger/)[Sleep and insomnia](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-sleep/)

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