Study, 2020
Does the menstrual cycle affect how well you learn new physical skills?
Yes. Women learn new physical skills more slowly during the week before their period compared to around ovulation.
What they did
Women were tested on a new physical skill at different times of their menstrual cycle. Researchers measured initial learning, performance, memory retention, brain activity, and PMS symptoms.
What they found
Women in the week before their period had poorer initial learning and lower final performance compared to around ovulation. This was related to PMS symptoms and changes in brain activity. The ability to remember the skill overnight was the same across all cycle phases.
What it means for you
Learning a new physical skill may be harder during the week before your period. However, once you learn something, your brain stores the memory equally well throughout your cycle. Starting to learn a new skill around ovulation might help you progress faster initially.
About the study
- Original title
- Menstrual Cycle Modulates Motor Learning and Memory Consolidation in Humans
- Authors
- Ikarashi K, Sato D, Iguchi K et al.
- Journal
- Brain sciences
- Year
- 2020
- Study design
- Study
- What was tested
- No intervention tested; observational comparison across menstrual cycle phases
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10100696
Original abstract
Numerous studies have noted that sex and/or menstrual phase influences cognitive performance (in particular, declarative memory), but the effects on motor learning (ML) and procedural memory/consolidation remain unclear. In order to test the hypothesis that ML differs across menstrual cycle phases, initial ML, overlearning, consolidation, and final performance were assessed in women in the follicular, preovulation and luteal phases. Primary motor cortex (M1) oscillations were assessed neuro-physiologically, and premenstrual syndrome and interoceptive awareness scores were assessed psychologically. We found not only poorer performance gain through initial ML but also lower final performance after overlearning a day and a week later in the luteal group than in the ovulation group. This behavioral difference could be explained by particular premenstrual syndrome symptoms and associated failure of normal M1 excitability in the luteal group. In contrast, the offline effects, i.e., early and late consolidation, did not differ across menstrual cycle phases. These results provide information regarding the best time in which to start learning new sensorimotor skills to achieve expected gains.
Reproduced under CC-BY.