---
title: Do birth control pills affect mood during the menstrual cycle?
description: Yes. Women taking birth control pills reported more positive feelings than those not taking them, with positive feelings higher than negative feelings through
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/mood-changes-during-the-menstrual-cycle-and-their-relation-to-the-use-of-oral-1991/
---

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- Do birth control pills affect mood during the menstrual cycle?

Survey study, 1991

# Do birth control pills affect mood during the menstrual cycle?

Yes. Women taking birth control pills reported more positive feelings than those not taking them, with positive feelings higher than negative feelings throughout the cycle for both groups.

 Early or limited evidence

50 women, some taking birth control pills and some not

## What they did

50 women completed a daily mood questionnaire during their menstrual cycle. Researchers compared those taking birth control pills to those not taking them.

## What they found

Birth control users had significantly higher positive affect throughout the cycle. Positive affect was significantly higher than negative affect during menstruation, follicular and luteal phases in both groups. Neither group showed phasic changes in negative affect.

## What it means for you

Birth control pills may boost positive mood during your cycle. However, this was a small study of one cycle, so we cannot conclude the pills cause this effect. The comparison between groups was not clearly described.

50

women

## About the study

Original title Mood changes during the menstrual cycle and their relation to the use of oral contraceptive Authors Almagor M, Ben-Porath YS Journal Journal of psychosomatic research Year 1991 Study design Survey study Participants 50 What was tested Oral contraceptive use Read the paper [doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(91)90123-6](https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(91)90123-6)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Oral contraceptives and drospirenone](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-hormonal-contraceptives/)

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